[MD] Quick one: causation

[MarshaV]

Dependent origination:

The enlightenment (or bodhi, a word that means 
"to awaken") of the Buddha was simultaneously his 
liberation from suffering (dukkha) and his 
insight into the nature of the Universe – 
particularly the nature of the lives of sentient 
beings (principally humans and animals). What the 
Buddha awakened to was the truth of dependent origination.

This is the understanding that any phenomenon 
exists only because of the existence of other 
phenomena in an incredibly complex web of cause 
and effect covering time past, time present and 
time future. This concept of a web is symbolized 
by Indra's net, a multidimensional spider's web 
on which lies an infinite amount of dew drops or 
jewels, and in these are reflected the 
reflections of all the other drops of dew ad infinitum.

Stated in another way, everything depends on 
everything else. A human being's existence in any 
given moment is dependent on the condition of 
everything else in the world at that moment, but 
in an equally significant way, the condition of 
everything in the world in that moment depends 
conversely on the character and condition of that 
human being. Everything in the Universe is 
interconnected through the web of cause and 
effect such that the whole and the parts are 
mutually interdependent. The character and 
condition of entities at any given time are 
intimately connected with the character and 
condition of all other entities that 
superficially may appear to be unconnected or unrelated.

Because all things are thus conditioned and 
transient (anicca), they have no real independent 
identity (anatta) and thus do not truly exist, 
though to ordinary minds this appears to be the 
case. All phenomena are therefore fundamentally 
insubstantial and empty (sunya).

Wise human beings, those who "see things as they 
are" (yatha-bhuta-ñana-dassana), renounce 
attachment and clinging, transform the energy of 
desire into awareness and understanding, and 
eventually transcend the conditioned realm of form becoming Buddhas or Arhats.


<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependent_arising>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependent_arising 



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The Universe is uncaused, like a net of jewels in 
which each is a reflection of all the others in a 
fantastic, interrelated harmony without end.
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