Buddhist worldview is based on sensory experience. Specifically, it focuses on how sensory experience arises and how our unwise response to it (with rāga, dosa, and moha) keeps us bound to the rebirth process dominated by suffering.
August 26, 2019; rewritten December 20, 2024
Cornerstones of Buddha’s Worldview
1. The following are the fundamental aspects of Buddha’s worldview. I will address them in detail in this series of posts: “Worldview of the Buddha.” I am revising the existing posts (and adding a few) in this section to provide a more accurate presentation.
- Our “actions” with rāga, dosa, and moha maintain the rebirth process. Such actions (including bodily actions, speech, and thoughts with rāga, dosa, and moha) generate kammic energies to bring in “unpleasant consequences” (kamma vipāka) in the future (and sustain the rebirth process.)
- Such actions are initiated by attaching to sensory inputs (ārammaṇa) with rāga, dosa, and moha. Let us focus on attachment with rāga (cravings) to make the discussion easier.
Two Ways to Stop Attachment (Rāga)
2. The Buddha pointed out two ways to stop attaching to “appealing” sensory inputs.
- One is to examine the harmful consequences of actions with rāga (cravings). To satisfy those cravings, we engage in akusala kamma, which generates kammic energies to bring their results in the future, including rebirths in “undesired realms.” Some people can focus on this aspect and break the mental bonds (saṁyojana) that bind one to the rebirth process.
- The second approach is to examine the root causes for such cravings to arise in our minds in the first place. We attach to certain sensory inputs because our minds get a “joyful sensation” when experiencing them. These include sensory inputs coming through all six senses. For example, we automatically feel a “sense of joy” when eating tasty food or looking at an “attractive person.” The Buddha explained that such sensations are illusory, meaning that the mind itself is the root cause of these sensations. However, that illusion is not created at the moment of experience; it arises because we had desired such experiences in previous lives, and our current “bodies” and the “environment” have been “prepared” via Paṭicca Samuppāda to bring about that illusory “sensation,” which I call “distorted saññā.” Even though the Buddha sometimes used the phrase “saññā vipallāsa” (see the links in the summary below) to describe that, in most cases, there was no distinction made (and the word “saññā” was used) because “saññā” is always “saññā vipallāsa,“ i.e., it is built into our “bodies” and the “environment.”
- The second approach is somewhat more challenging to comprehend. However, once understood, losing the craving for sensory inputs becomes easy.
World Offers “Mind-Pleasing Experiences”
3. Note that both approaches acknowledge the following fact: There are sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and tactile sensations that can generate a “feeling of happiness/joy” in our minds.
- The first approach admits that there are things that can bring assāda (pleasure) to mind, but one can try to overcome that attachment by looking at the dire consequences (ādinava) of attaching to them; if one can engage the mind fully with that approach it can lead to breaking of mental bonds (saṁyojana) that bind one to the rebirth process, i.e., it leads to nissarana. Thus, this approach can be called “looking at assāda, ādinava, nissarana.”
- The second approach examines why and how things exist in the world to generate such assāda (pleasure) in the mind. Although it is more challenging in one aspect (one must understand how those “mind-pleasing things” in the world arise through Paṭicca Samuppāda), it explains why those apparent “assāda” are an illusion on a grand scale.
- A critical point is that different species (such as humans and animals) experience joy/happiness when experiencing different sensory inputs. If “seeds of happiness” are embedded in external things, they must provide the same “happiness” to all living beings; that is not the case. Let us discuss that briefly.
Paṭicca Samuppāda Determines Which Experiences Are “Mind-Pleasing”
4. The following is a summary of the two approaches from a different perspective.
- Our sensory experiences arise because we are born with six sensory faculties (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind). Each lifestream’s physical and mental bodies arise via Paṭicca Samuppāda, where only actions by that lifestream matter. We all have our unique “lifestream,” which can take the form of a human, animal, Deva, etc., based on Paṭicca Samuppāda; see “What Reincarnates? – Concept of a Lifestream.“ Kammic energies accumulated over all past lives can contribute to determining future lives.
- “Things in the external world” (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, body touches, and memories) also arise via Paṭicca Samuppāda. However, actions by all relevant living beings (or “lifestreams”) contribute to “making” the external world. This is discussed in the next post, “‘Mind-Pleasing Things’ in the World Arise via Paṭicca Samuppāda.” First, let us discuss how our physical bodies are designed to contribute to the “distorted saññā.”
“Distorted Saññā” Is Built into the Bodies We are Born with
5. A specific set of sensory experiences leads to an “automatic pleasure sensation/perception” (“saññā“) within a particular lifestream. For example, humans enjoy different sensory experiences compared to any animal species. In the same way, each animal species has its own sensory experiences that provide an “automatic pleasure sensation/perception.” Because each “lifestream” (or living being) and the environment are “created” by kammic energy (via Paṭicca Samuppāda), that “distorted saññā” is built into both. That is why it is difficult to “remove the distorted saññā” (for example, the sweet taste of honey is a “distorted saññā“; it feels “real.”)
