So also there are twelve exoteric Buddhist Sûttas called Nidânas, each giving one Nidâna.
The Nidânas have a dual meaning. They are:
(1) The twelve causes of sentient existence, through the twelve links of subjective with objective Nature, or between the subjective and objective Natures.
(2) A concatenation of causes and effects.
Every cause produces an effect, and this effect becomes in its turn a cause. Each of these has as Upâdhi (basis), one of the sub-divisions of one of the Nidânas, and also an effect or consequence.
Both bases and effects belong to one or another Nidâna, each having from three to seventeen, eighteen and twenty-one sub-divisions.
The names of the twelve Nidânas are:
(1) Jarâmarana.
(2) Jâti.
(3) Bhava.