Sakkāya Diṭṭhi and ‘Mind-Made Rūpa’

Sakkāya diṭṭhi arises from the belief that the ‘rūpa one experiences’ is the same as that which actually exists. Things in the external world do not have colors, tastes, odors, etc. Thus, to eliminate that wrong view and to attain the Sotapanna stage, one must clearly see that one experiences a ‘mind-made rūpa‘ and not the actual rūpa existing in the world.

February 14, 2026

Paṭipadā Sutta – The Root Cause of Sakkāya Diṭṭhi

1. The “Paṭipadā Sutta (SN 22.44)” starts by stating how sakkāya diṭṭhi is established in the mind of a puthujjana, and the way to get rid of that wrong view (‘Sakkāya samudaya gāminiñca vo, bhikkhave, paṭipadaṁ desessāmi, sakkāya nirodha gāminiñca paṭipadaṁ‘).

• @1.4: What leads to that wrong view?
• @1.5: An ‘assutavā puthujjana‘ (an average human who has not heard Buddha’s teachings) is destined to suffer because they believe the ‘rūpa‘ that they experience to have one or more of the FOUR qualities: ‘rūpaṁ attato samanupassati, rūpavantaṁ vā attānaṁ; attani vā rūpaṁ, rūpasmiṁ vā attānaṁ.’
• Those describe the enticing nature of ‘mind-pleasing rūpa‘ at FOUR levels of importance for a person.
• Then it repeats similar FOUR qualities for each of vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāṇa.
• Those are the TWENTY types of sakkāya diṭṭhi. However, the mental components of vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāṇa arise based on one’s attachment to a ‘rūpa.’ Let us address that first.

In the Suttās, Rūpa Does Not Refer to “Things in the External World”

2. We all have an innate tendency to interpret “rūpa” as material objects. In almost all English translations, “rūpa” is translated as “form,” conveying the idea that it is a ‘material form’ that exists in the external world. That is wrong. 

• By “rūpa,” the Buddha meant “mental impressions of an external sensory input (sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and touches).” 
• Thus, a colorless and tasteless “external rūpa” like an apple leads to the mental impression of a very different ‘colorful or tasty rūpa‘ (a reddish, tasty apple).
• Scientists confirm that, for example, color is a sensation generated in the mind and not an external object or light. See “Human Life is Unlivable in a ‘Colorless’ World.”
• That holds true for all sensory inputs, not just vision and taste. In the same way, there are no ‘pleasing sounds.’ Music is a ‘human perception,’ and even among humans, there is variety in preferred music types. Some like classical music, and others may prefer ‘heavy metal music.’ See “The Illusion of Perception (Saññā) – It Is Scientific Consensus.”
• This is not a philosophical issue. It has been verified by modern science. It is the ‘true nature of the world’ one comprehends with ‘yathābhuta ñāna.’

Attachment to Rūpa Leads to ‘Pañca Upādānakkhandha‘ (Suffering)

3. It is clear that the other four components of the pañca upādānakkhandha start with the mind’s generation of an incorrect/false version of external rūpa. Furthermore, that attachment is triggered by ‘kāma saññā‘ for humans in ‘kāma loka.’ 

• For example, flowers in the world do not have colors. Honey in the world does not have a ‘sweet taste.’ The scent of a rose, the musically satisfying melody of a song, and the ‘pleasure of a touch’ are all based on ‘false perceptions’ associated with the corresponding rūpa.
• Once the mind attaches to a ‘rūpa‘ based on ‘saññā,’ the corresponding vedanā, saṅkhāra, and viññāna also arise. Therefore, of the five components in the pañca upādānakkhandha, saññā and rūpa play significant roles initially. Of course, within a split second, all five components start contributing to the rapid growth of the pañca upādānakkhandha.
• The arising of pañca upādānakkhandha is the same as the ‘arising of suffering’; see “Essence of Buddhism – In the First Sutta.”

Attachment to Vedanā, Saññā, Saṅkhāra, Viññāna Is Rooted in a ‘Mind-Made Rūpa‘

4. As we saw above, based on the ‘wrong impression of the external rupas,’ a puthujjana also generates vadana, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāna. Each of these categories arises not as a single entity but as a bundle or aggregate (khandha), and thus are rupakkhandha through viññānakkhandha. Since they are born with attachment (upādāna), they are rūpa upādānakkhandha through viññāna upādānakkhandha.

