Pratityasamutpada: everything arises interdependently

Pratityasamutpada (Sanskrit, "dependent origination", "dependent arising") is one of the central ideas of Buddhism. Its essence is simple: nothing exists by itself; everything arises in dependence on something else.

According to tradition, the Buddha said: "Whoever sees dependent origination sees the Dharma." Nagarjuna, the founder of the Madhyamaka school (Sanskrit, "the middle way"), went further and showed that dependent origination and emptiness are one and the same thing, seen from two sides.

Three levels of dependence

In the Tibetan tradition I rely on, dependence is usually considered on three levels, from the simplest to the most subtle.

1. Dependence on causes and conditions. A sprout grows from a seed, but only if there is soil, water, warmth and light. Remove one condition and there will be no sprout. The same is true of our states: irritation does not arise "by itself" but from fatigue, hunger, someone's remark, an old grudge. Everyone understands this level, and it fits well with the scientific picture of the world.

2. Dependence on parts. A forest is trees; a house is walls, a roof and a foundation; a melody is a sequence of sounds. The whole exists only thanks to its parts. And each part, in turn, also consists of parts. A "last building block" that would exist by itself cannot be found.

3. Dependence on designation. This is the most subtle level, and it is the one the Prasangika branch emphasises. A thing becomes "this thing" partly because the mind singles it out and gives it a name.

An example: a banknote. Physically it is paper with ink. What gives it value is a shared agreement among people. Without that agreement the same paper is just paper. Another example: a man is a "father" only in relation to a child. Being a "father in himself", without a child, is impossible.

Prasangika holds that this is true of everything, not only of money and family ties. Nothing has properties fully independent of how the mind designates it. This does not mean the world is invented and anything can be called anything: a correct designation must rest on a suitable basis and must not contradict experience. At dusk a rope can be taken for a snake, but that does not make it a snake.

Why it is the same as emptiness

Nagarjuna wrote (in the Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, chapter 24) that whatever arises dependently is emptiness, and that there is nothing that does not arise dependently.

The logic is simple. If a thing existed by itself, it would need no causes, parts or designation. It would simply be there, unchanging and independent. But we find no such things: everything we know depends on something else. Therefore everything is empty of independent existence.

And the other way round: precisely because things are empty of self-existence, they can change, interact, arise and disappear. If things were "solid" by themselves, nothing could ever change: a seed would never become a sprout, and a person could never become better.

Tsongkhapa valued this idea especially highly. He said that true understanding comes when emptiness and dependent origination no longer contradict each other but help us understand each other.

What it gives in practice

Understanding interdependence is a very practical thing.

• Less blame. If another person's act arose from many causes, it is hard to see it simply as "pure evil".
• More responsibility. If everything arises from causes, then my future too depends on the causes I create now: my thoughts, words, actions, practice.
• More hope. No problem is "eternal by nature". Change the conditions and the result will change.
• Less loneliness. We are not separate islands. Our life is literally woven from the work, care and decisions of many other people.

Interdependence is not abstract philosophy. It is simply a more accurate description of how the world works. And the more accurately we see the world, the less we suffer from our own mistaken expectations.