Buddhism, Ethnic Studies, Sociology 

This book is a psychologist's attempt to understand what the Buddha meant by "dependent origination" (paṭiccasamuppāda, sometimes translated as "causality"). Those who are familiar with Theravada Buddhism have met the famous series of twelve links in the chain of causation (nidānas) of which each is said to be the condition of the next one, and the background of this book is exactly the challenging, teasing incomprehensibility of this series. The author has collected all passages in the Nikāyas or scriptural literature which throw light on the meaning of the conditioned sequences, accepting only those explanations which agree with the facts in the Nikāyas. The result of these investigations is that the dynamic aspect of the Buddha's psychology must have been much more extreme and all-pervading that is usually believed today.

(from back cover)