Contemplating Reality (eBook)

Chapter 13: No Arising

Whenever something appears, we assume it exists. To say that it exists means that the appearance is based on an 'object.' If an object exists, there must also be a history of the production, or arising, of that object. We assume that the object 'arose,' or 'came into existence,' 'appeared,' or 'resulted' from a cause or a source. We see our lunch on a plate in front of us and think that it was prepared by someone in the kitchen. If we were to think about it any further, perhaps while we're waiting for our lunch companion to return from making a phone call, we might say that the grains were grown on a farm and processed in certain ways, the vegetables were grown in different regions and shipped to the local market, the meat (if we eat meat) came from a certain kind of animal, and so on.

The idea of production, or arising, goes hand in hand with the idea of true existence. If something truly exists, it must have been produced. If it was produced, it must exist. On the other hand, things that don't really exist, such as things seen in dreams, are not produced. The dream car was not produced in a factory.

You might disagree and say that the dream car was produced—,it was produced by the mind. This brings out a key point in the Middle Way teachings. Appearances, like cars in dreams, are not refuted. The mere appearance of dependent arising is not refuted. What is refuted is any basis for the appearances: truly existing objects, their histories, and the like. This includes refuting substantially existing mind if we imagine such a thing. The distinction between dependently arisen mere appearances and the production of truly existent things is subtle. Understanding it requires a lot of analysis and reflection.

The second Madhyamaka reasoning, the analysis of causes, asks us to examine production, or arising, to see if it can truly be found. It is a way to get at our assumptions that there are objects, and that these objects have real histories. The reasoning goes like this: if things truly exist, then they would have to be produced, or arise, and the production or arising must be one or the other of the following:

These four alternatives are all there could be—,there is no fifth possibility.

We don't usually question the arising of things. When we do begin to think about arising, sometimes it looks like we assume that things arise or appear from themselves, for example, 'When I go home at night, my house appears because it is there,' or, 'If I go to Los Angeles, I can see Hollywood.' We are assuming that we see things because they already exist: the objects are out there, and they arise or manifest from themselves.

Sometimes we assume that things arise from something other than themselves, for example, 'This computer was produced in a factory,' or, 'These plants grew from seeds.' In these cases we are assuming that the things originally did not exist, but were produced from other things.

Sometimes we assume that things arise from some combination of these two, for example, 'This hamburger was made in the kitchen from hamburger meat.' Here the assumption is that something arose from itself with the aid of other causes and conditions.

Sometimes we think that things arise without cause, for example, 'It was a random accident,' or 'The thought just popped into my head.'

There are lots of scientific and philosophical arguments that are developed to back up the different instinctive explanations, but from an ordinary point of view, we take arising for granted....