PRATĪTYA-SAMUTPĀDA. The term pratītya-samutpāda (Pali, paṭicca-samuppāda), "dependent origination" or "dependent arising," was first used by the Buddha to characterize the understanding of the nature of human existence that he had attained at his enlightenment. Essentially a doctrine of causality, this notion is so central to Buddhist thought that a proper understanding of pratītya-samutpāda is often declared tantamount to enlightenment itself. In it, an entire complex of notions about moral responsibility, human freedom, the process of rebirth, and the path to liberation coalesce.

Pratītya-samutpāda was promulgated against a background of four contemporary theories of causality. These were (1) self-causation (svayaṃ kṛta), advocated by the traditional Brahmanic philosophers; (2) external causation (parakṛta), upheld by the materialist thinkers; (3) a combination of self-causation and external causation, advocated by the Jains; and (4) a...