Part 4 - What Dependent Origination Really Explains
(The Self — Not the Universe — Is the Problem)
Dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda)
is often misunderstood as a theory
about past and future lives:
“I was born before,
I live now,
I will be reborn later.”
But the Buddha emphasized again and again:
Dependent origination describes
how suffering arises here and now,
and how it ends here and now.
It is not about explaining the universe.
It is about explaining the sense of “I”
that arises within this universe.
The world does not cause suffering
The self does.
Pain happens.
But suffering appears only when the mind adds:
“This pain is mine.
It should not be happening to me.”
Thunder does not hurt feelings.
Thoughts about “me” do.
Suffering is not in the sensations.
It is in the ownership of sensations.
Dependent origination explains identity fabrication
Not where the world came from,
but how the mind constructs:
- “This is me.”
- “This is mine.”
- “This is who I must be.”
It reveals the mechanism behind:
- fear
- insecurity
- comparison
- jealousy
- the need to be approved
- the need to matter
Suffering is a house built by identity.
The chain is happening in real time
Every moment of contact:
- a sound
- a thought
- a memory
- a glance
- a message on a screen
can instantly trigger a new “me” to arise.
Dependent origination is not history.
It is live streaming.
It shows why we keep
being born as “someone”
again and again
within a single day.
The shortest teaching of this truth
Suffering arises
when a “self” arises.
Suffering ends
when the “self” does not arise.
This is the only point that matters.
One sentence summary of Part 4
Dependent origination does not explain the world—
it explains why “I” keep appearing
and why “I” keep suffering.