- Even after attaining Arahanthood, that “distorted saññā” does not disappear because it is built into the body of that Arahant. However, when its origin is comprehended, all ten mental bonds (saṁyojana) are broken; thus, an Arahant‘s mind will not be attached to any sensory experience. This is why the Buddha emphasized that Nibbāna can be reached only by cultivating wisdom (paññā).
- In this series of posts, I will focus on the second approach, as outlined in #2 above. I will leave it up to each person to decide whether to follow this series or try to stick with the first approach. My goal is to fully describe the second approach for the benefit of future generations. I have not seen anyone else explain it, even though it is in the suttās and Abhidhamma.
Importance of “Distorted Saññā“
6. In many suttās, the Buddha explained that what we perceive as pleasure (the taste of food, pleasant smells, pleasing sights/sounds, etc.) is a grand illusion. That illusion is so good that it takes a Buddha to uncover it.
- For example, by analyzing the structure of honey, scientists can show that it contains “flavor-giving compounds.” When coming into contact with sensors in our tongues, those molecules generate a pleasurable sensation in our minds.
- In the same way, a rose emits microscopic particles, which, when they come into contact with the sensors in our noses, lead to a sensation of pleasure in our minds. Bodily contact also provides a feeling of pleasure or displeasure through the nerves in the skin.
- The other two sensory faculties (sights and sounds) work differently. No particles or molecules contact our eyes or ears to yield a direct sensation. Even though “light particles” (photons) make contact with our eyes, they only produce an “image” on the retina in the back of our eyes. That image is sent to the brain and converted into a signal that generates a “pleasure-inducing saññā” in our minds. Sounds work similarly; vibrations in the eardrums are sent to the brain, which generates a “pleasure-inducing saññā” in the mind.
Saññā Depends on the Living Being and Specific Sensory Input
7. The interesting and critical aspect of this phenomenon is that the “pleasure-inducing saññā” depends not only on external sensory input (sight, sound, etc.), but also on the sentient being. Humans experience different types of saññā compared to animals.
- In one example above, we noted that honey contains “flavor-giving compounds” (fructose molecules). Similarly, sucrose molecules in sugar provide a similar “tasty experience” in humans. However, the sensors in the tongues of cows or tigers do not provide a “pleasure sensation” for them. In another example, pigs like to eat garbage and even feces. They enjoy that taste.
- The same is true for smell and body touch. Even though an injury can produce a “painful sensation,” some people who have a deficiency in their nervous system do not feel the pain.
Even Among Humans, Saññā Can Vary
8. For sights and sounds, “pleasure-inducing saññā” is even more vague. These sensory experiences do not involve “direct contacts” like taste, smell, and body touch.
- We discussed the main difference in #7 above. There is another aspect that is a bit more subtle.
- For example, suppose two men, X and Y, see the same woman, Z, who is perceived as a “beautiful woman.” However, if Y and Z are sworn enemies, that takes precedence when Y sees Z. Within a split-second of seeing Z, displeasure arises in Y’s mind (it does not involve conscious thinking; just the sight of Z causes displeasure in Y’s mind). In this case, the “enemy saññā” dominates and overrides the “beauty saññā.”
- Thus, even though X and Y are looking at the same beautiful woman (Z), their minds automatically generate “pleasure-inducing saññā” and “displeasure-inducing saññā” respectively.
Summary
9. Saññā plays a critical role in our sensory experience. Most of the joy/happiness we experience with sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touches (and recalling such previous experiences) has the root cause in saññā. See “Mūlapariyāya Sutta – The Root of All Things.”
- The illusory nature of saññā is stated as “saññā vipallāsa“; see “Vipallāsa Sutta (AN 4.49).” All our wrong views (diṭṭhi vipallāsa) and wrong way of thinking (citta vipallāsa) have origins in saññā vipallāsa. In most suttas, “saññā” is used without explicitly pointing out it is a “distorted saññā.” All “saññās” we experience are “distorted saññā.”
- It is “saññā” that is the root cause of our attachments to sensory inputs; because of such attachments, we engage in immoral deeds to “get more of them.” See “Fooled by Distorted Saññā (Sañjānāti) – Origin of Attachment (Taṇhā)” and “Saññā Nidānā hi Papañca Saṅkhā – Immoral Thoughts Based on “Distorted Saññā.”
- I will discuss this in future posts and refer to older posts (like those in the above links, which are from the section: “Sotapanna Stage via Understanding Perception (Saññā),” which was my first attempt to discuss this topic). Please remember that grasping these deeper aspects will require some effort; don’t expect to understand these concepts after reading just a few posts. Feel free to ask questions in the forum. That is the best way to resolve any issues. I have no way of figuring out how much a given person has understood. I can write specific posts to address any issues as they arise.
