[Buddha-l] Dependent arising variants

[Dan Lusthaus]

> Well, it's very unusual if a desparate parent asks: 'O, doctor, what is
> the cause of my sons death?' and the doctor answers after some
> reflection: 'I think it was his birth'.
> Erik

That is, in effect, what doctors do when they write "natural causes" on the
death certificate. Since we are concerned with justice, fairness, blame,
responsibility, and don't like to stare mujo straight in the face, the
mitigating circumstances are very important as well. But not because these
are necessary causes -- in fact, precisely because they are the opposite.
They are contingent, they could have been otherwise. The parent asks,
assuming that, in the absence of some or another conditions, my son would
still be alive. What was that contingency, and why wasn't it averted? Unless
the condition itself was congenital, it could have been avoided, hence not
necessary.

Dan Lusthaus