Why the Wheel of Life?

 In The Wheel of Life, Dalai Lama expounds upon the reason why we have the 12 Links of Dependent Origination. He spells out something that I always wondered about before, even though it was never consciously verbalized, and that is: if we understand causality sufficiently (the idea that X cause creates Y result), then why do we even need a "wheel" that describes how the intention, deed, and future result connect? Is it necessary to break the wheel of change and life down into its components? Here is what the Dalai Lama notes:

"In order to reflect on the fact that things--the subject upon which a meditator reflects--are empty of inherent existence because dependently arisen, it is necessary to identify the subjects of this reflection: the phenomenon that produce pleasure and pain, help and harm, and so forth. If one does not understand cause and effect well, it is extremely difficult to realize that these phenomenon are empty of inherent existence due to being dependently arisen" (p.35-36)

In other words, being steeped in an intricate and complex idea of how cause and effects co-arise in a given situation can help us to develop a more nuanced and subtle way of looking at the world that is steeped in causality. We might think of causality as a simple, linear relationship, but this does not capture the ways in which all phenomena are literally surrounded by agents of change and thus are bound to shift. In addition, without a causal mentality, we are liable to feel that some things are not subject to cause and effect: for instance, the objects or things in our lives that symbolize security or longevity. Diamonds are often symbols of things that are meant to be 'forever' simply by virtue of their durability, but even a diamond can lose its luster, become softer over time, or transmute into something else. 

There is nothing that is immune from cause and effect, and many times, we are only seeing the tip of an iceberg when it comes to causality. Even something as casual as thought can create an unexplainable effect of generating something unexpected or unwanted in the future, so the theory of dependent origination forces us to look more carefully at our thinking to discern all the ways they impact us, by creating their own unique thought habits.

Dalai Lama, (2015), The Wheel of Life: Buddhist Perspectives on Cause and Effect. Wisdom Publications.