Seeing dependent origination in the moment: The application of paṭiccasamuppāda to episodes of consciousness in the early Abhidhamma

The doctrine of dependent origination as presented in the Nikāya-Āgama literature has been much discussed; the notion (explicit in Buddhist exegetical traditions) that its twelve links might refer to the causal connections that operate across different lives is frequently referred to in the scholarly literature. Generally overlooked is the canonical Abhidharma’s notion of simultaneous—or, according to the exegetical literature, ‘momentary’ (khaṇika/kṣaṇika)—dependent origination. This article examines the Theravāda Vibhaṅga’s application of dependent origination to the different classes of consciousness distinguished in the Dhammasaṅgaṇi, which include skilful (kusala), unskilful (akusala), and indeterminate (avyākata) types. The application of dependent origination to these episodes of consciousness necessitates various adaptations which, it is argued, reveal an underlying psychology and a wish to demonstrate how, as a universal law of causality, dependent origination operates on all scales, from the macrocosmic (death and rebirth) to the microcosmic (what we do, say, and think from moment to moment).