Thus have I heard—At one time, the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthi, in Jeta‘s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s park. There, the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus: “Bhikkhus.”
“Venerable sir,” those bhikkhus responded to the Blessed One. The Blessed One said:
“I will teach you the |dependent co-arising::arising together from a cause, chain of causation, dependent origination [paṭiccasamuppāda]|. Listen well and pay close attention, I will speak.”
“Yes, venerable sir,” those bhikkhus responded to the Blessed One. The Blessed One said:
“And what, bhikkhus, is dependent co-arising? |Dependent on::contingent on, supported by, grounded on [paṭicca]| |ignorance::fundamental unawareness or misunderstanding of the true nature of reality, not experientially understanding the four noble truths [avijjā]|, bhikkhus, |intentional constructs::intentions, volitions, and choices expressed as mental, verbal, and bodily activities; thought formations and constructed experiences (including proliferative tendencies); processes that produce kamma [saṅkhāra]| [arise]; dependent on intentional constructs, |consciousness::quality of awareness — distinctive knowing that arises in dependence on the meeting of eye and form, ear and sound, nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and tangible object, mind and mind object [viññāṇa]| arises; dependent on consciousness, |name and form::mentality and materiality—the integrated structure of mental capacities (intention, attention, contact, feeling, perception) and physical form that together constitute and sustain an individual being [nāmarūpa]| arise; dependent on name and form, the |six sense bases::The six internal sense bases—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are the faculties that enable sensory contact and experience. They are not the physical organs themselves, but the functional conditions that enable consciousness to meet an object [saḷāyatana]| arise; dependent on the six sense bases, |contact::sense impingement, raw experience, touch [phassa]| arises; dependent on contact, |felt experience::pleasant, neutral, or painful sensation, feeling, second of the five aggregates [vedanā]| arises; dependent on felt experience, |craving::wanting, yearning, longing, attachment, lit. thirst [taṇha]| arises; dependent on craving, |clinging::grasping, acquiring, appropriating, taking possession, identifying [upādāna]| arises; dependent on clinging, |existence::continued conditional existence, the karmically conditioned mode of being that leads to future rebirth [bhava]| arises; dependent on existence, |birth::rebirth, conception, coming into existence [jāti]| arises; dependent on birth, aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair arise. Thus is the arising of this whole mass of suffering. This is called, bhikkhus, dependent co-arising.
With the |complete fading away and ending::remainderless dispassion and cessation [asesavirāganirodha]| of ignorance comes ending of intentional constructs; with the ending of intentional constructs, ending of consciousness; with the ending of consciousness, ending of name and form; with the ending of name and form, ending of the six sense bases; with the ending of the six sense bases, ending of contact; with the ending of contact, ending of felt experience; with the ending of felt experience, ending of craving; with the ending of craving, ending of clinging; with the ending of clinging, ending of existence; with the ending of existence, ending of birth; with the ending of birth, aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair cease. Thus is the ending of this whole mass of suffering.”
The Blessed One said this. The bhikkhus were satisfied and rejoiced in the Blessed One’s words.