Yes, Yash.
- Well before getting to the Arahant stage, one can see that there is no “unchanging self” (a soul in Christianity /or “atma” in Hinduism). Our experiences arise based on root causes (and conditions for triggering them).
- When the root causes (greed, hate, and ignorance) disappear, no external sensory input, under no circumstance, can trigger generating attachment/repulsion to that sensory input. The key is the following: When one understands this at the Paticca Samuppada level, ignorance disappears, and that will make greed and hate disappear, too.
- It is impossible to stop greed/hate from arising without eliminating ignorance (avijja) by comprehending Paticca Samuppada. That happens in stages, and avijja is entirely dispelled at the Arahant stage.
In the above, why does “attachment/repulsion to that sensory input” play a critical role?
- When we attach to a sensory input, we act with greed, anger, and/or ignorance and engage in immoral (or unwise) deeds. This is the same as engaging in “bad kamma” or “generating abhisankhara,” which leads to generating “kammic energies” that can bring “kamma vipaka,” including rebirth.
- Paticca Samuppada describes that process.
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Yash: “The arahant would perceive the world based on distorted Sanna, but not a self, right?”
- That is correct.
- Furthermore, the rise of “distorted sanna” can also be explained by Paticca Samuppada. Each rebirth occurs with “distorted sanna” built-in by kammic energy!
- I tried to explain that in the section “Sotapanna Stage via Understanding Perception (Saññā).”
- However, that analysis is too deep for many. I will discuss that in simpler terms in a new series of posts.
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P.S. An Arahant also gets the “distorted sanna” because it is “built-in” to human birth. But Arahant’s mind will not be “fooled by it.” See, for example, “Fooled by Distorted Saññā (Sañjānāti) – Origin of Attachment (Taṇhā).”
- Each realm has a different “distorted sanna” according to Paticca Samuppada. That is why our minds generate the “sweetness of sugar,” we like that taste, but a pig would not get that sanna. A pig feels a “built-in sanna of a good taste” for rotten food!
- It is critical to understand sanna: “Saññā – What It Really Means.”
