Dharma does not

involve believing in anything supernatural: in some god or power, and neither does
faith
in the Dharma involve assenting to a revelation. Most broadly, the Dharma consists
of all
those ideas (like karma) and practices (such as meditation) that help us to develop
ourselves towards enlightenment or awakening
However, the manifold doctrines and
practices of the Buddhist tradition are more than useful secular teachings: they are
all
applications of the basic insight that the Buddha expressed in the most general
way in his
teaching of conditionality. But this teaching is itself the expression of an experience
that
goes beyond the ordinary world, an experience of directly knowing and touching
the
ultimate truth and reality of things.


conditionality is really to study how all three of these aspects of the Dharma work
together:
1. A direct experience of reality that transcends words and concepts
2. The principle of conditionality
3. The doctrines and methods by which this principle is applied

This being, that becomes; from the arising of this, that arises;
This not being, that does not become; from the ceasing of this, that ceases.

not connected with the goal, they are not fundamental to the spiritual life
(brahmacariya), they do not conduce to disenchantment, to dispassion, to
cessation, to peacefulness, to wisdom, to awakening, or to nirvana.

(i) Conditionality is broader than causality
The cause of someones death might be said
to be a heart attack or cancer, but there are very many more conditions that played
a part
in this death, such as diet, habits and lifestyle. Conditionality is therefore a broader
concept than causality.

Dukkha arises on
many connected conditions, each playing their part in supporting the wrong views
and
unwholesome behaviour that lead to unsatisfactoriness. Consequently, the way
that leads
from dukkha to enlightenment consists of changing all of these conditions, one by
one.
Needless to say, the human situation is complicated, and each of us is
uniquely

(ii) Conditionality is universal
What, monks, is dependent-arising (paicca-samuppda)? With birth as condition,
monks, there is age and death. Whether or not Tathgatas (Buddhas) arise, this
natural condition persists, this stability of nature, this fixed course of nature,
specific conditionality.6
The point being made is that the Dharma is not just the Buddhas good ideas, it is
not
only a useful teaching; it is based on the nature of reality, whether or not any
Enlightened
beings have realised it. Each of us, in following the path of the Dharma, is in a
sense rediscovering
for ourself the ancient road to nirvana which the Buddha found after it had
become lost.
(iii) To understand conditionality is to understand the Dharma
Dharma as reality is beyond our capacity for
thinking it can only be directly perceived by a concentrated and purified mind.
The
principle of conditionality is the most fundamental conceptual expression of the
Buddhas
experience of the Dharma, and for this reason the Buddha taught:
yo paiccasamuppda passati so dhamma passati; yo dhamma passati so
paiccasamuppda passati.
One who sees dependent-arising (paiccasamuppda) sees the Dharma; one who
sees the Dharma sees dependent-arising