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Idappaccayatā (Pali, also idappaccayata; Sanskrit: idaṃpratyayatā) 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 (or conditions), and cease once these causes (or conditions) are removed. This principle is expressed in the following simple formula that is repeated hundreds of times in the Buddhist discourses:
When this is, that is.
From the arising of this comes the arising of that.
When this isn't, that isn't.
From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that.
Translations of idappaccayatā | |
---|---|
English | specific conditionality, this/that conditionality, convergence of conditional factors, this conditionedness |
Sanskrit | idaṃpratyayatā, idampratyayata |
Pali | idappaccayatā, idappaccayata |
Japanese | 此縁性 (Rōmaji: shienshō) |
Glossary of Buddhism |
Idappaccayatā (specific conditionality), as expressed in the above formula, is identified as a key expression of the doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination).
The Pali term idappaccayatā, is composed of three Pali words: ida, paccaya and tā. Translator Patrick Kearney explains these terms as follows:[web 1]
Paccaya is derived from the verb pacceti ([...] “come back to,” fig. “fall back on,” “find one’s hold in”). Literally meaning “support,” its applied meaning is “reason, cause, ground, condition.” The other parts of the compound are: ida, which means “this;” and the abstract suffix - tā.
Ven. Dhammanando provides the following explanation:[web 2]
Idappaccayatā [equals] idaṃ + paccaya + tā.
‘Idaṃ’ means ‘this’, being the neuter nominative or accusative singular of the adjective/pronoun ‘ima’. However, when ‘idaṃ’ occurs in a compound word, with elision of the niggahīta, it may stand for any of the oblique cases of ‘ima’. Here it is understood by the commentators to stand for ‘imesaṃ’, the genitive plural — ‘of these’.
‘Paccaya’ [equals] ‘paccayā’ (nominative plural) — conditions.
The suffix ‘-tā’ forms a noun of state, like the English ‘-ness’.
Literally: “conditions-of-these-ness”
The following English terms are used as translations for this term:
Idappaccayatā (this/that conditionality), as expressed in the this/that formula, is identified as a key expression of the doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination).[lower-alpha 1]
Ajahn Payutto describes idappaccayatā as another name for pratītyasamutpāda.[web 5] Ajahn Payutto provides the following quote from the Pali sutta S. II. 25-6:[web 5]
Whether Tathāgatas arise or not, that principle of specific conditionality [idappaccayatā] is constant, certain and a law of nature. Having fully awakened to and penetrated to this truth, a Tathāgata announces it, teaches it, clarifies it, formulates it, reveals it, and analyzes it. And he says: ‘See! With ignorance as condition, there are volitional formations.... Thus, bhikkhus, this actuality (tathatā), this inerrancy (avitathatā), this invariability (anaññathatā) — this specific conditionality (idappaccayatā) — this is called dependent origination.
The Access to Insight glossary emphasizes that idappaccayatā relates to direct experience. The glossary states:[web 6]
There are many translations of the idappaccayatā formula by contemporary scholars and translators.
Contemporary translator Thanissaro Bikkhu provides the following translation:[web 7]
When this is, that is.
From the arising of this comes the arising of that.
When this isn't, that isn't.
From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that.
Rupert Gethin translates it as follows:[3]
This existing, that exists;
this arising, that arises;
this not existing, that does not exist;
this ceasing, that ceases’.(Majjhima Nikāya iii. 63; Samyutta Nikāya v. 387; etc.)
Thanissaro Bhikkhu analyzes the meaning of the this/that formula as follows:[web 8]
The Buddha expressed this/that conditionality in a simple-looking formula:
(1) When this is, that is.
(2) From the arising of this comes the arising of that.
(3) When this isn't, that isn't.
(4) From the stopping of this comes the stopping of that.— AN 10.92
There are many possible ways of interpreting this formula, but only one does justice both to the way the formula is worded and to the complex, fluid manner in which specific examples of causal relationships are described in the Canon. That way is to view the formula as the interplay of two causal principles, one linear and the other synchronic, that combine to form a non-linear pattern. The linear principle — taking (2) and (4) as a pair — connects events, rather than objects, over time; the synchronic principle — (1) and (3) — connects objects and events in the present moment. The two principles intersect, so that any given event is influenced by two sets of conditions: input acting from the past and input acting from the present. Although each principle seems simple, the fact that they interact makes their consequences very complex.
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