Conditionality and non-self

At the heart of the Buddha’s teaching lies the profound link between conditionality (*paṭicca-samuppāda*) and non-self (*anattā*). By deeply contemplating how all phenomena arise dependent on conditions, one directly sees the emptiness of any enduring, independent self.

Every aspect of experience — body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness — arises and ceases according to specific causes. There is no unchanging entity that owns or controls these processes. The sense of “I” emerges from habitually stitching these transient experiences into a narrative of continuity, but when examined closely, no stable core can be found.

Conditionality reveals that the self is not something solid that exists prior to experience, but a conceptual overlay imposed upon the fluid flow of arising phenomena. Like a rainbow appearing when sunlight meets moisture, the self appears due to certain conditions, but has no independent substance.

This insight dismantles both pride and fear, for what was grasped as “me” is seen as simply a process unfolding moment by moment. With no self to defend or promote, the mind softens, craving diminishes, and equanimity grows.

Freedom does not come from destroying the self, but from seeing that there was never a self to begin with — only dependent arising. The end of suffering lies not in adding something new but in relinquishing the mistaken grasp on what was never truly there.

“When there is this, that comes to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases. Thus, there is no abiding self in any phenomenon.”
— Samyutta Nikāya 12.61 (paraphrased)