Dependent origination is one of the deepest teachings in Buddhism — and also one of the most misunderstood.

In this talk, Travis Hicks works through the Buddha's teaching on dependent co-arising, the framework that answers a question the Four Noble Truths point to but don't fully explain: how exactly does suffering arise, and where can we actually intervene?

Moving through the chain — from aging and death back through birth, becoming, clinging, craving, feeling, contact, and consciousness — Travis shows how each link conditions the next, and why most of them aren't places where we have much practical leverage. The one place we do? The gap between feeling tones and craving. That's where meditation practice does its quiet work, moment by moment. He also walks through three common ways of understanding the teaching: as a map of moment-to-moment mind states, as a framework for a single lifetime, and as the traditional three-life view that connects karma and rebirth. No definitive answer is given on which is right — just a clear, honest look at what the teaching says and what it asks of us.

About Travis

Travis Hicks has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1995 and teaching since 2005. He completed a two-year teacher training program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center under the guidance of senior teachers in the Theravada tradition. Travis brings a warm, accessible style to the dharma, drawing on both classical Buddhist teachings and contemporary psychology. He leads weekly sittings, daylong retreats, and occasional residential retreats for the IMH community.