Paradigm shift
The modern traditional way of explaining the Antecedental Concurrence (paṭicca samuppāda) is based on the notion of “karma and rebirth,” and it appears to be an explanation of how rebirth takes place, and how it can be stopped. This is because the main problem for the modern day Buddhist is: “How can we stop this process of rebirth?” In other words, rebirth is the problem. Rebirth is suffering and end of rebirth is the end of suffering. Thus it is claimed that Nirvana is the stopping of rebirth.
The fact that this is not the problem is indicated in the following quotation from the Buddha:
Numerous lives in saɳsāra,
I ran in pursuit of the Creator;
Anekajātisaṁsāraṁ –
sandhāvissaṁ anibbisaṁ
And never did I ever meet him,
So painful is repeated birth.
Gahakārakaṁ gavesanto –
dukkhā jāti punappunaṁ.
O! Creator now I saw you,
No more will you create again;
Gahakāraka diṭṭho’ si –
puna gehaṁ na kāhasi
Your supports are all destroyed,
Your structure is fully dismantled;
Sabbā te phāsukā bhaggā –
gahakūṭaṁ visaṅkhitaṁ
My mind has stopped creating
the emotional urge has ceased.
Visaṅkhāragataṁ cittaṁ –
taṇhānaṁ khayam ajjhagā.
(Dhammapada verses 153 & 154)
The first verse is a description of his experience before awakening from the dream of existence. He was thinking in an existential way, searching for the Creator. Then he got into experiential thinking and saw how his own mental process of perception was the creator of the world. In other words, he saw the Antecedental Concurrence (paṭicca samuppāda). When he saw from this different angle of vision, he was free from all suffering. This was the paradigm shift.