Why We Are Born
Dependent Origination: The Web of Causes
In Buddhism, nothing arises from a single cause. Life unfolds through dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda) - a vast network of conditions shaping every moment. Our birth, personality, challenges, and opportunities all emerge from countless interconnected factors.
This differs from the Western idea of A causes B. Instead, everything arises
because many conditions come together. Our existence is the result of a long
chain of actions, intentions, and circumstances.
Pratītyasamutpāda Gāthā
ye dharmā hetuprabhavā hetuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgata uvāca । teṣāṃ-ca yo nirodha evaṃvādi mahāśramaṇaḥ । ajñānāc cīyate karma janmanaḥ karma kāraṇam । jñānān na cīyate karma karmābhāvān na jāyate॥Dependent origination can be contrasted with the classic Western concept of causation in which an action by one thing is said to cause a change in another thing.
Dependent origination instead views the change as being caused by many factors, not just one or even a few.
Those dharmas which arise from a cause, the Tathāgata has declared their cause.
And that which is the cessation of them, thus the great renunciant (sramana) has taught.
Through ignorance, karma is accumulated, karma is the cause of (re)birth.
Through knowledge, karma is not accumulated, through absence of karma, one is not (re)born.
The additional verse is Southeast Asia specific (fifth century date) and does not have an equivalent in any Buddhist text, whether in the original Indic language or Tibetan or Chinese translation.
ये धर्मा हेतुप्रभवा हेतुं तेषां तथागत उवाच । तेषांच यो निरोध एवंवादी महाश्रमणः । अज्ञानाच्चीयते कर्म जन्मनः कर्म कारणम् । ज्ञानान्नचीयते कर्म कर्माभावान्न जायते॥𑖧𑖸 𑖠𑖨𑖿𑖦𑖯 𑖮𑖸𑖝𑖲𑖢𑖿𑖨𑖥𑖪𑖯 𑖮𑖸𑖝𑖲𑖽 𑖝𑖸𑖬𑖯𑖽 𑖝𑖞𑖯𑖐𑖝 𑖄𑖪𑖯𑖓 𑗂 𑖝𑖸𑖬𑖯𑖽𑖓 𑖧𑖺 𑖡𑖰𑖨𑖺𑖠 𑖊𑖪𑖽𑖪𑖯𑖟𑖱 𑖦𑖮𑖯𑖫𑖿𑖨𑖦𑖜𑖾 𑗂 𑖀𑖕𑖿𑖗𑖯𑖡𑖯𑖓𑖿𑖓𑖱𑖧𑖝𑖸 𑖎𑖨𑖿𑖦 𑖕𑖡𑖿𑖦𑖡𑖾 𑖎𑖨𑖿𑖦 𑖎𑖯𑖨𑖜𑖦𑖿 𑗂 𑖕𑖿𑖗𑖯𑖡𑖯𑖡𑖿𑖡𑖓𑖱𑖧𑖝𑖸 𑖎𑖨𑖿𑖦 𑖎𑖨𑖿𑖦𑖯𑖥𑖯𑖪𑖯𑖡𑖿𑖡 𑖕𑖯𑖧𑖝𑖸𑗃ཡེ་དྷ་རྨཱ་ཧེ་ཏུ་པྲ་བྷ་བཱ་ཧེ་ཏུཾ་ཏེ་ཥཱཾ་ཏ་ཐཱ་ག་ཏ་ཨུ་བཱ་ཙ། ཏེ་ཥཱཾ་ཙ་ཡོ་ནི་རོ་དྷ་ཨེ་བཾ་བཱ་དཱི་མ་ཧཱ་ཤྲ་མ་ཎཿ༎ye dhammā hetuppabhavā hetuṁ tesaṁ tathāgato uvāca । tesañ-ca yo nirodho evaṁvādī mahāsamaṇo । aññāṇaṁ cīyate kammaṁ jananaṁ kammakāraṇaṁ । ñāṇaṁ na cīyate kammaṁ kammābhāvaṁ na jāyate෴යේ ධර්මා හේතුප්රභවා හේතුං තේෂාං තථාගත උවාච . තේෂාංච යෝ නිරෝධ ඒවංවාදී මහාශ්රමණඃ . අඥානාච්චීයතේ කර්ම ජන්මනඃ කර්ම කාරණම් . ඥානාන්නචීයතේ කර්ම කර්මාභාවාන්න ජායතේ෴Karma: The Force Behind Rebirth
Karma is best understood as a long-running personal balance sheet:
- Good actions add to your assets.
- Harmful actions become liabilities.
Our human birth is shaped by unresolved karmic debts. Life gives us the chance to settle them - to learn, to grow, and to free ourselves from old patterns.
Karma influences every choice, habit, and relationship. You begin to understand it only when you pause and reflect repeatedly. Over time, the patterns become clearer, and acceptance naturally follows.
Why Consciousness Continues
According to Buddhism, consciousness does not begin at birth nor end at death. It continues because the conditions for it continue - just like a flame passing from one candle to another.
Rebirth happens when unresolved karma and craving create momentum. As long as there are karmic debts and unfulfilled tendencies, consciousness seeks a new form.
Human birth arises when the right conditions come together:
- karmic momentum,
- a suitable environment,
- and a physical form capable of awareness and growth.
Why We Are Born Into Specific Lives
Buddhism offers insight into questions many people struggle with:
- Why this family?
- Why these challenges?
- Why these relationships?
- Why this time in history?
The answer is karma - not as punishment, but as continuity. We inherit the momentum of our past actions, and we shape the future through what we do now.
We are born because there are still lessons to learn, qualities to develop, and karmic debts to resolve.
Is Karma Real?
It's easy to doubt karma. We see good people suffer and bad people succeed.
The Buddha explained that karma ripens only when conditions allow it. A corrupt person in a corrupt environment may not face consequences quickly. But in a place that values honesty, the same actions would bring results much sooner.
It is easy to doubt the law of kamma. We see so many people who do good deeds and seem to gain no benefit. So many people do bad things and become rich and successful.
The Buddha said that the results of kamma will only appear rapidly if the surroundings allow it. For example, a corrupt person in a corrupt environment will receive the kammic results of his bad actions much more slowly than a corrupt person in an environment that values honesty. Sooner or later, however, the results will manifest.
Most important to note is that every time that we act with a good, kind, noble intention then those qualities are immediately strengthened in our hearts. And so with selfish, cruel intentions. This strengthening of good and bad qualities in the heart is the perceivable result of kamma, which we do not merely believe in, but can see for ourselves.
Most importantly, karma is visible right now:
- Every kind intention strengthens kindness.
- Every selfish intention strengthens selfishness.
This immediate shaping of the mind is the part of karma we can directly observe.
How Truth Is Known
The Buddha taught that truth is not discovered through tradition, scripture, logic, or authority. Real understanding comes from direct experience.
Now, Kālāmas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher'. When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the observant; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness' — then you should enter & remain in them.
-- Kalama Sutta
The Kalama Sutta encourages us to trust only what we can verify in our own lives:
- Does it reduce suffering?
- Does it bring clarity?
- Does it lead to peace?
If it does, follow it. If it doesn't, let it go.
What About God?
Buddhism does not rely on a creator God. The Buddha is not a deity - he is a teacher who showed the path.
We create our own karma, and we are responsible for resolving it. It's like taking out a mortgage: no one else - not even Buddha or God - can pay it off for you.
The path is ours to walk.