• The mental process that generates ‘pañca upādānakkhandha‘ occurs in response to a sensory input, i.e., seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, or recalling a memory (meaning a rūpa experienced by one of the six senses).
• That is clear with ‘enticing sensory inputs’ because anyone can see that a mind would attach to a beautiful person, tasty meal, or enticing music, for example.
• However, even the sight of the blue sky (which we ignore most of the time) helps strengthen sakkāya diṭṭhi. That is because one believes that the ‘pleasing blue color’ is associated with the sky. In ‘ultimate reality,’ nothing in the world has ‘color.’
• It is critical to understand that whenever rūpa, vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāṇa are discussed in the suttās, they invariably refer to the respective upādānakkhandha.

5. This deep aspect (of the saññā contributing to a ‘mind-made rūpa‘) is discussed in many suttās, and I have discussed a few. See, for example, “Fooled by Distorted Saññā (Sañjānāti) – Origin of Attachment (Taṇhā),” and “Saññā Nidānā hi Papañca Saṅkhā – Immoral Thoughts Based on ‘Distorted Saññā’,” and “‘Diṭṭhe Diṭṭhamattaṁ Bhavissati’ – Connection to Saññā.”

• It is important to realize that ‘rūpa‘ in most suttās refers to ‘rūpa upādānakkhandha.’ See “Rūpa – What It Really Means” and “Rūpa, Vedanā, Saññā, Saṅkhāra, Viññāṇa – Mostly Misunderstood.”
• Now we can discuss the TWENTY types of sakkāya diṭṭhi. 

Twenty Types of Sakkāya Diṭṭhi

6. As pointed out above, the TWENTY types of sakkāya diṭṭhi arise due to the FOUR qualities each associated with rūpa, vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāṇa (pañca upādānakkhandha).

• We will focus on the FOUR qualities of rūpa: ‘rūpaṁ attato samanupassati, rūpavantaṁ vā attānaṁ; attani vā rūpaṁ, rūpasmiṁ vā attānaṁ.’
• Those four ways are at four levels, starting with the strongest (rūpaṁ attato samanupassati). The fourth (rūpasmiṁ vā attānaṁ) indicates the least ‘appeal.’ Those four levels also depend on the person (some hold stronger wrong views than others) and on the type of sensory input (ārammaṇa).
• Then, the verse is repeated for the four mental aggregates: vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāṇa. For example, “viññāṇaṁ attato samanupassati, viññāṇavantaṁ vā attānaṁ; attani vā viññāṇaṁ, viññāṇasmiṁ vā attānaṁ.”
• Thus, we could summarize by stating, “pañcupādānakkhandhā attato samanupassati, etc.” The reason for using pañcupādānakkhandhā instead of pañcakkhandhā was discussed in “Etaṁ mama, esohamasmi, eso me attā’ti – Connection to Taṇhā, Māna, Diṭṭhi,” and also below.

Rūpaṁ Attato Samanupassati – ‘I Must Enjoy This Specific Rūpa‘

7. The Buddha explained that a mind tends to view the “value of things” at four levels; “attato samanupassati” is the strongest level of attachment.

• “Atta” (like anicca and anatta) is a Pāli word with multiple meanings. In the current context, it means something like “beneficial” and “meaningful.” Note: Anatta is the opposite of this atta. Also, see “Atta Hi Attano Natho.”
• In Pāli, the same word is modified to change the tense, make it a noun or verb, or use it in other ways.
• Here, ‘attato’ means ‘(something) as beneficial or meaningful,’ and ‘passati’ means “’to see (with wisdom)’ and ‘samanupassati’ (sama anupassati) means ‘to see as such.’ 
• Thus, “attato samanupassati” means “to see something as beneficial or meaningful or of value.”  In particular, ‘rūpaṁ attato samanupassati‘ means ‘a specific rūpa must be acquired to satisfy the mind.’ 
• Therefore, “atta” (in this context) indicates something of value, and “anatta” means the opposite. Anatta is a natural extension of anicca and dukkha. One reaches the Sotapanna stage by realizing the futility of attachment to “sensory pleasures” (i.e., pañca upādānakkhandha), which only leads to more suffering. 

