Sem. Guiller Martin Cedric R.

Gabaoen Asian Philo: Indian Philo

3rd Year Philo May 21, 2018
“The Path to Liberation: Reconciling the Theory of Interdependent
Origination with Free Will”
I. Introduction
In the Western Philosophic tradition, one gets attuned to a lot of distinct
and varying concepts and views about reality. For instance, there is a notion
or a view that the world and everything within are created. Their being, their
essence, the totality of the thing depends on something outside itself.
“Things are not always what they seem,” a lot of people would say this and
philosophy is one but a perspective that is able to expound more on that
phrase which entails a sense of causality over things. On the side of the West,
one will recall the ancient thinkers who conceived of various proposals that
construe our very reality like Aristotle with his four types of causes-material,
efficient, formal and final and who “is justifiably the single greatest
contributor to the theory of causality in Western philosophy.” 1 Followed by
the medieval thinkers who ascribed our causality to some other being who is
capable of doing so like of God. One great thinker who explicated this further
is none other than the Angelic Doctor himself properly known as St. Thomas
Aquinas with the use of his quinqui viae that considered God as the “First
Uncaused Cause” and “Necessary Being. Lastly, now in Modern Western
philosophy, modern thinkers now have “a multivalent attitude towards
causality” 2 which was manifested by the theories made by a lot of them
ranging from Hume, Kant, Russell, Wittgenstein and many other more. All of
these surely would account for a better explanation of how reality goes but
still there are other views or positions yet left to be explored like of what
Buddhism offers which is its “Theory of Dependent Origination”.
Surely the Westerners will have a certain doubt with regards to this
doctrine but still let us recall what some of them said which goes this way
“Never deny, sometimes affirm and always distinguish.” Such a phrase implies
a lot to those who’ll approach such a philosophy wherein the researcher shall
1
Kang, Chris. Buddhist and Tantric Perspectives on Causality and Society. Journal of Buddhist Ethics.
Quenslan, 2009. pg. 71
2
Ibid.

1
take account of considerations and nuances of both sides so as to arrive to a
conclusion where both of which can agree.
This paper shall then expound more on the theory of interdependent
origination together with its definitions and particularly the sense of
determinism that it entails. This paper shall introduce the concept of free will
wherein it shall be redefined and made reconcilable with the theory of
interdependent origination such as that one may see that free will too is a
means to an end such as that the decisions and choices that one make can
contribute to the attainment of the goal of the latter which is liberation. Lastly,
this paper too shall introduce the position of compatibilism wherein free will
is made compatible with determinism such as that in the end this paper will
conclude that free will is reconcilable with the theory of interdependent
origination.
II. Paticca Samuppada or the Theory of Interdependent Origination
Patica Samuppada or more commonly known as “Theory of
Interdependent Origination” is that which “explains the chain of cause and
effect which runs through the universe and which also conditions
everything.”3 This doctrine is one central theme among the others in Buddhist
Philosophy like of the theme on anicca (impermanence) and on karma
(action).
This word originated from two words. First, is the “pratitya” which has the
prefix “prati”-meaning “getting” and with the suffix “itya” which means “after
getting”. The second, is the samutpada which is composed of the root “pad”
connoting “going” and the “samut” which means “to originate”. Thus, the
“Pratityasamutpada” (Paticca samuppada) literally means “origination after
getting’ i.e. there being cause, there is the effect.4
After knowing its etymology, it is best to have understand such a doctrine if
one is to have the very doctrine itself explained from the proponent of such
doctrine which is Buddha himself. In the text Digha-Nikaya, the Buddha
explicitly said,

Co, Alfredo P. Philosophy of the Compassionate Buddha. Manila: University of Santo Tomas,
3

2003). pg. 49
4
Bhartiya, M.C., Causation in Indian Philosophy, (Vimal Prakashan Ghaziabad, U.P.1973), p.
89.

