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So ‘kamma‘ means actions, speech, and thoughts that are based on raga, dosa, moha or alobha, adosa, amoha, and with avijja.
Dear Lal, you say:
1. In the Buddha Dhamma, ‘kamma‘ means actions, speech, and thoughts that are based on raga, dosa, or moha. Only those can lead to vipaka.
- Thus, they include punna kamma, apunna kamma, and akusala kamma….
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I thought punna kamma are done with alobha, adosa, amoha, and with avijja. Thus we have six roots leading to rebirth. Of course only akusala kamma leads to bad vipaka or downward path.
Can you please answer these questions?
Above, you say: “…sankhāra generation ALWAYS leads to kamma accumulation.”
Can one conclude from this that sankhara can only be performed with avijja and thus generate kamma (because: avijja paccaya sankhara)?
That would mean sankhāra are always connected with avijja. Thus, someone thinking while doing vipassana in satipatthana bhumi does not generate sankhāra, right? Therefore, the general equation sankhāra = “50 cetasika” only applies when avijja is involved. Is that right?
Above you say: “…sankhāra generation ALWAYS leads to kamma accumulation.”
Can one conclude from this that sankhara can only be performed with avijja and thus generate kamma (because: avijja paccaya sankhara)? Then the general statement that the 50 cetasika (without sanna and vedana) are sankhara would be false.
It is certainly clear that asobhana cetasika lead to akusala sankhara/kamma, or rather, poor results.
Sobhana cetasika bring good results in the form of punna kamma or magga phala (when paññā cetasika is involved).
Punna kamma is still performed with avijja.
Dear honorable Lal, thank you for this draft and addressing my question! It gives a good overview and much clarity.
Nevertheless, I would like to ask:
So are you saying that Vb 6 in the Abhidhamma Pitaka is incorrect and/or was added later?
Does that mean the Arahants were mistaken?
It is said that the 50 cetasikas, except for sanna and vedana, are “sankhara”. Some of these are universal and occasional cetasikas, such as jivitindriya, manasikāra, or viriya. How, then, could these lead to new kamma?
Furthermore, this text about cetasika says:
“Viriya (effort) can become Sammā Vāyāma.“
“Viriya and chanda are two factors in the four bases of mental power…”
“Saddhā (faith); sati (moral mindfulness) can become Sammā Sati”
How do you view the cetasikas of karunā and muditā?
I’m still grappling with the question of how one actually thinks without external sensory input and without distorted sanna, or rather, how one arrives at genuine kusala citta? If the mind has no external sensory input (no panca-dvara citta vithi), one can only think about dhammas. In this way, one can have contact with sadhamma and, with appropriate “paccaya,” generate kusala citta and ultimately realize magga phala (e.g., during meditation). Is that correct? But this also requires cetasika; yet it isn’t paṭicca samuppāda?
I’ve been thinking about why the Paṭicca Samuppāda (PS) process begins with avijjā, and this is the idea I’ve come up with:
Avijjā is the root cause and the highest saṁyojana for our journey through samsara. Furthermore, the purana kamma stage begins with attachment to the altered rupa (bahiddha viññāṇa) for every being below the Arahant stage because of the presence of saṁyojana (at least avijjā saṁyojana).
Both Arahants and puthujjanas experience kama sanna, or distorted perception. But the PS process begins only when there are remaining fetters. Therefore, avijjā is the minimum requirement for the start of Paṭicca Samuppāda. And the PS process applies to all sentient beings in samsara.
Ultimately, of course, all parts of Paṭicca Samuppāda cease to arise once Arahantship is attained.
This adds to the ideas above: Consciousness Generates Space-Time
“In a controversial 2025 paper, a researcher proposed a theory that consciousness may give rise to matter …“
Thank you, Lal! I agree with what you say. Understanding kama-sanna is an addition that helps to establish anicca-sanna.
If Sanna is fundamentally 100% distorted and even an Arahant is constantly plagued by kamasanna, how can one become aware of the true nature? If we contact the world with our five senses, it will always fool us. People could also take the view that everything is illusion or simulation (natthi ayaṃ loko), so it doesn’t matter whether they purify their mind or not. Ultimately, the only remaining possibility is to develop wisdom and to realize the fruitlessness of existence (anatta).
Thanks for the explanation! After thinking about it I have a few points to be clarified:
You say: “Since the color (and the beauty or attractiveness) is associated with the external object, it would not be possible to lose cravings for it without getting rid of it or at least by totally avoiding it.”
–> This is probably the crucial point where we disagree. The seeker of truth must “see with wisdom” that the things of this world are anicca, meaning they cannot be permanently obtained in the way one desires (anicca). Why should this be prevented if things possess certain intrinsic qualities? Above all, we don’t know precisely how distorted perception really is. Or did the Buddha describe this in detail?
–> I completely agree with you when you say that the mind, through kama sanna, presents the outer world as “mirage”, adapted to the plane of existence. The ancient yogis were ignorant of the true nature of this world; that is, they were not aware of the Four Noble Truths. Therefore, the anicca-nature was unknown to them, and they maintained nicca sanna.