Other Three Levels of Attachment

8. The four levels of attachment can be briefly stated as follows:

(i) The “value/benefit” of a given rūpa cannot be expected from another; the perceived value is intrinsically associated with that rūpa or a mental entity based on that rūpa (rūpaṁ attato samanupassati)

(ii) some (external) rūpa can be substituted for those in (i) in some cases (rūpavantaṁ vā attānaṁ),

(iii) some rūpa that are in a specific category (attani vā rūpaṁ) are good enough, 

(iv) any rūpa that seems to provide happiness, i.e., even in a way one had not contemplated before (rūpasmiṁ vā attānaṁ).

• As you can see, the emphasis on a specific rūpa decreases from (i) to (iv) above.
• Note that the English translation in the link (and in most other translations) provides a very different interpretation. Those translators mechanically/blindly use the other meaning of “attā” explained in “‘Attā’ as ‘Self’ – Wrong Translation in Many Suttās.”

Simple Analogies to Grasp the Meanings

9. The following are simple examples to help get an idea about the four categories:

(i) Suppose person A falls in love with B. The attachment is so strong that A says, “I would rather die if I don’t get to marry B.” In A’s mind, B’s rūpa is the same as future happiness. Any vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāṇa arising based on B cannot be separated from future happiness. This is an example of “rūpaṁ attato samanupassati” through “viññāṇaṁ attato samanupassati.”

(ii) Another person, C, falls in love with D but finds out that D is married. Now, C is actively seeking someone who resembles D. This is an example of “rūpavantaṁ vā attānaṁ,” i.e., C believes that someone who looks like D can bring happiness.

(iii) In another case, person E believes that if a suitable partner can be found and married to such a person, it will lead to happiness. Thus, E is looking for someone but does not have a specific type of person in mind. This is “attani vā rūpaṁ,” i.e., there could be a rūpa that can be of value.

(iv) Finally, person F had not been thinking about marriage but ran into G and started thinking, “Marrying G could bring happiness.” This is “rūpasmiṁ vā attānaṁ” or seeing possible value in this particular rūpa. Here, F may adopt A’s mindset in case (i) above if the attraction to G becomes strong.

• But the ‘rūpa‘ in question could be anything: some people attach to a specific car they want to buy or a specific food they like to eat more than any other; that would be an example of “rūpaṁ attato samanupassati.” Then, in each case, they also like to engage in “saṅkhāra generation’ related to that. They spend hours thinking about going to the dealership, test-driving the car, and how to pay for it, etc. These, of course, involve the regeneration of saññā, vedanā, and viññāna about it. That is why the process involves all five components of pañca upādānakkhandha: rūpa, vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāna. But they all have the root cause in ‘attaching to the kāma saññā‘ about that car!
• Additionally, the “Pālileyya Sutta (SN 22.81)” describes the four categories in more detail.

No Need to Memorize Any Categories

10. Since each of the FIVE entities in pañca upādānakkhandha (rūpa, vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāṇa) can have those FOUR categories/levels, the above is known as “twenty types of wrong views associated with sakkāya diṭṭhi.” See “Sakkāya Diṭṭhi – Getting Rid of Deeper Wrong Views” for another discussion on the twenty types.

• While analyses such as those discussed above can help explain the concept of sakkāya diṭṭhi, memorizing such descriptions or categories is unnecessary.
• A Sotapanna may not even be aware of such categories. Different Sotapannās describe their understanding of sakkāya diṭṭhi in different ways. Once, a bhikkhu went around asking other bhikkhus who had declared the attainment of the Sotapanna stage how to describe it. Each one provided a different description of the Sotapanna stage.
• That bhikkhu got confused and complained to the Buddha. The Buddha gave the analogy of asking someone to describe a tree with a unique trunk (black), unique flowers (bright red, resembling pieces of red meat), and unique leaves (a specific, distinctive shape). Some people would identify the tree by its unique trunk, while others would describe it by its flowers or leaves. But they all had seen the tree! See  “Kiṁsukopama Sutta (SN 35. 245).”
•  The critical point is to understand the “anicca nature” of this world, i.e., that it will not be possible to stop suffering by chasing worldly pleasures, which are ‘mirages’ or ‘illusions.’ See “Aniccaṁ Vipariṇāmi Aññathābhāvi – A Critical Verse.” Understanding the anicca nature leads to comprehending the dukkha and anatta nature; see #10 of “‘Attā’ as ‘Self’ – Wrong Translation in Many Suttās.”
• Sakkāya diṭṭhi can manifest in different ways if one does not comprehend that “ANY pleasure in this world” cannot provide a permanent relief from suffering. In addition, they are illusions!
• A series of suttās starting with the “Attadīpa Sutta (SN 22.43)” explains how the ‘twenty types of sakkāya diṭṭhi‘ arise in a puthujjana. (The above-mentioned Paṭipadā Sutta (SN 22.44) is the second in the series.)

