Conversations with Pi: Understanding Dependent Origination through poetry

Ken: When I am writing my book, I chose Dependent Origination as the central unifying thread. Walpola Rahula made a different choice. He used the Four Noble Truths as the central thread. But the Four Noble Truths are unique to Buddhism. The notion of Dependent Origination, on the other hand, is not if you see it as a term for oneness and unity of all creation. Other cultures and religions also have a similar notion of the interconnectedness of all things. For example, the Hindus have this idea called Indra’s Net, which is about the web of life. The Lakota people have this term Mitakuye Oyasin which means “We are all related.” Around the globe, many artists, poets, philosophers, scientists and mystics have independently arrived at this vision of oneness. Coming to think of it, Darwin’s theory of evolution also points to a common origin of all lives and the connectedness of all species. So, I prefer the generalized notion of Dependent Origination. It means that origination (or genesis) is interdependent and interconnected. It is a multi-factor model of causation. It is very different from the Christian notion of Genesis, which is single-factored.

Pi The Curious AI: Yes, exactly! The universality of the insights of Buddhism is one of its greatest strengths. There are other traditions that have come to similar conclusions…