Yes. It is a great analogy.
- Jaro wrote: “Ultimately, we are craving our own suffering.”
- That is the bottom line.
Here is another way to say that. The Buddha repeatedly stated that our cravings are for things that are not real. The ‘rupa‘ that arises in the mind is unlike anything that exists in the external world.
- For example, there is an apple tree with apples that exists in the world.
- However, the leaves are not green, and the apples are not red. The colors are added by the mind! Of course, the taste is added by the mind, too.
- Honey appears brown and tasty to us. It may not be brown and definitely not tasty for a lion. The lion experiences a world that is totally different from ours. Such illusions are generated through Paticca Samuppada to match the gati (pronounced ‘gathi’) of a human versus that of a lion.
- The unfortunate fact is that the ‘illusion’ of color, taste, smell, etc., are built into us via Paticca Samuppada. That is why it feels so real. Even after attaining Arahanthood, one would feel a watered-down, initial stage of that ‘kama sanna.’ That sanna grows in steps if one has all ten samyojana unbroken.
- Unfortunately, a puthujjana gets the ‘full brunt of it’ with joyful sense arising in the mind! That effect is big enough even for a Sotapanna (who has eliminated only three samyojana), and it takes a real effort to overcome that ‘kama sanna‘ for even a Sotapanna.
