Im still confused about the following:
If everything we do is decided by paticca samuppada then where is the free will? Let’s say I see someone I don’t like and I start generating bad thoughts. Here you may say that we have the free will to stop these thoughts after learning the dhamma. However, isnt this very thought itself, eg “I should stop generating abhisankhara”, come as a result of paticca samuppada? Same goes for gati. You can say that our actions are determined by our gati, so we can change it. But the very thought that “I should change my gati” would come as a result of paticca samuppada. Is there some other process other than paticca saumppada, determining this action? If not, then where is the room for free will?
Here I interpret that we have the impression of free will, eg we can willingly lift up our finger, but based on what I described above, that too is based on paticca samuppada. Please note that I am not incorporating some “mahayana” or “Buddhagosa” teaching. I am saying this from my interpretation of the posts.
Lal: Any existence is GENERATED via the Paticca Samuppada process. No “fixed entity” goes through the rebirth process (samsara.)
Will this be true for the Idappaccayata PS cycle as well? And does PS apply to cittas? If that is true, then can we interpret that there is no fixed entity even from moment to moment?
There also examples raised up to show that there is no determinism. I agree that it would be hard to predict everything, because it is difficult to know what external influences there are. There is also the issue of randomness in quantum mechanics. However the more pertinent point I would like to make is the impression of “free will” that we have.