Kamma nirodha means stopping the accumulation of new kamma, not eliminating existing kammic energies. However, kamma nirodha cannot be attained only by willfully abstaining from dasa akusala. It is accomplished only by stopping the automatic initiation of the purāna (initial) kamma generation.
January 24, 2026
Introduction
1. There are two common misconceptions when it comes to kamma and kamma vipāka.
- Many people think ‘kamma nirodha‘ means destroying accumulated kammic energies that can bring their vipāka. However, that was taught not by the Buddha, but by Mahāvīra, a contemporary of the Buddha, whose teachings are still being practiced as Jainism in India. Mahāvīra is mentioned in the Tipiṭaka as nigaṇṭha nāṭaputta: “Nigaṇṭhanāṭaputta Sutta (SN 41.8).”
- Most people think kamma accumulation can be stopped by willfully abstaining from dasa akusala. The Buddha explained that a mind goes through an initial kamma accumulation stage (purāna kamma) to automatically attach to the sensory input before we consciously become aware of it and engage in akusala kamma in the ‘nava kamma‘ stage. Until we can stop the first purāna kamma stage by comprehending it, we cannot truly abstain from dasa akusala; it is inevitable that, sooner or later, one will give in to temptation.
Accumulated Kammic Energies Cannot be Destroyed
2. The Buddha taught that accumulated kammic energies cannot be destroyed.
- Instead, one can remove the conditions (paccayā) for those accumulated kammic energies to bring their results (vipāka).
- When (nava) kamma are done via the body, speech, or the mind, kammic energies are released to the viññāṇa dhātu and remain there for even millions of years; those energies decay very slowly.
- Mostly, an ānantarika kamma (like killing one’s parents on the immoral side or cultivating jhāna on the moral side) directly brings its vipāka. Other than in such specific cases, we cannot attribute a certain vipāka to a specific kamma done in the past. That subject of ‘kamma vipāka‘ is one of the four things that are not amenable to anyone other than a Buddha: “Acinteyya Sutta (AN 4.77).”
3. However, as long as conditions exist for accumulated kammic energies to bring their results (vipāka), suffering in the rebirth process will not end.
- The Buddha pointed out the fact that the main condition (and also the root cause) is avijjā, the ignorance of the complete kamma accumulation process.
- However, the kamma accumulation process cannot be stopped only by trying to willfully abstain from dasa akusala, even though one must do that too.
Can Kamma Accumulation be Stopped by Abstaining from Dasa Akusala?
4. Many people think kamma accumulation can be stopped by willfully abstaining from dasa akusala.
- It is technically correct, since kammic energies that can bring rebirths are generated via dasa akusala or the ten types of akusala kamma: three by the body, three by speech, and three more exclusively by the mind, i.e., kāya, vaci, and mano kamma.
- Ancient yogis (such as Ālāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta) before the Buddha, thought the same. They also knew that most akusala kamma are driven by the urge to fulfil sensory desires, i.e., the desire to see, hear, taste, smell, enjoy mind-pleasing sights, music, food, odors, and engage in sex and other bodily comforts.
- Therefore, they lived solitary lives in jungles where such ‘sensory attractions’ were minimal. Furthermore, they spent most of their time focusing their minds on ‘neutral objects’ (such as the breath or a kasina object, such as a clay ball or a fire). That allowed their minds to detach from the ‘kāma loka‘ and enter jhānic states that correspond to the mental states of rupa loka Brahmās. The 16 rupa loka Brahma realms correspond to the mental states of the four jhānās at various strengths.
- Another way to state the above is that those yogis were able to temporarily overcome the ‘kāma saññā‘ and elevate their minds to the ‘jhānic saññā‘ experienced by the rupa loka Brahmās.
5. Some of those yogis were also able to temporarily overcome the ‘jhānic saññā‘ associated with the four jhānic states and ascend to the mindset of arupa loka Brahmās, i.e., attain arupa samāpatti.
- Uddaka Rāmaputta attained the highest possible arupa samāpatti, which corresponds to the highest realm in the arupa loka.
- In other words, Uddaka Rāmaputta was able to attain the mental status of the best realm in this world.
- At his death, he was reborn in that realm, which has the least suffering. The suffering is to be separated from that realm and be reborn a human at the end of the lifetime there. After that, he could be reborn in any realm (including apāyās) depending on his activities there.
Kamma Nirodha Requires Eliminating Saṁyojana
6. Therefore, kamma nirodha (elimination of root causes that lead to engage in dasa akusala) is not possible without removing the ignorance about the complete kamma accumulation process, including the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage. One must break the bonds of the rebirth process by eliminating the ten saṁyojana, and this can be done only by comprehending the complete process of mind-contamination.
- That process includes a ‘purāna kamma‘ stage before the mind reaches the ‘nava kamma‘ stage, where dasa akusala accumulation occurs; see the chart below.
