Friday 16 December 2016

Causes & Conditions.

A definition.

What's the difference between cause and condition in Buddhism?

A cause is a discrete event which occurs before a result.

A condition is not discrete, it is continuous, and must remain true in order for things to arise in dependence upon it.


An example.

If I drop an apple, there are a mixture of causes and conditions relating to the apple falling.

Causes include me picking up the apple, me letting go of the apple, and so forth.

Conditions include the existence of gravity, the lack of any physical obstruction underneath the apple, the apple having mass.

Some of those conditions are very slow to change, and some are not. When the apple hits the ground, the condition of there being no obstruction underneath it will cease, and so the freefall of the apple will cease due to a dependent condition ceasing.


Source: An article in Quora.

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