The Abhidharma, often described as Buddhism's analytical framework, offers a rigorous and systematic exploration of dependent origination (pratityasamutpada). Unlike the Sutta literature's parabolic or narrative presentations of this doctrine, the Abhidharma dissects it into its most minute components, revealing how all phenomena arise, persist, and cease through intricate webs of causality. This approach underscores the absence of any permanent essence or underlying self (atman) within the process of conditioned existence.
The Abhidharma Framework: Dissecting Dependent Origination
The Abhidharma's treatment of dependent origination centers on its foundational taxonomy of dharmas-the indivisible, transient elements that constitute all experiential and material reality. Rather than viewing existence as a linear sequence of causes and effects (as in the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination from the Suttas), the Abhidharma analyzes each link as a cluster of dharmas interacting through six primary conditions (pratyayas):
Root Condition (hetu-pratyaya): Primary causes such as greed, hatred, and delusion.
Object Condition (alambana-pratyaya): The object that supports consciousness and mental factors.
Dominance Condition (adhipati-pratyaya): Forces that determine the direction of a process.
Proximity Condition (samanantara-pratyaya): Immediate antecedents that give rise to subsequent dharmas.
Conascence Condition (sahajata-pratyaya): Mutually dependent phenomena arising simultaneously.
Precedence Condition (paccaya-pratyaya): Structural dependencies in physical and mental processes.
These conditions create a dynamic matrix where no dharma exists independently; each is conditioned (samskrta) by others, destabilizing the notion of a self-sustaining core in any entity.
The Twelve Links Reinterpreted: From Cyclic Time to Momentary Dynamics
While the Suttas present the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination as a circular narrative of rebirth (ignorance - craving - clinging - becoming - birth - aging and death), the Abhidharma treats them as abstract categories of causality operating in each moment. For instance:
Ignorance (avidya) becomes a dharma of delusion shaping perceptual and cognitive patterns.
Conditioned Volitional Formations (samskara) are parsed into karmic impressions that perpetuate habitual responses.
Consciousness (vijnana) emerges as a transient sequence of cittas (mind moments), each reliant on preceding conditions.
This analysis dissolves the illusion of continuity between lifetimes, instead emphasizing the momentariness (ksanikavada) of all phenomena. Even nibbana, as the unconditioned element (asamskrta), is defined not as a transcendent "self" but as the cessation of dependent conditions.
The Doctrine of No-Self (Anatta) and Mutual Dependence
The Abhidharma's deconstruction of phenomena into dharmas serves a soteriological purpose: to eradicate the misconception of a permanent self. Since all dharmas depend on others for their arising, they cannot be identified as "self" or "belonging to self." This aligns with the anatta doctrine, which denies ownership of the five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, consciousness) by a central agent.
Moreover, the concept of paramartha satya (ultimate truth) in Abhidharma posits that only dharmas and their relations are real, while composite entities (like persons or objects) are mere provisional designations (pannatti). This challenges inherent existence (svabhava) even in individual dharmas, as they lack autonomy-a precursor to the Madhyamaka critique of essence.
Philosophical Implications: Beyond Eternalism and Annihilationism
By mapping dependent origination onto dharmic interdependence, the Abhidharma avoids the extremes of eternalism (belief in an immortal soul) and annihilationism (denial of karmic continuity). Instead, it articulates a middle way where experience is a kaleidoscope of conditioned processes, each moment arising and dissipating due to the complex interplay of conditions. The chain of existence thus becomes not a metaphysical assertion but an epistemological tool for observing the mechanics of suffering and liberation.
Conclusion
The Abhidharma's treatment of dependent origination exemplifies early Buddhism's intellectual rigor in dismantling essentialist views. Through its analysis of dharmas and their conditions, it reveals a world devoid of substrata, where everything-from fleeting thoughts to cosmic epochs-exists only through mutual dependence. This vision does not merely explain reality but invites practitioners to see through the illusion of permanence, directly confronting the nature of conditioned existence as the path to liberation.