‘Things in the External World’ Are Not Illusions, But Our Impressions of Them (Saññā) Are

11. It is also critical to note that the Buddha never taught that the “external world is an illusion.” The world around us is real. The Sun is emitting electromagnetic radiation (without color), and apples grow on apple trees.

• It is just that our bodies arise (via Paṭicca Samuppāda) to provide ‘false perceptions’ or ‘distorted saññā‘ to keep us alive; that is the ‘mundane reality’ we all experience. For example, an apple exists in the world, but the ‘red color’ or the ‘sweet taste’ of an apple is made up by the mind; those are ‘false perceptions’ (‘viparita saññā‘). 
• Because of that ‘viparita saññā‘ (= ‘kāma saññā‘ in the human realm), a puthujjana‘s mind will automatically attach (via rāga, dosa, or moha) to all sensory inputs; realization of this is one aspect of becoming a Sotapanna or “sandiṭṭhiko“: “Sandiṭṭhiko – What Does It Mean?”  
• This is why thoughts (cittās) never arise based on “pure/undefiled pañcakkhandha” but based on defiled pañca upādānakkhandha. A puthujjana’s mind starts off already attached (in the ‘bahiddha viññāna‘ stage)!

Illusion of Perception (Viparita Saññā) Is Necessary to Live Life

12. On the other hand, such ‘false perceptions’ are necessary to live life: “Human Life is Unlivable in a ‘Colorless’ World.” 

• Therefore, we cannot live our lives if we try to disregard the ‘false perceptions.’

Suffering Cannot be Ended Until We Stop Attaching to ‘Mind-Made Rūpa‘

13. Yet, we cannot end suffering in the rebirth process unless we fully comprehend the dangerous consequences of being trapped in ‘mind-made pleasures’ arising from those ‘false perceptions.’

• Based on such ‘mind-made pleasures’ (called ‘samphassa-jā-vedanā‘), we prefer to stay attached to such ‘false perceptions’ (‘viparita saññā‘) which are ‘kāma saññā‘ for humans. 
• Such saññā and vedanā prompt us to engage in akusala kamma via the mind, speech, and the body (via mano, vaci, and kāya saṅkhāra) with expectations of more ‘pleasures,’ i.e., viññāna.

‘Mundane Reality’ Versus ‘Ultimate Reality’

14. Therefore, we must learn to live within the ‘mundane reality,’ while comprehending the ‘ultimate reality’: “Human Life is Unlivable in a ‘Colorless’ World.” 

• The nature operates based on Paṭicca Samuppāda to sustain life in any of the 31 realms. That is the ‘mundane reality.’
• Not only our bodies but also the external environments in various realms are maintained via Paṭicca Samuppāda to provide the various types of saññā necessary to sustain life in each realm. Moat animals live their lives based on that built-in saññā. Even for humans, the ‘built-in saññā‘ is necessary for living. 
• However, until one can overcome the tendency to ‘attach to that saññā,’ and stop the Paṭicca Samuppāda process,  it would be impossible to stop suffering associated with all existences. This is the ‘ultimate reality’ that the Buddha revealed.
• A critical point is to realize that mental phenomena cannot be explained in terms of modern science. Nobel laureate Richard Feynman understood that.

Mind Cannot be Explaind With Modern Science

15. The following is a long video from Professor Feynman that explains the situation well. It is worth the time to watch:

• @28 mins: ‘There is another layer of reality that physics cannot explain.’
• This is the ‘ultimate reality’ only a Buddha can discover!
• @35 mins: The ‘binding problem’: Science cannot explain how experiences analyzed in different parts of the brain can give rise to a unified experience. That ‘unified experience’ or the ‘magic of consciousness’ happens in the ‘mental body’ (gandhabba) and NOT in the brain.
• This is why many people have had ‘out-of-body experiences’ in many reported cases of ‘Near-Death Experiences’ (NDE). See #7 of “Rūpa Samudaya – A ‘Colorful World’ Is Created by the Mind.” The brain is not necessary when the gandhabba is outside the physical body. That proves the fact that the brain is not the mind.