Paticcasamupadda (Pratītyasamutpāda in sanskrit) is commonly translated as dependent origination, or dependent arising in English. It is a key doctrine shared by all schools of Buddhism.
Its basic principle is that all things (dharmas, phenomena, principles) arise in dependence upon other things. It is a complex concept, subject to a large variety of explanations and interpretations.
One of them is them is that it describes the process of a sentient being's rebirth in saṃsāra, and the resultant duḥkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness), due to kamma accumulated during the previous life.
I personally have doubts about this interpretation because it seems to imply the existence of an entity going on on from one life to an other one. This would be in contradiction with the principle of Anatta. But what do I know ?
I am nevertheless convinced that Paticca samupadda can be very useful tool for practice, (otherwise I would not spend time studying it) if you consider
An other interpretation is that Paticcasamupadda actually describes the arising of mental
processes and the resultant notion of "I" and "mine" that leads to
grasping and suffering. It is then very useful to figure out how we can stop the
process, once we understand how it
applies to the “birth” and “death” of our daily feelings
and emotions. This is well taught by Buddhadasa Bikkhu. in his work "Paticcasamuppada: Practical Dependent Origination".
However, even if I have reservation about the 3 lives interpretation, i found out that most of what has been written about it can also be used to help us improve our daily lives and the world around us.
This is the reason why I edited the book "Dynamic psychology of Early Buddhism" by Rune E. A. Johansson from a low quality scan. I found this book quite beneficial for my own understanding and practice.
You can download this book for free at :
https://www.academia.edu/144352118/The_Dynamic_Psychology_of_Early_Buddhism
Although I did everything I could to make sure the English text would be
accurate, I cannot guarantee that the Pali quotes (in italic) are, as
they weresometimes hard to read on the original scan and because I could
not always and did not want to waste too much time reproducing some of
the accents and marks of the Pali script.
The numbers on the right side of some of the pages are references to the pagination of the original book.
I hope this is useful for your practice.
You can download the original I worked from at
https://archive.org/details/dynamicpsycholog0000joha
