[Buddha-l] Dependent arising variants

[Dan Lusthaus]

Stan,
> This may be, but in the example it clearly was not the person's birth
> that caused his death; it was the person who discharged the gun.  The
> bullet was merely an instrumental means instantiated in the "event" of the
> shooting.

Birth was the cause. This person would have died in some way or other in any
case. The gun, bullet, organic breakdown, etc., are contingent conditions.
Contingent simply means it could have been otherwise (i.e., it is not
necessary). The fact of death, however, once something or someone is born,
cannot be otherwise.

Dan Lusthaus