Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, the renowned Buddhist Thai monk, explained his inter-
pretation of the cycle of Dependent origination as follows:
“It (Paticcasamuppada) is a detailed demonstration of how suffering arises and
how suffering ceases. It also demonstrated that the arising and ceasing of suffering
is a matter of natural interdependence. It is not necessary for angels or holy things,
or anything else to help suffering arise or cease....
....The other aspect of Paticcasamuppada is that it demonstrates that there are no
sentient beings, persons, selves, we or they here orfloating around looking for a
next life. Everything is just nature: arising, existing, and passing away”
(Buddhadasa 2002 :23–24). This interpretation of Buddhadasa boldly contradicts
the traditional interpretation, which was widely accepted that the birth of I and mine
meant the birth of a human life, the suffering of the birth of I and mine meant the
old age, sick, and death. Together with this law, the ways to the cessation of“self”
was explained by Buddha as thefour Noble Truth. Masao Abe stated the essential
of what Buddha taught as follows:
The four Noble Truth, the fundamental teaching of Buddha, run as follows: that existence is
suffering; that the cause of suffering is craving or thirst; that by the extinction of craving
nirvana may be attained; that the means for the attainment of nirvana is the practice of the
Eightfold Noble Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right conduct, right liveli-
hood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. (Abe 1989 : 205)108 7 Mindful Communication and Journalism from a Thai...