2
 “And what, bhikkus, is dependent origination? With ignorance as
condition, volitional formations, with volitional formations as condition,
consciousness; with consciousness as condition, name-and-form; with name-
and-form as condition, the six-sense bases; with the six sense bases as
condition, contact; with contact as condition, feeling; with feeling as
condition, craving; with craving as condition clinging; with clinging as
condition existence; with existence condition, birth; with birth as condition,
aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair come to
be. Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering. This bhikkus, is called
dependent origination.”5

This doctrine, as having been presupposed by the Second Noble Truth

(Dukkhasamudaya) which gives a way to tell us of the cause of suffering, also
presupposes its twelve links which is afore mentioned by the quote above.
Accordingly, this doctrine has no beginning but it is a continual process of
becoming wherein “if one were to view its links forward, then one is to see the
arising of the phenomena of existence, but if one were to look at them in the
reverse, one destroys their existence.”6
To better yet understand the meaning of the latter let us quote again from
teacher of such doctrine. In the same text as Digha-Nikaya, the Buddha again
explicitly said,
“But with the remainderless fading away and cessation of ignorance
comes cessation of volitional formations; with the cessation of volitional
formations; cessation of consciousness; with the cessation of
consciousness; cessation of name-and-form, with the cessation of name-
and-form; cessation of the six sense bases, with the cessation of the six
sense bases; cessation of contact, with the cessation of contact; cessation
of feeling, with the cessation of feeling; cessation of craving, with the
cessation of craving; the cessation of clinging, with the cessation of
clinging; cessation of existence, with the cessation of existence; cessation
of birth, with the cessation of birth; cessation aging-and-death, sorrow,
lamentation, pain displeasure, and despair cease. Such is the cessation of
this whole mass of suffering.”7

5
Walshe, Maurice O’C. The Long Discourses of the Buddha: a translation of the Digha-Nikaya.
(Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995). p. 533
6
Co, Alfredo P. Philosophy of the Compassionate Buddha. (Manila: University of Santo Tomas,
2003). pg. 57
7
Walshe, Maurice O’C. The Long Discourses of the Buddha: a translation of the Digha-Nikaya.
(Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995). pg. 534

3
 The former entails the bondage of ourselves to the world of suffering and
the latter entails liberation which sets a goal for all of us to take which is “to
remove one’s ignorance to eliminate the chain of Interdependent
origination.”8
The Paticca Samuppada tells to us that everything is interdependent.
Everything that exists is either a cause or an effect of various conditions. For
example, a seed is a cause of a plant but still there are other causes which
bring about the growth and sprouting of the plant like of which the soil, the
water, light, etc. can be certain conditions which can produce the effect. The
same goes for the twelve links. These links start with ignorance (avija) and
ultimately leads to suffering (dukkha). These links accounts for the conditions
where everything undergoes where in it reflects what “Buddha’s” general
formula connotes which is as follows:
“When this is present, that comes to be; from the arising of this, that
arises, when this is absent, that does not come to be; on the cessation of
this, that cease”. 9

III. Paticca Samuppada and Determinism

Certainly, having been acquainted with Western Philosophic tradition, one
can encounter terms to which Paticca Sammupada can certainly imply or
resemble one of which is the position of “determinism.”
In the Western philosophical tradition, thinkers are more concerned with
elaborate explanations of terms which comes in precise definitions which in
the case of the Oriental philosophical tradition, the latter doesn’t much give
emphasis in doing what the westerners do because for them words entail a lot
of meanings that when one defines them then one is only limiting the richness
of such words or terms.
Still to proceed with this part of the paper, let us first define “determinism.”
Determinism, according to the Western thought, “is a philosophical position
according to which all human actions are predetermined.” 10 It too “holds that

Co, Alfredo P. Philosophy of the Compassionate Buddha. (Manila: University of Santo Tomas,
8

2003). pg. pg. 58

9
. Assutava Sutta: Uninstructed (1)” (SN 12. 61), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro
Bhikku. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), May 20 2018,
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/n/n12/sn12.061.than.html

4
all our choices are caused that therefore none of our choices are free.” 11 This
position implies that events are determined by specific causes which goes on
further saying that “past events causally determine future events so that any
instance there is exactly one possible future.”12 Simply put that everything for
them is now predetermined. Take for example, when an event A is so
connected with a later event B, given A, B must occur. This now shows how
predictable things are gonna be. According to it, a person in a given situation
may think that he is able to do this or that, but in every case “the stars, the
laws of physics, his character, the conditioning he has received or something
else makes him be unable to do anything.”13
Simplifying and summing up such a position, it can be summarized as
thus;14
(1) Every human action is an event.
(2) Every event has an explanation.
(3) Every human action has an explanation.
(4) Every explanation includes a cause.
(5) Every event has a cause.
(6) Every human action has a cause.
(7) If a human action has a cause, it is not free.
(8) No human action is free.
This causal formula can somehow be similar to the Buddhist causal
formula namely the “Paticca Samuppada,” in a sense that “it takes a form of
causal sequence that typically goes from ignorance to suffering in twelve

