12 links of dependent arising
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Four Truths for the Aryas 
Oct 6, 2006 A teaching given at Dharma Friendship Foundation, Seattle.
Twelve links
- Ignorance
- Karma
- Consciousness
- Name and form
- Sense sources
- Contact
- Feeling
- Craving
12 links of dependent arising 01 (download)
Twelve links continued
- Three kinds of craving
- Grasping
- Becoming
- Birth
- Aging and death
- How a set of 12 links occurs over two lifetimes and over three lifetimes: thinking about the 12 links can help bring about a significant shift in our minds and in our lives
12 links of dependent arising 02 (download)
Questions and answers
- Why is ignorance the first link? How can you have ignorance if there is no consciousness?
- Does every karmic action have the potential to throw you into another rebirth?
- How does a purification practice done with the four powers affect the 12 links? An explanation of throwing karma and completing karma.
- What can we do at the time of death to create a good ambience that will help our good karma to ripen in a beneficial cycle of 12 links? Are there any prayers to say?
- The karma that affects what the circumstances of our death will be and the karma that affects how we react and respond to those circumstances—are they the same karma or different karmas?
- Is there a kind of action that does not create imprints in our consciousness? Are the imprints in our consciousness the cause of our rebirths?
12 links of dependent arising 03 (download)
Venerable Thubten Chodron
Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.
