Katana VentraIP

Idappaccayatā

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:

Translations of
idappaccayatā

specific conditionality,
this/that conditionality,
convergence of conditional factors,
this conditionedness

idaṃpratyayatā, idampratyayata

idappaccayatā, idappaccayata

此縁性
(Rōmaji: shienshō)

Idappaccayatā (specific conditionality), as expressed in the above formula, is identified as a key expression of the doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination).

U Thittila

[web 3]

Convergence of conditional factors - Ajahn Payutto

Having just these conditions - Jeffrey Hopkins

The conditioned nature of things - Maurice Walshe (Long Discourses)

This conditioned-ness - Patrick Kearney

The following English terms are used as translations for this term:

states: "The Buddha expressed interdependent co-arising very simply: "This is, because that is. This is not, because that is not. This comes to be, because that comes to be. This ceases to be, because that ceases to be." These sentences occur hundreds of times in both the Northern and Southern transmissions. They are the Buddhist genesis."[1]

Thich Nhat Hanh

states: In its abstract form, the doctrine states: "That being, this comes to be; from the arising of that, this arises; that being absent, this is not; from the cessation of that, this ceases." (S.II.28) This states the principle of conditionality, that all things, mental and physical, arise and exist due to the presence of certain conditions, and cease once their conditions are removed: nothing (except Nibbana) is independent.[2]

Peter Harvey

Christina Feldman states: "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.' When all of these cycles of feeling, thought, bodily sensation, all of these cycles of mind and body, action, and movement, are taking place upon a foundation of ignorance — that’s called samsara.

[web 4]

states: "At the heart of his teaching is the principle of dependent origination: because of this, that arises; when this ceases, that also ceases. The law of dependent origination is central to understanding not only the arising of our precious human birth, but also the unfolding process of life itself, in all its pain and beauty."

Joseph Goldstein

: "Another succinct formula states the principle of causality (idaṃpratyayatā) as ‘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.) ...the succinct formula state[s] baldly that the secret of the universe lies in the nature of causality — the way one thing leads to another.[3]

Rupert Gethin

This/that formula[edit]

Translations of this/that formula[edit]

There are many translations of the idappaccayatā formula by contemporary scholars and translators.


Contemporary translator Thanissaro Bikkhu provides the following translation:[web 7]

Access to Insight glossary

Refuge, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Wings to Awakening, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

This is how I heard it, by Patrick Kearney

Dhamma Wheel - Idappaccayatā

Significance of Dependent Origination, by Ajahn Payutto

Paticca Samuppada - Dependent Origination, by Ajahn Brahmavamso