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First of all, I would like to thank Sir Lal very much for this amazing post. Colours Are Mind-Made (Due to Kāma Saññā)
This is a concept I have frequently heard from the Bhantes . They say that the world is entirely mental. What exists outside are the 4 Dhatu (Apo, Tejo, Vayo and Pathavi). The world is colourless, silent, tasteless, touchless and odourless. All our experiences are based on our distorted perception of the 4 elements.
I strongly recommend watching these sermons which will help to understand more what Sir Lal try to explains.
Please start watching at 44:10 Bhante explains how colours are created in the mind.Colours don’t exist
This ven Anagarika explains how we are deceive by colours. See Illusion of Colours
Another Ven Anagarika explains this concept. See The Perception of Colours
Another excellent sermon where Venerable Nivanthpa Thero explains how we are fooled by colours. See Love Thy Self . I suggest watching it entirely to grasp the teaching. But you can start at 1:26:41.
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I have found diseases that completely deprive a person of their senses. Reading about some people’s experiences, it is clear that attachment to Kama Sanna does not depend on the senses. It is Avijja and Kama Raga that are responsible for it. These people have never felt the experience of the sense that has been lost, but they are sad not to have it. This shows that as long as Kama Raga Anusaya has not been eliminated, one will become attached to Kama Loka even if one has no senses (That is why the puthujjanas brahmas rupa and arupa return to Kama Loka). An arahant or an anagami can lose their senses and they will not be affected by it at all. They do not desire to experience Kama Sanna because Kāma ragā has been completely eliminated. See the story of Venerable Cakkupala. He became blind at the same time as he reached the arahant stage!! Arahant Cakkupala: The Arahant who became blind
He told himself that it is better to cure the disease of mental defilements that cause suffering than the disease of the eyes and continued with deep meditation refusing to lie down as advised by the physician. The physician decided to stop treating Venerable Cakkupala’s eye disease as he was refusing to follow his advice. His eye disease gradually became worse. He ignored that and continued with his meditation and at midnight on a particular day, he eradicated all his mental defilements and attained enlightenment as an Arahant. During the same night, he also became totally blind.
“I am blind, My eyes are destroyed, I have stumbled, On a wilderness track, Even if I must crawl, I will go on, But not with an evil companion.”
- Arahants are sometimes referred to as brahmas, meaning they live purely and without attachment to sensual pleasures. We could even say that they resemble arupa brahmas because, even if they were to lose all five senses, they would not experience the slightest bit of aversion or attachment.
The illness that affects the senses
Achromatopsia (colour blindness)
Congenital Anosmia (Born without smell sense)
Congenital Ageusia (Born without taste sense)
The man who lost his sense of touch and Kim Stenger a woman born without the sense of touch.
Through these conditions, we can observe the law of cause and effect and how the process is triggered in our mind. If a cause is missing, the effect will not manifest.
“Hētum Paṭicca Sambhūtam Hētu Bhamgā Nirujjati”
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Thank you, Jittananto.
- I watched the above videos on the defections in the sensory capabilities of some people.
- Our physical bodies are tailored to provide specific saññā associated with vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch using numerous built-in sensors and the nervous system.
- The ‘abnormalities’ reported/discussed in those videos are cases of kamma vipaka. Those people cannot fully function like others.
P.S. I have made a few revisions to yesterday’s post: Colors Are Mind-Made (Due to Kāma Saññā)
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While reading your post, Lal, I found myself wondering what a rūpa truly feels like — objectively, unfiltered, and free from mental contamination. As I understand it, the Buddha offers some guidance on this.
In the Girimānanda Sutta, it is said that anicca-saññā is the correct perception of all saṅkhāra, and likely also of the other clinging-aggregates. The Buddha describes them as
- exhausting and ultimately unfulfilling (attiyati),
- insubstantial, like mere colors without inherent reality (harāyati),
- and even repulsive in their futility (jigucchati).
Over the past few months, I’ve reflected deeply on this point. It occurred to me that perhaps I’ve never truly perceived a rūpa objectively in my entire life. Every perception is instantly overlaid by the mind — filled with memories, expectations, emotions, and countless subtle reactions.
