In the Buddha's Words - Bhikkhu Bodhi [167]
Though the twelve-factor formula is the most familiar version of the doctrine of dependent origination, the Nidānasaṃyutta introduces a number of little-known variants that help to illuminate the standard version. One such variant, Text IX,4(4)(e), speaks about the conditions for “the continuance of consciousness” (viññāṇassa ṭhitiyā), in other words, how consciousness passes on to a new existence. The causes are said to be the underlying tendencies, namely, ignorance and craving, and “what one intends and plans,” namely, the volitional formations. Once consciousness becomes established, the production of a new existence begins; thus we here proceed directly from consciousness (the usual third factor) to existence (the usual tenth factor). Text IX,4(4)(f) says that from the six internal and external sense bases (the former being the usual fifth factor), consciousness (the third factor) arises, followed by contact, feeling, craving, and all the rest. These variants make it plain that the sequence of factors should not be regarded as a linear causal process in which each preceding factor gives rise to its successor through the simple exercise of efficient causality. Far from being linear, the relationship among the factors is always complex, involving several interwoven strands of conditionality.
IX,4(5) The Four Noble Truths. As we have seen in both the “gradual path to liberation” and in the “contemplation of phenomena” section of the Discourse on the Establishment of Mindfulness, the path to liberation culminates in the realization of the Four Noble Truths: see Text VII,4 §25 and Text VIII,8 §44. These were the truths that the Buddha discovered on the night of his enlightenment and enunciated in his first discourse: see Text II,3(2) §42 and Text II,5. The First Discourse is tucked away almost inconspicuously in the Saccasaṃyutta (Saṃyutta Nikāya, chapter 56), the Connected Discourses on the Truths, a chapter replete with many other pithy and thought-provoking suttas.
To highlight the wide-ranging significance of the Four Noble Truths, the Saccasaṃyutta casts them against a universal background. According to Text IX,4(5)(a), not only the Buddha Gotama, but all the Buddhas past, present, and future awaken to these same four truths. These four truths, says Text IX,4(5)(b), are truths because they are “actual, unerring, not otherwise.” According to Text IX,4(5)(c), the things the Buddha teaches are as few as a handful of leaves in the forest, and what he teaches are just these Four Noble Truths, taught precisely because they lead to enlightenment and Nibbāna.
Sentient beings roam and wander in saṃsāra because they have not understood and penetrated the Four Noble Truths—Text IX,4(5)(d). As the chain of dependent origination shows, what lies at the base of the causal genesis of suffering is ignorance (avijjā), and ignorance is unawareness of the Four Noble Truths. Thus those who fail to understand the four truths generate volitional formations and fall down the precipice of birth, aging, and death—Text IX,4(5)(e).
The antidote to ignorance is knowledge (vijjā), which accordingly is defined as knowledge of the Four Noble Truths. The first penetration of the Four Noble Truths occurs with the attainment of stream-entry, called the breakthrough to the Dhamma (dhammābhisamaya). To make this breakthrough is by no means easy, but without doing so it is impossible to put an end to suffering—Text IX,4(5)(f). Hence the Buddha again and again urges his disciples to “make an extraordinary