Pratitya Samutpada (Interdependent Co Arising) | Tracy L. Garder

My original seduction to the Buddhist philosophy was centered on a Western thought paradigm.

After my life, I was ready for a little objective detachment from my suffering.   My worldview said that

I was independent and alone.  My emotional and spiritual struggles existed around the experience of

separateness.  Although I may have denied this, I think I was also looking for a fixed and ageless truth.

Perhaps this longing was for a place of refuge, but I thought it was to be found outside of me.

Seeker: `Teach me the way to liberation.'

Zen Master: `Who binds you?'

Seeker: `No one binds me.'

Zen Master: `Then why seek liberation?'1

I grew up in a stereotypical New England family in the 60's and 70's.  It was Calvinistic, stoic,

and lower working middle class.  What was not stereotypical was that my parents were divorced; my

mother, sister and I lived with my grandparents.  What was also not talked about back then was vio 

Pratitya Samutpada (Interdependent Co Arising)   Tracy L. GarderClarey

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