Part 2 - What Actually Circulates in Saṁsāra
“It is this very craving that leads to renewed existence.”
— SN 12.2
Why this Part matters
Most people assume:
“I am the one who is reborn.”
But the Buddha never said that a “person” travels from one life to another.
What circulates is not a self,
but conditioned processes that arise and perish as long as their causes remain.
Thus, the right question is not:
❌ Who is reborn?
but:
✔ What arises because conditions sustain it?
Not a being — a process
According to the Buddha, what continues is the recurring activity of:
- Ignorance (avijjā)
- Craving (taṇhā)
- Clinging (upādāna)
As long as these three remain unbroken,
the psychological becoming of identity continues,
producing renewed existence (bhava)
and birth (jāti) — in this very moment.
This is the arising and collapsing of “self”
happening here and now — not a distant metaphysical idea.
A present-moment cycle
Observe daily life:
- A sight, sound, or thought arises
- The mind constructs: “This is me — this is mine — I want this”
- Stress appears
Every moment can be a new birth
of a self-identity conditioned by grasping.
The battlefield of saṁsāra is the sense that
there is someone here to protect.
Why this removes confusion
A widespread misconception is:
Saṁsāra = future lifetimes only
But Dependent Origination teaches:
- Saṁsāra unfolds in mental experience
- It is operating now, moment by moment
- Liberation depends on present insight, not future outcomes
This is the Buddha’s here-and-now teaching —
to see the way out immediately.
Essential insight
Saṁsāra = the continuation of suffering
when its cause continues
Not a cosmology.
Not a metaphysical doctrine.
But a diagnosis of stress.
And when its cause ceases — even briefly —
stress stops.
This momentary cessation reveals
that the complete cessation is possible.
Practical reflection
Look directly:
When there is no claim: “This is me,”
suffering stops.
This is saṁsāra broken.
To see this once is enough to understand
both saṁsāra and Nibbāna
without waiting for another life.
Culmination Link for Part 2
What circulates is:
- Ignorance → giving rise to identity
- Craving → feeding that identity
- Clinging → protecting that identity
This is the conditioned chain that Dependent Origination reveals.
Therefore:
- End the cause → saṁsāra ends
- Release clinging → Dependent Origination becomes fully understood
Everything returns to Dependent Origination —
in the arising of suffering and in its cessation.