Dependent origination, link by link

Twelve Links Explorer

Built by Tim Yu, Founder & Editor · Published 27 October 2026

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Step through the twelve links of dependent origination one at a time. Follow the chain as it arises, from ignorance to old age and death, watch it cease in the same order, or trace it back from the end. Each link comes with the Buddha’s own definition, its Pali name and its other English names, and a menu shows several later readings of it, each labelled by source.

Reading:

Link 1 of 12 · the early discourses

Ignorance

avijjā · also translated “ignorance” (Ṭhānissaro), “ignorance” (Bodhi, 1980)

And what is ignorance? Not knowing about suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering. This is called ignorance.

The Buddha's definition: Analysis (SN 12.2), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato

Ignorance is a requirement for choices.

What it supports: Dependent Origination (SN 12.1), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato

The suttas give the chain as a series of conditions and define each link, as above. They do not themselves assign the links to past, present and future lives; that belongs to the later readings in the menu.

On Tibetan Wheel of Life paintings this link is most often shown as a blind person with a walking stick, Himalayan Art Resources notes; the Chinese version of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya's instruction, in Teiser's translation, asks for a rakṣa demon. Paintings differ: see the Wheel of Life.

Nothing is saved; the link you are on is kept in the page address so you can share it.

Where the definitions come from

Two short discourses carry the chain. In SN 12.1 the Buddha states it, each link "a requirement for" the next, and then states it ceasing. In SN 12.2, called Analysis, he states it again and defines every link, from old age and death back to ignorance. The explorer quotes both in Bhikkhu Sujato’s public-domain translation. Its general principle, "when this exists, this comes to be", is given in SN 12.21, and the whole teaching, with what it means for rebirth and for practice, is on our page on dependent origination.

Three lives or one moment?

The suttas define the links but do not say which belong to which life: the explicit three-lives division comes in later texts, though Bhikkhu Bodhi argues that variants of the formula, such as SN 12.19, lend it "strong support". In the Theravāda commentary, Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga places ignorance and choices in the past life, consciousness through continued existence in the present, and rebirth and old age and death in the future, drawing on the Paṭisambhidāmagga, an older treatise in the Theravāda canon. Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa divides them the same way for the Sarvāstivāda school, while reporting a momentary way of taking the chain as one of four. In modern Thailand Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu argued that one turn of the chain happens in a single moment of everyday experience, and that the three-lives reading wrongly implies a self passing between lives. The explorer keeps these readings apart rather than blending them: Buddhadāsa, for one, rejected the commentary's.

The hinge

The join between feeling and craving gets special attention, and the clearest canonical statement of why is in MN 38: when feeling is approved and welcomed, "this gives rise to relishing", and "relishing feelings is grasping"; when it is not, relishing ceases, and the rest of the chain with it. In his three-lives scheme Buddhaghosa calls it the one join that runs from a fruit to a new cause. On the Tibetan Wheel of Life, the twelve links are the scenes around the rim.

Learn the Pali terms with the flashcards, or explore the Eightfold Path, the way the chain is undone. See all our free tools.

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Frequently asked questions

How do I use the twelve links explorer?

Choose a direction: arising, from ignorance to old age and death; ceasing, the same chain unwinding; or trace back, from old age and death to ignorance. Step through with Previous and Next, or pick any link. Each shows the Buddha's definition from SN 12.2 and its conditioning line from SN 12.1. The Reading menu adds how a later tradition places that link, labelled by source.

Why does the Buddha sometimes teach the twelve links backwards?

Because the chain can be followed from either end. SN 12.2 states it forward, then defines the links from old age and death back to ignorance. DN 15 works back link by link from old age and death, and SN 12.65 tells the Buddha's own search, before his awakening, the same way. The Udana's 'going against the grain' is different: it is the chain ceasing, still beginning from ignorance.

Are there always twelve links of dependent origination?

No. The twelve-link list is the most common, but DN 15 gives the chain with nine, starting from name and form and consciousness supporting each other, and SN 12.65 gives ten, in which consciousness 'turns back from name and form'. SN 12.23 runs past suffering to faith, joy and freedom. The explorer follows the twelve of SN 12.1 and SN 12.2.

Why do translations give the twelve links different names?

Because several Pali words have no single English match. Bhikkhu Sujato translates sankhara as choices, bhava as continued existence and jati as rebirth; Thanissaro Bhikkhu has fabrications, becoming and birth; Bhikkhu Bodhi, in his 1980 essay, kamma formations, existence and birth. The explorer gives the Pali and all three beside each link.

Is anything I do in the explorer saved?

No. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere. The link you are looking at is kept in the page address, so you can bookmark it or send it to someone.