The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

By Victor M Fontane

A key concept in Buddhism that explains how suffering (dukkha) arises and continues through the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara). Each link causes the next, forming a chain of cause and effect.

Here they are in order:

 1. Avijjā – Ignorance: Not understanding the Four Noble Truths.

 2. Saṅkhāra – Volitional formations: Mental formations or karmic actions driven by ignorance.

 3. Viññāṇa – Consciousness: The arising of awareness due to karmic formations.

 4. Nāma-rūpa – Name and form: Mental and physical existence (mind-body complex).

 5. Saḷāyatana – Six sense bases: The five physical senses plus the mind.

 6. Phassa – Contact: Interaction between the senses and their objects.

 7. Vedanā – Feeling: Sensation (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral) that arises from contact.

 8. Taṇhā – Craving: Desire or thirst for pleasurable experiences.

 9. Upādāna – Clinging: Attachment or grasping to desires, views, and identities.

 10. Bhava – Becoming: Continued existence or the formation of a new life.

 11. Jāti – Birth: Actual rebirth or arising of a new existence.

 12. Jarāmaraṇa – Aging and death: The inevitable decay and death, along with sorrow, lamentation, and suffering.

This chain shows how suffering originates and perpetuates through ignorance and craving, and how breaking the chain—particularly at the links of ignorance or craving—leads to liberation (nirvana).