A Beginner's Guide to the Law of Dependent Origination (Paṭicca‑Samuppāda): Introduction to the Mogok Sayadaw's DO Teaching Visual Aid Cycle Diagram Vol-V

This visual atlas places the Mogok tradition’s wheel of Paṭicca-samuppāda (Dependent Origination) at the center of classroom practice. Mogok Sayadaw’s diagram is not a mere illustration; it is a working model of experience—a “machine of saṃsāra” whose grammar can be read, rehearsed, and cut in real time. Four blue pillars quarter the circle; double-headed arrows mark the three connection points; a curved, downward line shows the exit path; and two concentric circles depict the inner container (roots) and the outer chain (dukkha). These stable cues anchor every plate that follows. The wheel shows the alternation of Cause and Effect—Past Cause → Present Effect → Present Cause → Future Effect—so that teachers can point, trace, and pause with students at the right place and time. “Cause” (paṭicca) and “Effect” (samuppāda) are rendered explicitly; labels sit outside the rim for clarity; truth-bands (Samudaya/Dukkha) and vaṭṭa (defilement, action, result) appear as separate overlays. Pedagogically, the atlas trains attention on the present arc—saḷāyatana → phassa → vedanā—and on the C2 hinge (vedanā → taṇhā). Here the instruction is to “hold the cut”: meet feeling (vedanā) as dukkha-sacca so it does not roll into craving (taṇhā). Plates, captions, and QR-guided drills repeatedly rehearse this intervention because it is both diagrammatically central and experientially decisive. The simile set—axis (āsavas), container (avijjā–taṇhā), pillars (saṅkhāra), rim/chain (jarā-maraṇa)—is kept consistent across plates and legends for quick recall, and the teaching flow proceeds from clean wheel → legends (rings, periods, truths, vaṭṭa) → connections (C1–C3, with C2 bold) → arrows for arising/cessation → exit at vedanā. Doctrinally and terminologically, the atlas is keyed to the Mogok Visual Teaching Aid and cross-checked against U Hla Myint’s Basic Paṭiccasamuppāda and U Than Daing’s The Doctrine of Paṭiccasamuppāda. Those sources reinforce the four-section mapping, the three rounds (vaṭṭa), and the practical emphasis on the vedanā → taṇhā hinge. Finally, each chapter includes micro-drills, assessment packs, and QR-linked demos to support experience-based learning in class and at home. The goal is straightforward: make the structure clear enough that a teacher can guide attention—and a student can see for themselves—where suffering is manufactured and where it can cease.