In the Mūlapariyāya Sutta, the Buddha says:
“Pathaviṁ pathavito sañjānāti.”
This statement reminds me of an anecdote from my school days.
In a chemistry class, our teacher explained that all the atomic nuclei of a steam locomotive could fit into a matchbox — which, however, would be incredibly heavy, since almost all the mass of an atom is concentrated in its nucleus. The rest consists almost entirely of empty space.
You’ve also touched on this topic beautifully in one of your posts.And yet, despite knowing this, the ground beneath my feet and the objects I use daily feel solid, stable, substantial. They don’t feel like mostly empty space. There seems to be a profound gap between physical reality and direct perception.
Such scientific insights make me increasingly suspicious of my own perceptions. There is not a trace of true happiness to be found in the external world; every pleasure is mind-made, as you said — a kind of magic show.
“Viññāṇa is unseen, infinite, and leads to the rebirth process for all.”
I understand this to mean that consciousness itself is capable of generating any imaginable illusion — able to create and ascribe reality to whatever appears. It can even make false, dangerous, or immoral convictions seem legitimate. And perhaps that is the deepest deception of all.
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Hello Jaro, what you said reminds me of what Venerable Dharana Thero(A Sri Lankan monk) said in one of his sermons. I highly recommend that you and everyone see his sermon, ‘The Origin of Senses.‘
Start watching at 42 minutes.
Bhante explains how the 6 senses create the 31 realms and how, the more we are attached to the need to perceive, the more we develop many senses until 6.
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Good observations!
- I am a bit busy these days, as I am traveling. I will try to respond later today or tomorrow.
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“It occurred to me that perhaps I’ve never truly perceived a rūpa objectively in my entire life.”
This might be a good time to bring up some of my thoughts for scrutiny.
It’s my belief / view that anything conditioned, relating to this world or “the all” (5 aggregates, 6 elements, 12 sense bases) is all based on subjectively while nibbana is the only objective reality. So it’s not only you that never truly perceived a rupa objectively in your life, the same holds true for all of us livings that have come into being in our conditioned world.
Before I asked myself if my belief or view is correct regarding that there’s no objectively reality in this world and used the Buddha dhamma as an example to evaluate if my thinking is correct since the dhamma is said to be timeless and one of the only things I can think of that might have a chance to be objective. My thinking is that if the Buddha dhamma is objective, it should mean that anyone that come across the Buddha dhamma should attain nibbana or at least should have the same interpretation and understanding of the teachings. But based on my observation this is not the case, so it makes me think that the Buddha dhamma is still based on subjective reality. If the Buddha dhamma is subjective, than I can’t think of anything else in this conditioned world that would be objective besides nibbana.
So my thinking is that this conventional reality = subjective while nibbana = objective reality.
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TrpleGemStudent wrote: “So my thinking is that this conventional reality = subjective while nibbana = objective reality.”
- That is correct. May be it is even better to state, “Conventional reality = subjective reality. Nibbana = objective reality.”
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1. Conventional reality is shared among those in the same realm, for example, for humans.
- Animals’ conventional reality is different from that of humans. Even among animals, there are many different ‘realities experienced.’ The same holds for other realms in the apayas.
- The above also holds for the six Deva realms.
- The reason is that numerous types of sanna are present in kama loka.
2. In Rupa Loka Brahma realms, various types of ‘kama sanna‘ are absent.
- In Arupa Loka Brahma realms, essentially one (distorted) sanna is present and thus a mind is ‘closer’ to Nibbana. However, that holds only until the end of their lifetimes. When they are reborn in the kama loka, they revert to being affected by many types of (distorted) sanna.
3. Permanent changes happen only with magga phala.
- Even with magga phala, the (distorted) sanna do not go away, as they are built into the body one is born with.
- At the Sotapanna stage, one permanently loses their ‘ditthi samyojana.’ They can ‘see with wisdom’ how the (distorted) sanna leads to kamma accumulation. But overcoming the three major categories of (distorted) sanna (associated with kama, rupa, and arupa loka) requires more effort.
- At the Anagami stage, one will eliminate the two samyojana related to ‘kama raga‘ or ‘craving for sensual pleasures. Their minds are no longer fooled by various types of kama sanna.
