Causes, Conditions, and Results

Alexander Berzin, quoting from the text, A Treasury of Special Topics of Knowledge, tells us about Causes, Conditions and Results. He breaks down causes into 6 different types. “Acting Causes”, the first of this breakdown goes like this:

Acting causes (byed-rgyu, Skt. karanahetu) — all phenomena, other than the result itself, which do not impede the production of the result. There are (a) potent acting causes (byed-rgyu nus-ldan), such as a seed for a sprout, and (b) impotent acting causes (byed-rgyu nus-med), such as the space that allows a sprout to grow and the mother or the clothes of the farmer who planted the seed.

So this seems to mean that anything that does not block a result, can be said to be a cause of that result. Anything that does not prevent something from happening is a cause of that something. Take your own life. What caused that to happen? Well you might say that your mother and father made love. But that is not the only cause. Another cause then is that your mother and father came to be - they were born. There was also space for them to be born into. And of course their parents had parents who were also born. Also there are the elements that make you up. If you go back far enough you come to the big bang. So the Universe itself seems to be the cause of you coming into this world as a result.

And there really is nothing that doesn’t exist, is there? For anything that is an is, there is room for it to be. In that way nothing blocks anything - there is universal accomadation for ‘things’

This could naturally flow into a discussion of interdependency. Everything is connected. We are like the body of the Universe.

Now its important to not just intellectualize this. It should be balanced with experience which comes through mediation - this ‘intellectualizing’ serves as a validation or description of an experience - a liveable experience. Meditaiton without study (or a teacher) can lead to all kinds of wrong directions and wheel spinning. Study without meditation can create an egomaniac - a rudra - a demon of materialism.

Read More…