10
Cowburn SJ, John. Free Will, Predestination and Determinism. (Milwaukee: Marquette
University Press, 2008) pg. 144
11
Schnauder, Ludwig. Free Will and Determinism in Joseph Conrad’s Major Novels. (New York:
Rodopi, 2009) pg. 10
12
Federman, Asaf. “What Kind of Free Will Did the Buddha Teach?. Philosophy East and West,
2010. pg. 11
13
Cowburn SJ, John. Free Will, Predestination and Determinism. (Milwaukee: Marquette
University Press, 2008) pg. 144
14
Schnauder, Ludwig. Free Will and Determinism in Joseph Conrad’s Major Novels. (New York:
Rodopi, 2009). pg. 10

5
stages.”15 Both of the causal formula entails that certain events causally
determine other events giving rise that when the specific conditions
mentioned in the formulas exist and combine together, an outcome will
necessarily arise.
The position of “determinism” certainly denies the presence of “free
will” to which the individual believes that one is free to choose courses of
actions which allows one to decide one’s future. The “control” and the
“autonomous activity” the Westerners aspire to safeguard against the threat
of “determinism” really poses a philosophical dilemma but still Buddhism
made no explicit notions of the two but in the following part of the paper, we
will now then opt for the implications of what Buddha can add up to them so
as to solve the philosophical dilemma of the Western Philosophers.
IV. Free Will and Compatibilism
The Buddha did not explicitly discuss “determinism” or “free will” but still
he discussed a lot of notions which resemble the two. According to a certain
article, he had already presupposed both by way of “him discussing fate,
chance, karma, dependent origination or conditioned arising” that
presupposes “determinism” and by way of “discussing the efficacy of volition,
effort, choice and action, and host of things that presupposes a kind of free
will.”16 Certainly after hearing such a statement, one would ask what was
Buddha’s position over the two? Still the answer would be he chooses the
middle between these such as that if the Westerners were to term it , it is the
position of the “compatibilism.”
Compatibilism “is the position that argues freedom and determinism are
compatible.”17 Put into simpler words , “it is the view that there is no problem
with free will and determinism.”18 It is this position which settles the score
between the two wherein “one is not to contrast freedom with causality but

Federman, Asaf. “What Kind of Free Will Did the Buddha Teach?. Philosophy East and West,
15

2010. pg. 11
16
Repetti, Riccardo. Earlier Buddhist Theories of Free Will: Compatibilism. Journal of Buddhist
Ethics (New York, 2010), p. 281
17
Federman, Asaf. “What Kind of Free Will Did the Buddha Teach?. Philosophy East and West,
2010. pg. 2
18
Repetti, Riccardo. Earlier Buddhist Theories of Free Will: Compatibilism. Journal of Buddhist
Ethics (New York, 2010), p.286

6
with constraint.”19 The inevitability that determinism has entailed before
needs now to be purified or rather filtered such as that one comes to know
now of the evitability of things which “means the ability to avoid.” This
connotes the notion of freedom, wherein there is already “the ability of agents
to avoid future scenarios.”20 This is now to say that the goal of both is freedom,
freedom from not only physical constraints but mental ones as well such as the
goal of Buddhism which is nirvana which is a path to freedom or better yet
liberation from the suffering brought about by the world. Now one can also
see here, the differences both traditions have like of the former (Western)
which emphasizes freedom from external compulsions while the latter
(Buddhism) emphasizes freedom from internal and mental compulsions.
Other instances where in the two diverge is their general outlook over
causality which for the former is a linear movement which have a beginning
and an end within time and the latter which is more of a circular movement in
eternity. Still, even if both have differences still they can still meet at some
point which is made possible by both of their ends which is freedom or
liberation.
The Buddha’s purpose for discussing and elaborating the dependent
origination was not to inhibit the freedom which was available for the
individual but rather it serves an aid for him to learn about what are the
causes of his attachment to the world and finally be free from it. The
Westerners surely had a limited notion on the free will which goes this way:
“the ability to choose freely, to do whatever we want to do, to do as we
please”21 but still Buddha was explicit in his teachings that there need to be
regulations or an extent to which we can exercise such faculty in order to
further free ourselves from the things which really threaten our freedom.
Lastly, according to a certain article, “in Buddhism, (determinism-resembling)
dependent origination is not a problem but an ally and this turn means that
“free will” is not a philosophical problem, but a practical one: how to regulate
volitional impulses in order to achieve liberation.” 22 Surely having known