- An Anagami needs to eliminate rupa raga samyojana (craving for jhanic pleasures) and arupa raga samyojana (craving for samapatti pleasures). By this time, one has eliminated the three ‘ditthi samyojana‘ (responsible for rebirths in the apayas) and four ‘tanha samyojana’ (responsible for rebirth in higher realms). Removal of the remaining three ‘māna samyojana‘ (māna, uddhacca, avijjā) leads to the Arahant stage.
4. All those with magga phala realize that they must live with the ‘conventional reality.’ But their minds are increasingly ‘less fooled’ by it.
- I will try to write a bit more about Jaro’s post later. But I thought the above may help clarify some issues.
- Please feel free to comment and ask questions.
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Objective and Subjective Reality Within the World
Objective reality refers to the existence of facts, events, or phenomena that are independent of individual perceptions, beliefs, emotions, or interpretations. It is the “world as it is,” verifiable through empirical evidence, scientific methods, or consensus among observers, regardless of personal biases. For instance, the laws of physics (like gravity pulling objects toward Earth) or historical events (such as the date of a specific battle) are part of objective reality because they can be measured, observed, and replicated without relying on anyone’s subjective viewpoint.Subjective reality, on the other hand, is shaped by an individual’s personal experiences, senses, cultural background, emotions, and cognitive processes. It represents how someone interprets or feels about the world, and can differ widely between people even when they encounter the same objective facts. For example, two people might witness the same sunset—one finds it breathtaking and romantic, while the other sees it as ordinary or melancholic—highlighting how subjective reality filters objective stimuli through personal lenses.The key distinction between Objective and Subjective realities lies in universality versus individuality: objective reality aims for consistency and independence from individual minds, often tested through logic or evidence, while subjective reality is inherently personal, fluid, and influenced by context. Philosophers like Immanuel Kant have explored this divide, suggesting that we can never fully access pure objective reality because our perceptions are always mediated by subjective faculties. In practice, the two often intersect—science seeks to approximate objective truth, but human understanding remains partly subjective.__________Objective and Subjective Reality Within the World – Per the Buddha’s Teachings
Subjective reality is based on Saññā (Sañjānāti): Within the human realm, subjective reality is how each person reacts to kāma saññā (innate perception/feelings arising automatically). For example, upon seeing the same person, X, different people respond differently: a friend of X will perceive X as a ‘good friend,’ a foe of X will perceive X as ‘dangerous,’ and someone who has not had any interactions with X will have a neutral mindset.Objective reality is based on Viññāna (Vijānāti): Within the human realm, the motion of inert objects can be explained via scientific studies. Here, people’s emotions based on kāma saññā do not directly come into play. Therefore, it is possible to obtain logical outcomes within the ‘framework of the world’ (as prepared via Paticca Samuppada).____________Ultimate Objective Reality Is Described by Paticca Samuppada
The ultimate objective reality is described by Paticca Samuppada. The rebirth process of the living beings and the external environments they live in are fully described by Paticca Samuppada. The worldview of the Buddha (the real nature of the world) is described by Paticca Samuppada. The Four Noble Truths and the Three Characteristics of Nature (Tilakkhana) are embedded in Paticca Samuppada.- One begins to comprehend the Buddha’s worldview at the Sotapanna Anugami stage. This is ‘pajānāti.’
- How the (distorted) saññā causes one to be trapped in the rebirth process is fully understood at the Anagami stage, after cultivating Satipatthana. However, understanding the basic concepts involved in Satipatthana could also make it easier to reach the Sotapanna Anugami stage.
- The understanding of the ultimate truth (paramatta sacca) is at the Arahant stage. This is ‘abhijānāti.’
Also see “Cognition Modes – Sañjānāti, Vijānāti, Pajānāti, Abhijānāti” and #1 of “Colors Are Mind-Made (Due to Kāma Saññā) ” to better understand the three categories above.
- The above is a summary. Please feel free to ask questions.
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Comments Regarding Jaro’s Post
1. In his post Jaro stated: “While reading your post, Lal, I found myself wondering what a rūpa truly feels like — objectively, unfiltered, and free from mental contamination.”
