Yes. It is excellent, Lang.
- It is not easy to distinguish between diṭṭhi and saññā.
- Your analogy of a magic trick is a good one.
- I will discuss the analogy of an alcoholic in the next post. The following is part of the text there.
“There are two steps in overcoming attachment to sensual pleasures: (i) “See with wisdom” that it is unwise to attach to sense pleasures. When this understanding sinks into the mind, three “diṭṭhi saṁyojana” (sakkāya diṭṭhi, vicikicchā, silabbata parāmāsa) will be broken with the removal of sakkāya diṭṭhi. (ii) Even though the wrong view of sakkāya diṭṭhi is removed, one would still attach to sensory pleasure due to the “sense of pleasure” arising via the distorted kāma saññā. To overcome that “distorted kāma saññā” (which is built-in to our bodies), a Sotapanna must cultivate Satipaṭṭhāna. That leads to the removal of two more sansaric bonds/Saṁyojana (kāma rāga and paṭigha), leading to the Anāgāmi stage of Nibbāna.
- The following analogy can give the basic idea. An alcoholic will be able to “see” that drinking leads to many adverse consequences, including health risks, by reading medical literature. That understanding can eliminate the “wrong view” that drinking is good for you. However, it takes an additional effort (usually therapy sessions) to overcome attachment to the “pleasure saññā” generated by having a drink. Just “seeing with wisdom” that drinking can have harmful consequences is not enough. That second step is equivalent to removing kāma rāga (and patigha) by overcoming kāma saññā. That requires cultivating Satipaṭṭhāna. In the analogy of an alcoholic, therapy sessions are comparable to cultivating Satipaṭṭhāna.”
