Since I have a terrible history of writing focused posts on a single subject without jumping onto tangents I thought I'd make a very focused post this time. I'd eventually pick a title. For now I'm going to be talking about causality and Paṭiccasamuppāda (commonly translated as dependent origination)

Paṭiccasamuppāda is the very core of Buddhism. There are other core teaching such as the 4 Noble Truths (and The Noble 8 Fold Path - which belongs to the 4th Noble Truth), Three marks of existence (Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta) but all of those have Paṭiccasamuppāda in there core like the sub-atomic particles within an atom. I'm not going to make a long in depth post but a focused clarifying post.

He who sees the Paṭiccasamuppāda sees the Dhamma;
He who sees the Dhamma sees the Paṭiccasamuppāda.

• Buddha

The "seeing" Buddha describe above is the insight; not the knowledge. A kid or even some grownups may think that the magician has some real super powers. Most of us know that it's just a "trick". This much is simple knowledge. Seeing Paṭiccasamuppāda is like seeing the "trick" in the magic. The one who understand the trick, from then on only sees the trick. The magic has disappeared. This doesn't mean he/she doesn't see what's happening. They just see it too well. When others react to the magic, those who know the trick stays indifferently. This is where true equanimity comes from. It comes from wisdom & insight.

Dependent Origination and Causality

Actions and consequences or cause and effect is actually a bland and reductive version of Paṭiccasamuppāda. They are not synonyms for Paṭiccasamuppāda. Think P2P Electronic Cash and Bitcoin. They are not the same thing. BTC can't even dream to be P2P Electronic Cash with ultra low Tx/s performance and slow confirmation times. But it doesn't mean Bitcoin is totally useless. It's just that it doesn't have enough scope.

When thinking about cause and effect most people naturally tend to think in a linear way. This isn't entirely wrong. It's a very real thing. Plant a seed and you get a tree. It's a simple everyday thing. But what about the chicken and egg? Before thinking about that, ask yourself did head turned up first or did the tails faced down first in a coin flip? The thing is that they are 2 sides of the same process. They are like entangled particles or the birth of the universe or the birth of a chicken.

That last sentence might sound like a mess to some people. But it really isn't. If an egg came first, what caused the egg? Would't the cause of the egg also be the cause of the chicken? If it's not; then wouldn't it stop being a chicken egg? If universe came into existence, what was there before the birth of it? If it had a cause what caused it? How can you say the the cause wasn't an effect of something else?

Linear logic is useful in our daily lives. But if you want to think of a beginning or an end, you won't find it. Circular logic is pretty much that; a circle.There needs to be an exit point. One does not build >> test >> build >> test >> build forever. it's a process that is started and ended. But you cannot see the process from within the box. You need a new perspective just like you need a new perspective on the magic to figure out the "trick" in it.

imasmin sati idam hoti
imassauppada idam uppajjati
imasmim asati idan na hoti
imassa nirodha idam nirujjati

“When this is, that is
this arising, that arising
when this is not, that is not
this ceases, that ceases ”

Above Pali text may come across as mind boggling for many. I ask you to go back to the above mentioned coin flip - chicken and the universe. If its still too hard, think of a balance. Which side goes up/down first? It's not a difficult question or a question without an answer. It's simply a question based on false premises. Each side is interdependent on the other. Their state of being is dependently arisen!

The balance is really a process. When side goes up/down the other goes down/up. This creates a balance. When side cease to go up/down with the other; there is no balance anymore. With each word there is a meaning. This makes up a dictionary entry. When there is no such connection, there is no dictionary entry. The existence of the dictionary arise out of the connection of words and their respective meanings. The life cycle of a certain creature arise out of a chicken and an egg. Heads & Tails arise out of the naming and marking of the 2 sides differently. I asked "did head turned up first or did the tails faced down first in a coin flip?". What if both sides were heads? What if both sides were unmarked?

Here is another example I've seen:

When A arises, B arises … because B arises, C arises. When there is no A, there is no B and hence no C.
However, there is NO single cause that produces an effect OR a single effect arises from a single cause.
But single out KEY condition amongst collection of conditions that is most important to the effects.

Analogy: We reap what we sow but we may not necessarily sow whatever we reap. We may plant 10
beans but not all 10 beans will sprout even if they are given same share of sunlight, water, fertilizer and
environment. It is difficult to single out whether it is due to sunlight, water, manure or right environment that
causes the sprouting of the beans. It is a combination of the factors. However, sunlight can be the chief
cause for the key result of bean sprouting.
http://stylomilo.com/files/mv/YMBASr2/Dhamma/Paticca%20Samuppada%20-%20Anjali%20Chui1.pdf

It's an extremely valuable 6 page pdf and I urge you to check it out following the above link and keep a copy downloaded which is only 149KB.

I hope I added something important. Personally the best way I've found to understand reality and Paṭiccasamuppāda is through an analogy of a dictionary. I first stated with the balance and to further illustrate the full complexity, I've gotten myself into the dictionary analogy. A dictionary is a recent invention that was popularized. It really makes me feel lucky (right place at the right time) to be in a time where many excellent analogies are present. I'll leave you with few more links that may prove useful:

https://dhammatimes.blogspot.com/2007/06/is-buddhism-against-way-of-nature.html
https://steemit.com/philosophy/@vimukthi/can-you-spot-the-trick-to-this-faux-paradox-funny-paradoxes-and-my-philosophical-outlook-for-solving-paradoxes
https://steemit.com/philosophy/@vimukthi/breaking-down-this-statement-is-false-a-solution-to-another-paradox-from-vimukthi