There are many suttas and abbidhamma texts which discuss the Theory of Dependent Origination. For example, the fore-mentioned Eleven Meanings of Paticcasamuppada were quoted from Fenbie Yuanqi Chusheng Famen Jing, which is worth reading. Also, relevant parts of Abhidharmakosa-sastra (Abhidharma Storehouse Treatises), which is translated into Chinese by Xuanzang, and the Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra (Treatises on the Great Perfection of Wisdom) translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva, are also instructive. (From Essentials of Buddhism: Questions and Answers)
Yes. According to the Buddha, the Buddha Dharma covers three successive periods: First, the Period of True Dharma (Saddharmma), i.e. the period of arising and flourishing of Buddhism; Second, the Period of Image Dharmma, i.e. the evolution period, in which the Buddha’s images began to appear; Third, the Period of Termination or the period of decay. The Buddha even discussed the circumstances of Dhamma extinguishing in future. “All dhammas are impermanent”, Buddhism itself is no exception. (From Essentials of Buddhism: Questions and Answers)
All phenomena in the universe exist in mutually depending interrelationships, so that when this arises, that arises; when this ceases, that ceases. There is no permanent existence at all. Therefore, all phenomena are impermanent in nature, arising and ceasing from instant to instant. This is what is meant by the “nature of impermanence” and “extinction in every Khana” mentioned in the eleven implication of Paticcasamppada, and also meant by the canonical saying: “Impermanent are all component things; subject are they to birth, and then decay.” “All Sankhara denotes all things or phenomena are in fluid and changing, they are named “Sankhara”. The term itself implies the meaning of impermanence. The words “birth” and “cessation” actually cover three meanings: origination, destruction and cessation, or four meanings: origination or arising, maintenance or existence, destruction or decay and cessation. Each of the four donates a characteristic or a state of a phenomenon: the birth of a phenomenon is called origination, the moment when it exists and functions is called maintenance, the moment when it exists and functions but begins to decay is called destruction and the perishing of a phenomenon is called cessation. A khaha is a very short moment. According to the description in Buddhist texts, the flicking of a finger spans 60 khanas. “Extinguishing in every khana” means that origination, maintenance, destruction and cessation are all completed within one khapa. Some people ask “why do we speak of ‘instantaneously arising and ceasing’ when the life-span of a person is usually about a few decades?” The Buddhist answer is that a human beings’ life from birth to death is a process consisting of a succession of khanas. A human life-span, on the whole, also goes through origination, existence, decay and extinction, i.e. birth, ageing, sickness and death; but each constituent part consists of continuous arising, existence, destruction and cessation, khana by khana. Buddhist scriptures hold that the human body is completely reviewed every 12 years. An entity’s arising, existing, decay and ceasing or a world’s orgigination, maintenance, destruction and cessation actually consist of instantaneous originations and cessations. Buddhist theory holds that all phenomena, without exception, originate and cease in every Khana, and that any admission of permanent or unchanging entity, which is called the eternity belief, is wrong. (From Essentials of Buddhism: Questions and Answers)
“Fo” is the abbreviation for “Fotuo” which was used to translate the word “Buddha”. “The characters used for “Fotuo” were pronounced “Buda” at the time of translation). Buddha means “an enlightened one” or “an awakened one”. The term “Buddha” existed in India from the earliest times, but Buddhism has attributed three additional connotations to the term. They are as follows: ⑴ enlightenment (Sambodhi, which means thoroughly realizing the properties and appearance of all dhammas as they are); ⑵ perfect enlightenment (Samma-sambodhi, which means not only enlightening oneself but also equally and universally enlightening others); ⑶ supreme or paramount enlightenment (Anuttara samma-sambodhi, which means one’s wisdom and achievement have reached the highest and the most perfect sphere in enlightening oneself or others). (From Essentials of Buddhism: Questions and Answers)
?“Dharma” in Sanskrit means “retaining one’s own nature, so that it can be recognized”. That is to say, everything has its own attributes and appearance and maintains its own properties, by which people can perceive it as what it is.
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