Buddhism

===Dependent arising===
{{Main|Pratītyasamutpāda|Twelve Nidānas}}
''Pratityasamutpada'', also called "dependent arising, or dependent origination", is the Buddhist theory to explain the nature and relations of being, becoming, existence and ultimate reality. Buddhism asserts that there is nothing independent, except the state of nirvana.{{sfnp|Harvey|1998|p=54}} All physical and mental states depend on and arise from other pre-existing states, and in turn from them arise other dependent states while they cease.<ref>[[John Bowker (theologian)|John Bowker]], ''[[Oxford Dictionary of World Religions|The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions]]'' (1997), Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-213965-7}}</ref>

The 'dependent arisings' have a causal conditioning, and thus ''Pratityasamutpada'' is the Buddhist belief that causality is the basis of [[ontology]], not a creator God nor the ontological Vedic concept called universal Self ([[Brahman]]) nor any other 'transcendent creative principle'.{{sfnp|Williams|2002|p=64, Quote: In the ''Mahatanhasankhaya Sutta'' the Buddha [stresses] that things originate in dependence upon causal conditioning, and this emphasis on causality describes the central feature of Buddhist ontology. All elements of samsara exist in some sense or another relative to their causes and conditions.}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Neville |editor=Jeremiah Hackett|others=Jerald Wallulis|title= Philosophy of Religion for a New Century: Essays in Honor of Eugene Thomas Long|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEER8fGxCfMC |year=2004|publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-2073-5 |page=257}}, Quote: "[Buddhism's ontological hypotheses] that nothing in reality has its own-being and that all phenomena reduce to the relativities of pratitya samutpada. The Buddhist ontological hypothesese deny that there is any ontologically ultimate object such a God, Brahman, the Dao, or any transcendent creative source or principle."</ref> However, Buddhist thought does not understand causality in terms of Newtonian mechanics; rather it understands it as conditioned arising.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=153–155}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Guy Debrock |editor=Paul B. Scheurer|others=G. Debrock|title=Newton's Scientific and Philosophical Legacy |year=2012|publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-009-2809-1 |page=376, note 12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y18yBwAAQBAJ}}</ref> In Buddhism, dependent arising refers to conditions created by a plurality of causes that necessarily co-originate a phenomenon within and across lifetimes, such as karma in one life creating conditions that lead to rebirth in one of the realms of existence for another lifetime.<ref name="Kalupahana1975p54">{{cite book |author=David J. Kalupahana|title=Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1975 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOYGAAAAYAAJ |isbn=978-0-8248-0298-1|pages=54–60}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Genjun Sasaki |title=Linguistic Approach to Buddhist Thought |year=1986 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0038-0 |pages=67–69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUBPAzlxJPUC}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=151–152}}

Buddhism applies the theory of dependent arising to explain origination of endless cycles of ''dukkha'' and rebirth, through [[Twelve Nidānas]] or "twelve links". It states that because [[Avidyā (Buddhism)|Avidyā]] (ignorance) exists, [[Saṅkhāra|Saṃskāras]] (karmic formations) exist; because Saṃskāras exist therefore [[Vijñāna]] (consciousness) exists; and in a similar manner it links [[Nāmarūpa]] (the sentient body), [[Ṣaḍāyatana]] (our six senses), [[Sparśa]] (sensory stimulation), [[Vedanā]] (feeling), [[Taṇhā]] (craving), [[Upādāna]] (grasping), [[Bhava]] (becoming), [[Jāti (Buddhism)|Jāti]] (birth), and [[Jarāmaraṇa]] (old age, death, sorrow, and pain).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=65–72}}{{sfnp|Emmanuel|2013|pp=51–66}} By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained.{{sfnp|Harvey|1998|p=54, Quote: "The main concrete application of the abstract principle is in the form of a series of conditioned links (''nidanas''), culminating in the arising of dukkha." (...) "This [doctrine] states the principle of conditionality, that all things, mental and physical, arise and exist due to the presence of certain conditions, and cease once their conditions are removed: nothing (except ''Nibbana'') is independent. The doctrine thus complements the teaching that no permanent, independent self can be found."}}