Buddhism refutes the possibility of something independent that does not depend on a cause.
Everything is interdependent. No phenomenon arises autonomously, suddenly deciding, so to speak, that it will manifest.
If the primal substance were the cause of everything it gives rise to, then it would have to be produced itself. But as it is not itself created, how can it create anything?
Buddhism teaches that everything arises from causes and conditions and that there is no such thing as an un-caused cause.
If there were such a thing, then everything could be said to arise from nothing! Alternatively, the primal substance would have to be constantly giving rise to (causing) something. But as we can see, phenomena sometimes manifest and at other times do not. This is because the causes and conditions on which they depend sometimes come together and at other times do not.
If the cause were independent and able to create constantly, then of course its results would also have to be constant.
Since the results are not constant, we can argue that their cause also is not constant: it is impermanent. If there is such a thing as an independent creator, which in consequence is alone and all-pervading, all its manifestations or results should be permanent.
Belief in such a creator is simply not logical.
- Extracted from : The Daily Enlightenment