- Yes. No one experiences ‘real rupa’ out there in the world. What we experience is a ‘made-up’ version prepared by the mind.
- For example, as I expalined in the post “Colors Are Mind-Made (Due to Kāma Saññā),” the external world does not have any colors. Foods do not have tastes; sounds, smells, and body touches are all made-up experiences (in ultimate reality).
- However, this fact must be used with care. This is why the Buddha said grasping his Dhamma is like grasping a venomous snake. Unless you grab a snake close to its head, it will bite you. In the same way, we must learn to ‘live within the mundane ultimate reality’ while grasping Buddha’s teachings with wisdom. See “Reply To: Anxiety and Panic attacks after 2 years – what is wrong with me?“
2. In his post Jaro stated:
“In the Mūlapariyāya Sutta, the Buddha says:
“Pathaviṁ pathavito sañjānāti.”
This statement reminds me of an anecdote from my school days.
In a chemistry class, our teacher explained that all the atomic nuclei of a steam locomotive could fit into a matchbox — which, however, would be incredibly heavy, since almost all the mass of an atom is concentrated in its nucleus. The rest consists almost entirely of empty space.
You’ve also touched on this topic beautifully in one of your posts.”- Yes. We think a stone (or even a diamond, the hardest substance) is very solid. But they are mostly empty space!
- See “Saññā Vipallāsa – Distorted Perception” for details. I think this is the post Jaro referred to.
- As Jaro stated next (“And yet, despite knowing this, the ground beneath my feet and the objects I use daily feel solid, stable, substantial. They don’t feel like mostly empty space. There seems to be a profound gap between physical reality and direct perception”), we truly feel a stone or a diamond to be solid. That perception is built in!
- Even those bhikkhus for whom the Mūlapariyāya Sutta was delivered could not grasp that. That is stated at the end of the “Mūlapariyāya Sutta (MN 1).”
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The following are two publications that discuss the fact that objects inherently do not have colors:
“Color realism and color science“
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Hope some of the information in the links below can complement the teachings here and help with our understanding of the dhamma.
How optical illusions trick your brain
Do These Color Illusions Trick Your Eyes?
Brain Tricks – This Is How Your Brain Works
Can You Trust Your Ears? (Audio Illusions)
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I’ve been coincidentally listening to desanas on this topic (this one puts the ideas pretty nicely I’d say).
So the Bhante here puts a thought experiment for taste. Suppose that a scientist went all Dr. Frankenstein on us and changed the wiring to our brains so the sour and the sweet output are switched. That leads to us perceiving lemons as sweet and chocolate as sour.
I guess we could extend this to sight, too. What if we took the rods and cones in our eyes and changed the output wiring there? They’d respond the same in response to wavelength, but the colors we perceive would be different. If you fall on your head, you might perceive light, even though no extra light has hit your retina. That’s because you’re stimulating the optic center of your brain from the fall.
We could go even more absurd with this and think about pain perception, too. (Well, not too absurd. Synesthesia, or the perception of sound as color, also exists.) Pain is a mind created perception in response to particular object-touch contacts. When you do a pushup, the body does not register pain. The mind does. It simply interprets whatever signals the body gives the mind as such. But we could change the wiring in a similar fashion, so instead of pain output, the normal wiring for pain could be redone for vision. If you hit yourself with a hammer, instead of wincing in pain, you would perceive it as color. Absurd, but that’s what would happen.
So at the end of this, with this information given, Bhante more or less explains the three stages in weaning ourselves from sense pleasures:
1): We think pleasure is intrinsic in objects, such as the sweetness in the strawberry.
2) We learn that taste is not intrinsic to the objects themselves, but a product of contact between object and sense object. We can note that strawberry flavored ice cream, gum, or even vapes exist. But there’s no strawberry in either of them. So we still crave the taste, not the strawberry.
3) We stop craving the taste altogether once we understand the truth of saññā. Bhante doesn’t expect us to get this down, but he at least wanted to get us all to stage two.
As a comment about getting to stage three, I saw another clip from a different monk (the abbot, I presume?) where he basically outlined that our entire life is designed so that we can perceive objects. That’s why lots of people conventionally see getting an education and making money as successful, so they can have access to more objects to perceive.
