The Analytical Study Of Dependent Origination Paticca Samuppada In The Perspective Of Conditional Relations Patthana

Many people would like to know more about Paṭicca-samuppāda and Paṭṭhāna. There is quite a lot of information on Paṭicca-samuppāda. However, there are not many English books that present the Paṭṭhāna aspect of Abhidhamma in detail.

Paṭicca-samuppāda and Paṭṭhāna are considered the most difficult and profound teachings of the Buddha. The commentaries and sub-commentaries about these two were written in Pāḷi, the ancient language in which the Buddha gave his sermons. Therefore, most people cannot read the original teachings by themselves. For the international audience, we need guidelines in modern English in order to understand the messages from the Buddha.

Myanmar is considered as a stronghold for Abhidhamma studies. Many people from all around the world come to Myanmar to learn Abhidhamma and Pāḷi in Myanmar. Sayadaw Dr. Nandamālābhivaṃsa is one of the most renowned Abhidhamma experts, both within Myanmar and abroad. Therefore, we are very fortunate that Sayadaw Dr. Nandamālābhivaṃsa gave 13 Dhamma talks entitled “The Analytical Study of Paṭicca-samuppāda in the perspective of Paṭṭhāna”.

In these, he systematically explained Paṭicca-samuppāda by the factors that constitute this doctrine of cause and effect and the links that combine the conditioning factors and the conditioned states. These links are further considered by the conditioning force called satti from the viewpoint of conditional relations in Paṭṭhāna.

By the combined study of Paṭicca-samuppāda and Paṭṭhāna we learn in depth how they relate to each other, and this supports our understanding of each of them and the relationship between all phenomena. In this series of lectures, Sayadaw also explained how to practise Vipassanā meditation. In the end, he explained how comprehension of these 12 factors and their relationships can help one to abandon the wrong view of self (atta), to understand emptiness (suñña) of all phenomena and to realize Nibbāna.

Sayadaw Dr. Nandamālābhivaṃsa gave these Dhamma talks to a Burmese audience in 2010. These talks were compiled in a book. It is our wish that these valuable teachings can reach the non-Burmese audience and will be available to the rest of the world. Therefore, Aggācāra Dhamma Project took the initiative to translate these Dhamma talks and the book from Burmese to English.

In this book, many Pāḷi words are given with the English translation in brackets and vice versa. However, it is not always possible to convey the exact and appropriate meaning of Pāḷi words in English. This is because many Pāḷi words have several meanings and sometimes these meanings change according to the context, which is why some Pāḷi words are not translated. The readers are advised to familiarize themselves with the Pāḷi words and expressions that are common in these teachings. In the footnotes, some Pāḷi words will be explained and Pāḷi texts from the Tipiṭaka will be quoted whenever appropriate with corresponding page numbers of the Myanmar version. We hope this will help the reader to understand the profound meanings of the Dhamma presented in this book.