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Rethinking the Twelve Links: From Literalist Timeline to Moment-to-Moment Psychology
One of the most profound teachings of the Buddha is Dependent Origination (Pali: paṭicca-samuppāda), often illustrated through the twelve links (nidānas). For many readers, the twelve links are understood in a literal, almost biological sense: a sequence that maps the soul’s journey through three lifetimes — past, present, and future. This model, sometimes called the Three Lifetimes Model, has become widespread in both popular and scholastic Buddhism.
But does this view really capture what the Buddha intended? I would argue that it doesn’t. A psychological, moment-to-moment interpretation makes more sense, is truer to the spirit of the Buddha’s teaching of anatta (no-self), and better explains how the chain of suffering actually operates in our lives and practice.
The Literalist View: A Three-Stage Timeline
In the Three Lifetimes Model, the links are spread across past, present, and future lives. For example:
- Name-and-form is the embryo.
- Sense bases arise as the embryo develops organs.
- Contact leads to sensations, which lead to craving and clinging.
- These condition a new becoming, followed by literal birth, and eventually…