19
Schnauder, Ludwig. Free Will and Determinism in Joseph Conrad’s Major Novels. (New York:
Rodopi, 2009) pg. 10
20
Federman, Asaf. “What Kind of Free Will Did the Buddha Teach?. Philosophy East and West,
2010. pg. 13
21
Repetti, Riccardo. Earlier Buddhist Theories of Free Will: Compatibilism. Journal of Buddhist
Ethics (New York, 2010), p. 283
22
Ibid., pg. 284

7
Buddhist philosophy which does not only focus only on the theoretical side of
things but also having emphasis on the practical side of things, one would
come to know that one’s thoughts needs not only reside in the mind but it too
must be put in too practice in order that one’s knowledge of things would not
be put to waste but rather for the better application of it in one’s life.
V. Conclusion
Having discussed all of this, surely if one is to recognize the nuances and
consider the common grounds between two such great and influential
traditions one will realize that both traditions need not to oppose each other
but rather one must reinforce the other. In addition to this, let us always
remember that both have their individual differences which makes them
distinct from each other and at times we face difficulties having to compare
and contrast them but “nonetheless, it is sometimes easier to appreciate the
perspective of an unfamiliar tradition by recognizing some of its more familiar
characteristics.”23
“Each regularity, each pattern, each connection posited in any explanation
must indeed be explicable.” 24 Modifying this phrase, it also means that any
account of causality whether this be from the Western side or from the
Buddhist side, still both in the end succeeds in explaining the theory of
causality wherein we can see both have their individual means of attaining a
respective conclusion but still both focuses on one subject that is causality.
The doctrine of Paticca Samuppada, on the side of Buddhism and the
doctrines of “free will” and “determinism”, on the side of the West, surely at
first glance can be viewed as both opposing each other but after careful and
critical considerations and evaluations, one can come to know that things
which are thought off to be irreconcilable can still be reconcilable in the end.
To prove such claim, this paper concludes that free will can be reconcilable
with the theory of dependent origination.

23
Garfield, Jay L. Engaging Buddhism: Why Buddhism Matters to Contemporary Philosophy.
2014. Pg. 48
24
Garfield, Jay L. Nāgārjuna's Theory of Causality: Implications Sacred and Profane.
Philosophy East and West, Vol. 51, No. 4, Nondualism, Liberation, and Language: The Infinity
Foundation Lectures at Hawai'i, 1997-2000 (Oct., 2001). Hawai’i: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001.
Pg. 510

8
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Walshe, Maurice O’C. The Long Discourses of the Buddha: a translation of the Digha-Nikaya. Boston:
Wisdom Publications, 1995
Assutava Sutta: Uninstructed (1)” (SN 12. 61), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikku. Access
to Insight (BCBS Edition), May 20 2018,
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/n/n12/sn12.061.than.html
Bhartiya, M.C., Causation in Indian Philosophy, Vimal Prakashan Ghaziabad, U.P.1973.
Co, Alfredo P. Philosophy of the Compassionate Buddha. Manila: University of Santo Tomas, 2003.
Cowburn SJ, John. Free Will, Predestination and Determinism. Milwaukee: Marquette University
Press, 2008.
Federman, Asaf. “What Kind of Free Will Did the Buddha Teach?. Philosophy East and West, 2010
Garfield, Jay L. Engaging Buddhism: Why Buddhism Matters to Contemporary Philosophy. 2014
Garfield, Jay L. Nāgārjuna's Theory of Causality: Implications Sacred and Profane. Philosophy East
and West, Vol. 51, No. 4, Nondualism, Liberation, and Language: The Infinity Foundation Lectures at
Hawai'i, 1997-2000 (Oct., 2001). Hawai’i: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001. pp. 507-524
Kang, Chris. Buddhist and Tantric Perspectives on Causality and Society. Journal of Buddhist Ethics.
Queensland, 2009. Pp. 68-103
Repetti, Riccardo. Earlier Buddhist Theories of Free Will: Compatibilism. Journal of Buddhist Ethics.
New York, 2010.
Schnauder, Ludwig. Free Will and Determinism in Joseph Conrad’s Major Novels. New York: Rodopi,
2009.