Part 5 - The Three Levels of Dependent Origination
“One who sees dependent origination
sees the Dhamma.”
— MN 28
Why this Part matters
Dependent Origination is not a single chain happening in one way.
It operates simultaneously on multiple levels:
- micro → within moments of experience
- meso → across patterns and habits
- macro → across life and death
Without seeing all three, the picture looks fragmented.
The Buddha saw one unified system with multiple layers of expression.
The Three Scales
(How the chain extends)
Scale | Scope | What it explains |
|---|---|---|
Momentary | split-second experience | how self arises right now |
Psychological | patterns & habits | why identity feels stable |
Lifespan / Rebirth | past → present → future | long-term continuity of suffering |
These are not three different teachings.
They are three resolutions of the same picture.
Like zoom levels:
- Zoom in → mental events arise and pass rapidly
- Middle view → “my personality” forms
- Zoom out → a lifetime appears, with birth and death
The Three Domains
(Where the chain operates)
Domain | Focus | Key question |
|---|---|---|
Sensory | feeling → craving | “I like or dislike this?” |
Volitional | choice → becoming | “I want to be this.” |
Identity | clinging → birth | “This is who I am.” |
The chain gradually constructs a self:
- Contact feels personal
- Desire feels justified
- Identity feels real
This illusion becomes the fuel of suffering.
Seeing the whole system at once
When we understand:
- each moment can be a birth of self
- psychological patterns create continuity
- rebirth describes extended continuity
…then the entire teaching aligns.
There is no contradiction between:
- present-moment meditation
- and the doctrine of rebirth
Both describe the same dependent process
viewed from different distances.
Why this matters for practice
If we only study the system at the macro scale:
- liberation feels far away
- “I suffer because of past lives” → powerlessness
If we only study the micro scale:
- we misunderstand karma
- we miss the large-scale consequences of craving
When all scales are seen as one:
- freedom becomes urgent
- responsibility becomes clear
- confidence becomes unshakable
The cause is present.
The end of the cause is also present.
Culmination Link for Part 5
Every scale teaches the same principle:
This arises when that arises.
This ceases when that ceases.
Thus:
- Momentary → breaks the chain now
- Psychological → dissolves identity momentum
- Lifespan → ends future birth of suffering
All three point back to Dependent Origination
as the blueprint of liberation.
When causes cease at any level,
the entire structure begins to collapse.