The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination
The Buddha's teaching on how suffering arises and continues through twelve connected links — and how understanding them can free us.
The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination were described by the Buddha in SN 12.1 (the Samyutta Nikaya). In his description of dependent origination, he explains how suffering arises and continues. As stated clearly in the title, there are twelve links or chains that form a connected circle.
- Ignorance (avijja)
- Volitional formations (sankhara)
- Consciousness (vinnana)
- Name and form (nama rupa)
- Six sense gates (salayatana)
- Contact (phassa)
- Feeling tone (vedana)
- Craving (tanha)
- Clinging (upadana)
- Becoming (bhava)
- Birth (jati)
- Old age and death (jara marana)
This list, while long and — for newer practitioners — sometimes confusing or even overwhelming, can, through study and attention, show us how we keep ourselves stuck in the cycle of samsara through clinging and confusion. This teaching is worth digging deeper into.