CONDITIONALITY AND THE METAPHYSICS OF TIME
A critical note on the interpretation of Dependent Origination
A traditional interpretation of Dependent Origination, according to which this process unfolds in its entirety over the course of three lives — past, present, and future — is, in fact, kālikā, that is, bound to a metaphysical conception of time. The Buddha, however, said that the Dhamma is sandiṭṭhika (“visible here and now”) and akālika (“not bound by time”).
He further said that “one who sees Dependent Origination sees the Dhamma,” and vice versa. Yet, in practice, it would be impossible to see or know Dependent Origination in its entirety if some of the elements comprising it belonged to a past that has already elapsed and no longer exists.
If ignorance (avijjā) were located in a time and place different from those in which we find ourselves in the present — that is, in a previous life — it would be impossible to eliminate it. So, if there is dukkha in the present, this is because the mind, mental processes, identity, sensory experiences, and attachment are conditioned by avijjā in the present.
Moreover, whereas for the Sarvāstivāda school past phenomena exist in the present just as future phenomena do — hence the name Sarvāstivāda — according to the early Theravāda, also known as the Vibhajjavādins, or “Distinctionists,” only present phenomena exist in the present. Past phenomena no longer exist, although they have existed; future phenomena, on the other hand, do not yet exist, although they will exist.
From the perspective of early Theravāda, it therefore becomes problematic to explain how a past phenomenon that no longer exists — such as ignorance — can determine dukkha in the present life without contradicting the fundamental principle of Dependent Origination:
“With the presence of x, y is present.”
“With the absence of x, y is absent.”
All rights reserved ©️ Davide Puglisi, Dhammādana Group Italy
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