Ye dharmā hetuprabhava - Causation

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Menu he verses from the vinaya beginning "ye dharmā hetuprabhava" are the words spoken

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T by the Arahant Assaji (Sanskrit: Aśvajit) to Upatissa, later to become known as
Sariputta (Sanskrit: Śariputra). Sariputta along with his boyhood companion Kolita,
Visible Mantra
now on s
later called Moggallāna (Sanskrit: Maudgalyayana), was one of the two chief disciples of the
mantras Buddha. Upon meeting Assaji, Sariputta was impressed and asked after his teacher and the
bījas dhamma that he taught. Assaji demurred, being "only a beginner", but eventually
responded with the now famous verse, and before he had finished Sariputta had a decisive
alphabet break through. Nyanaponika says:
words
"Upon hearing the first two lines, there arose in the wanderer Upatissa the dust-free,
scripts stainless vision of the Dhamma - the first glimpse of the Deathless, the path of Stream- Support inde
learn entry - and to the ending of the last two lines he already listened as a stream-enterer". publishing: Buy
pronunciation on Lulu
- Great Disciples of the Buddha by Hellmuth Hecker &
projects Nyanaponika Thera
reading Of those things
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And also wha
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Art and text Sariputta and hi
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except where noted

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Nyanaponika

Transliteration

Ye dha rmā he tu pra bha vā ये धमा हेतु भवा

he tuṃ te ṣāṃ ta thā ga taḥ hya va da t हेतुं तेषां तथागतः वदत्
te ṣāṃ ca yo ni ro dha तेषां च यो नरोध
e vaṃ vā dī ma hā śra ma ṇaḥ एवं वाद महा मणः

Ye dharmā hetuprabhavā hetuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgataḥ hyavadat teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha evaṃ

vādī mahāśramaṇaḥ

ये धमा हेतु भवा हेतुं तेषां तथागतः वदत् तेषां च यो नरोध एवं वाद महा मणः

Lantsa
The Ye Dharma mantra in a cursive form of the Lantsa script from the verso of a Tibetan
thangka

The Ye Dharma mantra in semi-formal (sort of sans-serif) Lantsa script from the verso of a
Tibetan thangka

The Ye Dharma mantra in a formal version of the Lantsa script from the verso of a Tibetan
thangka

My thanks to Amy Heller, author of Tibetan Art, for these images of the Lantsa script.

Tibetan (Uchen)

Ye dharma in Sanskrit transliterated into the Tibetan Uchen script

Translation

A Standard Translation Alternative Translation

Of those things that arise from a
cause,
The Tathāgata has told the cause,
And also what their cessation is:
This is the doctrine of the Great
Recluse
Of those experiences that arise from a cause
The Tathāgata has said, "this is their cause,
And this is their cessation":
Thus the Great Śramaṇa teaches.

Pāli - Sinhala Script

 Transliteration

Ye dhammā hetuppabhavā
tesaṃ hetuṃ tathāgato āha,
tesañca yo nirodho
evaṃ vādī mahāsamaṇo

Comments
This verse has been referred to a kind of Buddhist credo (Latin for: I believe). It is very
commonly seen inscribed on statues of the Buddha, or on the backs of paintings (see
above). That "things" arise in dependence on causes, and cease when the causes are no
longer present is taken not as a statement of faith by Buddhists, but as a statement of
empirical truth; a fact which may be confirmed through observation. Buddhists do no
follow the Christian idea: "credo quia absurdum est" - I believe it because it is
unreasonable. Belief, if it is to be at all relevant, must be verifiable.

The "things" refered to are in fact dharmas (Pāli dhamma) which are mental phenomena -
the experience of a thing through the senses and the mind, rather than actual objects
themselves. The phrase is: "of those dharmas which arise from causes..." All knowledge of
any "objective" reality is mediated through the senses and the mind, and therefore all
knowledge is subjective. This does not deny the possibility of an objective reality, only that
it can be known directly. In contemporary terms then, it is experience (the knowledge of
dharmas) which arises from a cause, and ceases when the cause is no longer present. By
claiming to know the origins of experience, the Buddha is not claiming omniscience, or
indeed any knowledge of objective reality. His gnosis is related to the nature of experience,
why experience is ultimately disappointing, ad what to do about it.

Last updated: 17:52 22/09/2009