Part 1 - Dependent Origination: The Frame of the Entire Path

“If a person truly understands Dependent Origination, they see the Dhamma.
Seeing the Dhamma, they see the Buddha.”
— MN 28; SN 12.20

Why this Part comes first

Everything in the Buddha’s teaching points to one simple reality:

Suffering arises because something causes it to arise.
Suffering ceases because its cause ceases.

That “cause structure” — the engine behind all experience —
is Paṭiccasamuppāda (Dependent Origination).

This principle explains:

  • why identity forms
  • why craving continues
  • why suffering feels inevitable
  • and how liberation becomes possible right now

It is not a metaphysical theory.
It is a dynamic unfolding happening in every moment of life.

What is “Dependent Origination”?

When this is, that is.
With the arising of this, that arises.
When this is not, that is not.
With the cessation of this, that ceases.
— SN 12.61

This is the simplest definition the Buddha ever gave.

It means:

  • every experience has a cause
  • nothing arises independently
  • remove the cause → the result vanishes

Understanding Dependent Origination is understanding
how suffering actually works.

Two layers of understanding

To fully grasp this teaching, we must see it in two intimately connected ways:

1️⃣ Universal Principle — the rule behind everything
  (no exceptions)
2️⃣ Immediate Process — unfolding in present experience
  (here and now)

Most confusion today happens because people separate these two.
This book brings them back together.

The Purpose of Dependent Origination

The Buddha did not teach this for philosophy.
He taught it for freedom.

“He who sees Dependent Origination sees the Dhamma;
he who sees the Dhamma sees Nibbāna.”
— MN 28

Dependent Origination is:

  • the frame of the entire Path
  • the lens that clarifies every other teaching
  • the key to understanding identity and its cessation

When understood, it dissolves doubt at its root.

A practical starting point

Look not outside — but into this moment.

Ask:

“What is happening in my experience right now?
And what is making it happen?”

There is craving or not.
There is clinging or not.
There is stress or not.

Each state depends on conditions.
See the conditions → you are already on the Path.

Summary of the Part

Nothing stands alone.
Nothing arises without support.
Remove the support → freedom.

This teaching is both:

  • the first key to unlocking the Dhamma
  • the last key that reveals the freedom the Buddha realized

Therefore, Dependent Origination is the framework:

  • that explains the arising of suffering
  • and guarantees its cessation when the cause ends

Culmination Link for Part 1

Everything we have learned here leads to one recognition:

To understand suffering, we must understand its origin.
To understand its origin, we must understand the process by which it arises.
That process is Dependent Origination.

Therefore, every subsequent part will:

  • reveal one function of Dependent Origination
  • dismantle one misunderstanding that hides its true meaning
  • illuminate one step toward the cessation of suffering

Dependent Origination is the beginning of the Path
and the completion of the Path.
Everything else exists to clarify it.