I would say objects of desire are a more immediate form of money, since both are a means to an end. At the end of the day, we don’t want the object itself, but the perception of the object that comes from the contact or object to sense base.
Really puts things into perspective, I’d argue.
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Dear Lal,
Thank you for your monumental effort and time to develop and maintain this valuable Dhamma website. Also thank you for accepting me into the forum.
When I read your Colors are mind made (Due to kama sanna) post, I got the following question:
Does this notion that color is not an inherent property of objects in the world but merely an artifact created in the viewer’s mind contradict with the Buddha’s teaching about the suddhashtaka (pure octad) consisting of pathavi, apo, tejo, vayo, vanna, gandha, rasa and oja (see Buddhist Theory of Matter – Fundamentals)
I would be grateful to you if you could clarify this form me?
Thank you.
Ajith
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Hello Ajith,
No. There is no contradiction with that post.
- Can you pinpoint a bullet number or a statement in that post such a contradiction is implied?
- It is possible that you may be thinking about the ‘vaṇṇa’ component of a suddhāṭṭhaka (in #6 of the second post). Sometimes ‘vaṇṇa’ is translated into Sinhala as ‘වර්ණ ‘ meaning ‘color’; but that is not what it means in this case.
- There, you need to take the meaning of ‘highly impressed’ (as in the case of attaching to something because one is enjoying it very much). In Sinhala, one could say ‘වර්ණනා කිරීම.’ That could be regrading something that is seen.
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I haven’t watched the video posted by TGS.
- I wanted to make a comment about the question about the ‘vaṇṇa’ component of a suddhāṭṭhaka raised by Ajith, but in a wider perspective regarding the Colors are mind-made (Due to kama sanna) post.
As the post, Buddhist Theory of Matter – Fundamentals (with more details in “The Origin of Matter – Suddhāṭṭhaka“) explains, the “rasa” component originates from our craving for tasty foods. Thus, greedy thoughts based on the taste of honey, for example, would create suddhāṭṭhaka, leading to the availability of honey in the world (via Paticca Samuppada); see “Paṭicca Samuppāda Creates the External World, Too!” Honey would have a dominant presence of the rasa component; since it is a liquid, it would also have a significant apo component.
- In the same way, certain things that give off an enticing aroma (like flowers) are created via Paticca Samuppada to fulfill our desire for “nice-smelling things.” There, the aroma is associated with the ‘gandha‘ (meaning odor) component in a suddhāṭṭhaka.
- The ‘vaṇṇa’ component in a suddhāṭṭhaka arises due to our craving in general for ‘mind-pleasing things,’ including attractive people and things, music, etc.
The only way that Nature (via Paticca Samuppada) can satisfy those cravings is by ‘creating illusions of nice taste, smells, sights, sounds, etc ‘ via saññā.
- That is why the Buddha compared saññā to a mirage. It has no substance. See “Fooled by Distorted Saññā (Sañjānāti) – Origin of Attachment (Taṇhā).”
- For example, there are no ‘colors’ in objects or the light. Colors are totally mind-made! They are there to satisfy that craving for attractive things. The following video explains that life would be boring without colors:
Life would be pretty boring without colors! But the world is truly ‘colorless.’ It is the ‘ultimate reality.’
- It is from the post, “Colors Are Mind-Made (Due to Kāma Saññā).”
The following video is also from that post, which explains that modern science also accepts that color is a perception and not there in objects or light. But scientists believe that perception (saññā) is made in the brain. But a brain is made of inert atoms and molecules, and cannot perceive anything!
- The ‘color perception’, according to modern science, is explained well in the following video by a physicist.
- At 2.30 minutes, he says that the process by which the brain interprets the signals from the sensors at the back of the retina as ‘red’ is not understood by science. That is because ‘color perception’ does not occur in the brain.
If one can understand the posts on saññā, one would lose cravings for sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and even sex.
- We are bound to this suffering-filled rebirth process only because we are fooled by ‘kama saññā‘ in our kama loka.
- Understanding saññā will help immensely with attaining the Sotapanna stage and beyond.
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