The Shape of Suffering, a Study of Dependent Co-arising

by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

The Shape of Suffering, a Study of Dependent Co-arising paperback

VG- trade paperback. Tight, square, text is unmarked, light bump to corner, small curl to corners from storage, no spine creasing.

Genres: Buddhism

166 pages, Paperback

About the author

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, also known as Ajaan Geoff (born Geoffrey DeGraff, 1949), is an American Theravada Buddhist monk of the Dhammayut Order (Dhammayutika Nikaya), Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He is currently the abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is a translator of the Pāli Canon as well as more modern Buddhist works and the author of many articles and books on Dhamma.

Reviews

[Vishnu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is truly one-of-a-kind. I guess, if I were to put it simply, this book is solely concerned with what the Buddha taught, historically, without varnish. I want to read more books like this: not about mindfulness, not about stress reduction, and not even about loving the world. About suffering and the end of suffering, plain and simple. Deep stuff, and honestly, perhaps not for the faint of heart.

[Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ven. Ananda: It's amazing, lord, it's astounding, how deep this dependent co-arising is, and how deep its appearance, and yet to me it seems as clear as can be.

The Buddha: Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that...

This book is a wonderful study of a quite complicated topic. Thanissaro, with expert skill, presents the subject in his usual style: joining abundant excerpts from the Suttas together with his own commentary. I still don't fully grasp it all (or else I'd certainly be awakened), but the mechanisms of suffering seem a little clearer now.

[rey]

This book is brilliant. I have always been confused by the 12 Links of Dependent Origination, assuming that it described rebirth across lifetimes.

Thanks to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, I believe the 12 links can better explain moment-by-moment arising and dissolution of identity. This post is an explanation of selfing: the process by which an illusory sense of self arises.

This is from Part 2 of my series The Art of Emptiness, available free on Substack!

How the sense of self is fabricated

Let me make a (potentially obvious) observation: You have never seen, heard, or touched a self. The self is a concept, and selfing happens when we conceptualize away from our direct experience.

This conceptualization happens through a predictable sequence of steps in which we come into contact with something and come to identify with it. The sequence goes like this:

contact • feeling • craving • clinging • becoming • birth • death

Here’s an example. Imagine you’re deeply absorbed in a walk through the woods when you come face to face with a beautiful rainbow (contact). You appreciate it momentarily (feeling), and then a thought strikes you—How many likes could this get on social media? (Craving.) You snap the picture (becoming) and upload it (birth), but then your cell signal cuts out. For the rest of the walk, your mind is consumed with thoughts about how well your post might be doing (clinging). When cell signal returns and you open your phone, a complete absence of notifications puts to rest your fantasy of immense popularity (death). It’s only a matter of time before you make contact with something new and give birth to a new sense of self.

In case it isn’t clear, death doesn’t describe a literal death, but rather the death of an identity. We could describe selfing as a cycle of rebirth—not of the body, but of an identity. In each cycle of selfing, an identity is born, sustained through grasping (craving, aversion, or clinging), and eventually dies. The cycle repeats.

Let’s deepen our understanding by making a couple of further observations about the selfing process.


Grasping creates sense of self. This is a subtle, but significant point. ‘I’ didn’t grasp at social media likes—rather, the grasping at likes created the sense of there being an ‘I.’ This flips ordinary perception on its head. The self is not the agent behind action; the sense of self is the product of action.

Selfing is separation. Before the selfing began, there was only absorption, or flow. Selfing separates subject (‘I’) from object (woods) and inhibits access to direct experience. This explains why…

Selfing is unsatisfying. Selfing depends on two uncomfortable processes: grasping and loss (aka death). There is no joy in anxiously clinging to social media likes or the death of the dream of being popular. The process of selfing is a bit like licking honey from a razor: attractive at first, but unpleasant in the long run. However, there’s good news, because…

Selfing is optional! Selfing and dissatisfaction are let go of when any of the links are let go of. The simplest link to let go of is grasping. The more grasping is let go of, the more confidence arises that this letting go really does lead to well-being.


To quote the Buddha:

Whatever is not yours: let go of it.
Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit.

[Greg]

"Both formerly & now, it is only stress that I describe, and the cessation of stress." - SN 22:86

In a typical Thanissaro fashion, this book cuts deep and straight to the point, with absolutely no fluff. It is truly a treatsie. If you want to hear what the Buddha had to say on Dependent origination (paticcasamuppāda), then this is a the book for you. It is not for the feint of heart. It is a serious attempt at showing the reader how the four nutriments lead to further becoming and how we perpetuate our own suffering. This cannot be better summarized better than by a quote of the pali cannon, which is found in the book.

May this book aid you in your journey.

________________________________

“And how is physical food to be regarded? Suppose a couple, husband and wife, taking meager provisions, were to travel through a desert. With them would be their only baby son, dear and appealing. Then the meager provisions of the couple going through the desert would be used up and depleted while there was still a stretch of the desert yet to be crossed. The thought would occur to them, ‘Our meager provisions are used up and depleted while there is still a stretch of this desert yet to be crossed. What if we were to kill this only baby son of ours, dear and appealing, and make dried meat and jerky. That way — chewing on the flesh of our son — at least the two of us would make it through this desert. Otherwise, all three of us would perish.’ So they would kill their only baby son, loved and endearing, and make dried meat and jerky. Chewing on the flesh of their son, they would make it through the desert. While eating the flesh of their only son, they would beat their breasts, (crying,) ‘Where have you gone, our only baby son? Where have you gone, our only baby son?’ Now what do you think, monks, would that couple eat that food playfully or for intoxication, or for putting on bulk, or for beautification?”

“No, lord.”

“Wouldn’t they eat that food simply for the sake of making it through that desert?”

“Yes, lord.”

“In the same way, I tell you, is the nutriment of physical food to be regarded. When physical food is comprehended, passion for the five strings of sensuality is comprehended. When passion for the five strings of sensuality is comprehended, there is no fetter bound by which a disciple of the noble ones would come back again to this world."


-SN 22:70

[John Lescano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ven. T's ability to further system-ify the Buddha's teachings is a gift we can all benefit from. His analogies in this treatise have helped tremendously in deepening my undestanding of paticcasamupada. Specifically, how it is a nonlinear system subject to feedback loops, rather than a simple system like the circular model everyone is familiar with. Even the analogy of it being a circle of infinity mirrors is too simple. In very few words, Ven. T. has articulated perfectly what one can observe when one attains a certain level of stillness in meditation and then disrupts it by bringing up, and sustaining any of the links of paticcasamupadda. I've seen others explain it as ripples, and although accurate enough in appearance, this analogy is not very helpful for understanding paticasamupada further. The models and analogies contained in this book have a more appropriate level of depth for this complex concept which makes this treatise an important read for any training Buddhist Meditator.

[Tom Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a better understanding of dependent co-arising after reading this book. As per usual, interesting critiques of Western and Far Eastern philosophy. Interesting link draw to food/eating as it relates to the inherent suffering of becoming. Good mix of commentary and quotations from the Pali Canon, though many of the quotes could be abridged further due to their repetitive nature.