Idappaccayatā
Idappaccayatā is a Buddhist term that is translated as "specific conditionality" or "this/that conditionality". It refers to the principle of causality: that all things arise and exist due to certain causes, and cease once these causes are removed. This principle is expressed in the following simple formula that is repeated hundreds of times in the Buddhist discourses:
Idappaccayatā, as expressed in the above formula, is identified as a key expression of the doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda.
Etymology
The Pali term idappaccayatā, is composed of three Pali words: ida, paccaya and tā. Translator Patrick Kearney explains these terms as follows:Ven. Dhammanando provides the following explanation:
Alternate translations
The following English terms are used as translations for this term:- Causality
- * Specific causality - U Thittila
- * Specifically assignable causality - Pe Maung Tin
- Conditionality - Jeffrey Hopkins
- * This/that conditionality - Thanissaro Bhikkhu
- * Specific conditionality - Ajahn Payutto; Bodhi/Ñāṇamoli
- Convergence of conditional factors - Ajahn Payutto
- Having just these conditions - Jeffrey Hopkins
- The conditioned nature of things - Maurice Walshe
- This conditioned-ness - Patrick Kearney
Expression of ''pratītyasamutpāda''
Idappaccayatā, as expressed in the this/that formula, is identified as a key expression of the doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda.- Thich Nhat Hanh states: "The Buddha expressed interdependent co-arising very simply: "This is, because that is. This is not, because that is not. This comes to be, because that comes to be. This ceases to be, because that ceases to be." These sentences occur hundreds of times in both the Northern and Southern transmissions. They are the Buddhist genesis."
- Peter Harvey states: In its abstract form, the doctrine states: "That being, this comes to be; from the arising of that, this arises; that being absent, this is not; from the cessation of that, this ceases." This 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 is independent.
- Christina Feldman states: "The basic principle of dependent origination is simplicity itself. The Buddha described it by saying: 'When there is this, that is. / With the arising of this, that arises. / When this is not, neither is that. / With the cessation of this, that ceases.' When all of these cycles of feeling, thought, bodily sensation, all of these cycles of mind and body, action, and movement, are taking place upon a foundation of ignorance — that’s called samsara.
- Joseph Goldstein states: "At the heart of his teaching is the principle of dependent origination: because of this, that arises; when this ceases, that also ceases. The law of dependent origination is central to understanding not only the arising of our precious human birth, but also the unfolding process of life itself, in all its pain and beauty."
- Rupert Gethin: "Another succinct formula states the principle of causality as ‘this existing, that exists; this arising, that arises; this not existing, that does not exist; this ceasing, that ceases’. ...the succinct formula state baldly that the secret of the universe lies in the nature of causality — the way one thing leads to another.
Equivalence to ''pratītyasamutpāda''
Ajahn Payutto describes idappaccayatā as another name for pratītyasamutpāda. Ajahn Payutto provides the following quote from the Pali sutta S. II. 25-6:Direct experience
The Access to Insight glossary emphasizes that idappaccayatā relates to direct experience. The glossary states:This/that formula
Translations of this/that formula
There are many translations of the idappaccayatā formula by contemporary scholars and translators.Contemporary translator Thanissaro Bikkhu provides the following translation:
Rupert Gethin translates it as follows: