First create the universe

I recently was drawn to this brilliant and insightful quotation by Carl Edward Sagan, US astronomer and populariser of astronomy (1934 – 1996),

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.

That quotation reminded me of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh holding aloft a blank white sheet of paper, and asking retreatants ‘How did this sheet of paper come into being?’ How indeed!

A conventional answer would describe industrial/agricultural processes to produce paper and apple pies. However, that is not the answer that either Carl Edward Sagan or Thich Nhat Hanh had in mind, of that I’m certain.

Rather, the answer to these questions are to be found in the Buddha’s peerless teachings. 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.

Pratitya-samutpada “dependent origination,” is the view that no phenomenon exists (or comes about) without depending on other phenomena or conditions around it. In English also called “conditioned genesis,” “dependent co-arising,” “interdependent arising.”  Only a Buddha, it is said, can fathom it in its entirety, but its presence cannot be denied.

For example, in the Buddhist scheme of things there are no random events; every meeting is a significant event whether one realises it at the time or not. Is there anyone whose life has not been altered by some seemingly chance encounter

His Holiness the Dalai Lama said that the teaching of Dependent Origination precludes two possibilities.

One is the possibility that things can arise from nowhere, with no causes and conditions, and the second is that things can arise on account of a transcendent designer or creator. Both these possibilities are negated.

His Holiness also said,

Once we appreciate that fundamental disparity between appearance and reality, we gain a certain insight into the way our emotions work, and how we react to events and objects. Underlying the strong emotional responses we have to situations, we see that there is an assumption that some kind of independently existing reality exists out there. In this way, we develop an insight into the various functions of the mind and the different levels of consciousness within us. We also grow to understand that although certain types of mental or emotional states seem so real, and although objects appear to be so vivid, in reality they are mere illusions. They do not really exist in the way we think they do.

An understanding of Dependent Origination is essential to understanding Buddhism, and how to make apple pies and paper from scratch.