I was going to follow up with another comment yesterday, but I got tied up with an issue at home.
1. What I described in my two comments above is the “mundane reality.”
2. The Buddha discovered the “ultimate reality” (“paramatta dhamma“) about the world.
- Here, “paramatta” is “parama atta” or the “ultimate truth.”
- The external world and the sentient beings in it are sustained by the “mental power” or the “kammic energy” of the sentient beings.
- Each sentient being generates “kammic energy” based on rāga, dosa, and moha. Part of that energy leads to new rebirths, and the rest of the collective kammic energies of all sentient beings contribute to sustaining the external world.
- All inert objects, as well as the physical and mental bodies of sentient beings, are made of suddhāṭṭhaka created by kammic energy. A suddhāṭṭhaka has eight components: the four great elements (pathavi, āpo, tejo, and vāyo) that arise due to avijjā and four more (vaṇṇa, gandha, rasa, oja) due to taṇhā. The latter four are discussed in Abhidhamma but are only referred to as “upādāya rupa” in the suttās. As we have discussed, the Abhidhamma theory was not fully developed during the Buddha’s lifetime. This is a deeper aspect discussed in “The Origin of Matter – Suddhāṭṭhaka.”
3. When a given sentient being figures out (fully understands) the teachings of the Buddha, the generation of “kammic energy” (based on rāga, dosa, and moha) stops. The disappearance of moha (or avijjā) leads to the loss of one’s cravings for worldly pleasures (rāga), and that also leads to the fading away of moha.
- One critical aspect of that is the following. The avijjā (or moha) is not to see the “full picture” of the endless rebirth process based solely on “mind power” or kammic energy.
- Since the energy to sustain the whole process is created in the defiled mind (this is what “Manōpubbangamā dhammā..” means), whatever is created cannot be sustained forever. Each existence (whether in the human realm, in the animal realm, or a Brahma realm) has a finite duration, a limited lifetime. The problem is that most rebirths are in the suffering-filled lowest four realms. That is why the rebirth process leads to much more suffering in the long term.
4. Another aspect is as follows: We pointed out above that kammic energies are responsible for maintaining the external world and the sentient beings (all composed of suddhāṭṭhaka). That process leads to the generation of “distorted saññā” in the minds of all sentient beings, making them automatically attach to sensory inputs.
- That is why the Buddha said that all sentient beings are deceived by this “distorted saññā” inherent in all sentient beings via Paṭicca Samuppāda. See “Fooled by Distorted Saññā (Sañjānāti) – Origin of Attachment (Taṇhā).”
- P.S. In other words, fully understanding how “distorted saññā” arises helps eliminate avijjā and taṇhā. Thus, Nibbāna is reached via cultivating wisdom (paññā), i.e., fully understanding the above.
