Dependent Origination

Peace and forgiveness come when we

Stop searching for a first cause

Someone to blame

Staunch individualism is a hoax

We are all interconnected

We are all, without exception, dependently arisen

Our thoughts and feelings

Are dependently arisen

This sheet of paper has in it

Trees, water, and earth

It is dependently arisen

It has no first cause

In Japan, there is the Nikon Retreat

You go to the place and thank the door

You thank the maker of the door

The carpenter

The trees, the water, the earth

You put your socks in the drawer

Thanking the dresser

The drawer, the wood, the furniture maker

The trees, the water, the earth

And so on

You stop to thank every single thing and person

If you didn’t limit the time of the retreat

It  would go on forever

As causes are infinite

Contemplating dependent origination establishes new pathways in the mind for the truth of blamelessness

That there is no first cause of anything

No origin story

Except dependent origination

This paper couldn’t have come from just one cause

Like just the trees, or the water, or the earth

It came from not just three, but limitless causes

As do the things we don’t like about ourselves and others

It is skillful

It creates a better outcome for ourselves and others

When we pause and contemplate the dependent origination of the things we like and don’t like about ourselves and others

Contemplation of dependent origination can be regular part of meditation practice