Reply To: Sachi Samidu – Excellent Dhamma Explanations by a Four-Year Old

#44826
DanielSt
Participant

There is no problem with perceiving a chair as a conditional manifestation. The problem comes when it is perceived as a “fixed object” (we project “a fixed object” that “exists along the timeline” with certain properties, e.g. a chair with the ability to hold a person or “a family with mother, father and child”). The same happens with the 5 Aggregates. The 5 aggregates themselves are conditional manifestations, but when we perceive a “fixed entity” who these aggregates belong to, then we misperceive what is “Anicca” as “nicca” (in that misperception there is already a subtle expectation involved). When we feel that “it is me who sees” we claim ownership on certain Rupa (for example the Rupa involved in the seeing process) and hence if the causes change and that Rupa ceases to manifest, then we get distressed. Thus, we suffer and do abhisankhara (renewed accumulation) to create a new pair of eyes, etc.

On the other hand, we like to see because we perceive that certain “objects” give us pleasure and therefore, it is good to associate them and “see them”.