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There is still a contradiction in your description of the first stage of Ānāpānasati or to become a Sotapanna. See #2 in First Stage of Ānāpānasati – Seeing the Anicca Nature of ‘Kāya’:
- The first phase involves “seeing the anicca (unfruitful) nature of attaching to the pañcupādānakkhandha kāya to attain the Sotapanna stage. This step is only mentioned briefly in “Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118).” We will discuss this first stage in detail in this post.
- In this stage, one focuses on the whole pañcupādānakkhandha kāya and how it is initiated. One must ‘see with wisdom’ that each time the pañcupādānakkhandha kāya is initiated, one’s mind moves away from Nibbāna. This is easily in the charts that we will discuss below.
- Ānāpāna is āna āpāna.In this stage, ‘āna‘ is to “take in/comprehend that the world (pañcupādānakkhandha) is fruitless or of anicca nature“, and ‘āpāna‘ is to “discard the wrong view that the pañcupādānakkhandha is beneficial or of nicca nature.”
vs. your reply above:
- Once one understands that the color (and the beauty or attractiveness) is not in external objects, but is a mind-generated phenomenon, then one realizes that the craving for it can be lost.
- That realization holds not only for color, but for all other ‘attractive features’ of sensory experiences. For example, ‘sweet taste of honey’ is not in honey, but is a mind-made illusion. I have discussed that in many posts.
- Once one’s mind fully grasps that fact, one’s mind would eliminate the three ‘diṭṭhi saṁyojana‘ of sakkāya diṭṭhi, vicikicchā, and silabbata parāmāsa, and one would attain the Sotapanna stage of Nibbāna. This fulfills the first stage of Ānāpānasati in the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118).
–> I agree that the Sotapanna stage is reached by “seeing the unfruitfulness of attaching to the kāya”. I disagree that this already requires the understanding of kama sanna or that colors are not in external objects. That comes after Sotapatti is realised.
We can stay with discussion No. (ii).
I don’t care about Darwin’s theory either and how life evolved. What is the connection between anicca and mind-made colors? Perhaps you could also address my distinction above: colors in external things versus only mind-made colors.
Color-recognition is required to live a pleasureable life or life at all. Paticca Samuppada is the process to maintain samsara and hence bhava/jati. The six sense fields are established to enable contact/recognition and that in a way that bhava is supported and extended into the future via new kamma. Thus, our desire for contact and experience is baked into the ayatana, and this manifests as sanna vipallasa.
Hello Lal, here my reply:
“Anyway, I am very much puzzled by the fact that people are not taking that scientifically proven fact seriously. Do you think it is not true? Do you think ‘colorful objects’ really exist in the world?”
–> I take the fact seriously and I think that the eye sense receives electromagnetic waves which are in fact special types of rupa with a wave function. Our perception is an optimized illusion/deception about a much deeper, more unified reality. The mind builds a useful “user interface” optimized for our survival. Colors, smells, tastes, the sense of time, the solidity of objects—none of these exist “out there” in that form. They are emergent perceptual constructs.
Let’s consider both possibilities: Colors are inherent in external things, or colors are purely mind-made.
Colors are inherent in external things:
The external thing appears somewhat more valuable if it actually possesses this quality.Colors are purely mind-made:
The external thing appears less valuable without genuine intrinsic color.In both cases, this doesn’t change the anicca/asubha nature, because one might still not be able to possess this thing, or at least not permanently, in the way one desires (anicca). Even the desired color can eventually become truly irritating (dukkha). Therefore, in my opinion, the difference lies only in the slightly lower perceived value when color is purely mind-made.
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“Isn’t it more important to understand the anicca and asubha nature?”
- To understand the anicca and asubha nature, one must first understand that ‘kama sanna‘ fools us (e.g., colors are not real).
–> I disagree. One can also understand the anicca nature of the world by understanding the adinava and viparinama of each sankata, thus grasping the tilakkhana at a basic level. This is sufficient for the sotapanna stage. Only after that does a sotapanna look at deeper aspects, such as the recognition of purana/nava kamma. Actually, it is this aspect that has continued to occupy me: although I understand the Buddha Dhamma quite well, I still indulge in small desires, such as good food. This is due to sanna vipallasa/kama sana in combination with purana/nava kamma and unbroken samyojana/gati. Your series of texts on this topic has helped me a lot. Thank you so much!
Why should the relatively new scientific finding that “colors are created by the mind” be so relevant? People in earlier times could not have known this, yet they were still able to attain Nibbana.
Isn’t it more important to understand the anicca and asubha nature? After all, the things of the world can be whatever they want; if one cannot permanently obtain what one wants, dukkha arises, and thus existence is pointless. Then it also doesn’t matter whether colors come from things or are mind-made. Furthermore, I wonder where the Buddha says that colors are merely mind-made and that this is a problem.
Sanna always corresponds to the plane of existence (kamaloka, rupaloka, arupaloka), and this occurs with many nuances. This is what Sanna Vipallasa means. Thus, we are deluded by this perception and, through samyojana and gati, generate new kamma in two stages (purana/nava).
regarding the sentence: “…A Buddhist meditation NEVER takes a worldly object, such as the breath or a kasina object, as the meditation subject!” Do you say that the meditation object shall not be a “thing of this world” but dhammas/concepts are OK?
I have a question or a request for advice. Although I understand purana and nava kamma, I also understand that kama sanna is deceiving me, I notice the purana kamma stage while it is happening, but I still follow sensual pleasures out of boredom. How can I stop this?
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