- With a new sensory event, the mind of any living being starts at a ‘defilement-free’ state (called the ‘dhātu‘ stage), but is automatically and instantly influenced (but not contaminated) via the ‘saññā‘ associated with the specific realm.
- For example, a human would experience ‘kāma saññā‘ in response to any sensory event. That ‘kāma saññā‘ is not a defilement, but it will induce defilment in a mind which has not removed the ‘kāma rāga saṁyojana.’
- The elimination of the ‘kāma rāga saṁyojana‘ requires permanently overcoming the ‘kāma saññā.‘ That means one would never again be attracted to ‘sensual pleasures.’ This is when one becomes an Anāgāmi.
- Before becoming an Anāgāmi, one must first attain the Sotapanna stage by temporarily overcoming the ‘kāma saññā‘ for a brief period. However, here the transition is not to the ‘rupa loka‘ (i.e., to attain an anariya jhāna), but to the Satipaṭṭhāna Bhūmi, which is free of ‘kāma saññā.‘ See “Overcoming Kāma Saññā – Satipaṭṭhāna Bhumi or Jhāna.”
Entering Satipaṭṭhāna Bhūmi by Overcoming Kāma Saññā
7. To overcome the kāma saññā, the mind must get to the bahiddha and ajjhatta phases in the beginning of the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage. However, that is not possible without comprehending the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage.
- Then, while in the Satipaṭṭhāna Bhūmi, one can examine the details of the framework given in the “Kammanirodha Sutta (SN 35.146)” without being influenced by the ‘kāma saññā.‘
- I explained that in many posts; see, for example, “Overcoming Kāma Saññā – Satipaṭṭhāna Bhumi or Jhāna.”
- However, we will discuss that in simpler terms in this series of posts.
Framework for Eliminating Saṁyojana (Bonds to the Rebirth Process)
8. The Buddha explained the framework for stopping the ‘kamma generation process’ in the short “Kammanirodha Sutta (SN 35.146).”
- The title of the sutta, ‘kamma nirodha,’ means ‘stopping kamma (kammic energy) generation.’
- There, the Buddha pointed out that kamma generation occurs in two steps: ‘purāna (initial, weak) kamma generation’ in the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage and ‘potent/strong kamma generation’ occurring in the subsequent ‘nava kamma‘ stage.
- Without first stopping the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage, it is impossible to stop the subsequent ‘nava kamma‘ stage.
9. As explained in #6 above, most people are aware of only the ‘nava kamma‘ stage, where we consciously engage in dasa akusala via kāya, vaci, and mano kamma.
- However, before that, a subtle ‘weak kamma generation process’ occurs in the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage without us even being aware.
- Ancient yogis like Ālāra Kālāma, before the Buddha, were unable to stop the ‘kamma generation process’ because they were not aware of the complete ‘kamma generation process.’ They did not know about the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage.
Kammanirodha Sutta
10. We briefly discussed the Kammanirodha Sutta in #15 of the post “Kusala/Akusala and Puñña/Apuñña Kamma.”
- The kamma generation process starts in the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage. Until a Buddha explains that, no one would know that. Avijja (or ignorance) in “avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra‘ is not to realize this.
- If one is not aware that this is how the kamma generation process is initiated in the mind, how can one stop the process?
- The kamma generation process starts with the automatic generation of ‘weak kamma‘ via saṅkappa (those are the saṅkhāra in ‘avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra‘ at the beginning of kamma accumulation per the Paṭicca Samuppāda process). This is where the cakkhu indriya (sense faculty for seeing) turns into cakkhu āyatana (cakkhāyatana), which ‘assigns a value’ for what is seen and prompts the mind to engage in further activities to seek further ‘sensory pleasures.’
- See “How Do Sense Faculties Become Internal Āyatana?” for details.
Cakkhu Indriya to Cakkhu Āyatana
11. That automatic process of turning the cakkhu indriya (sense faculty for seeing) into cakkhu āyatana does not occur for an Arahant, i.e., an Arahant‘s mind does not go through the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage. It still sees the sight with the kāma saññā, but would not attach to the ‘pleasurable kāma saññā.‘
- Let us examine that process in the following chart.
Download/Print: “Purana and Nava Kamma -2-revision 3“
- The above chart is from the post “Purāna and Nava Kamma – Sequence of Kamma Generation.” You should review that post after reading the rest of this post to solidify your understanding.
12. The turning of the cakkhu indriya (sense faculty for seeing) into cakkhu āyatana happens in four key steps in the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage.
- First Step: The physical eyes capture the image of the external object. It sends that information to the brain via the optic nerve. The brain processes that information and passes it to the ‘seat of the mind’ (hadaya vatthu) located in the gandhabba trapped inside the physical body. As we know, gandhabba is the ‘mental body.’ See “Mental Body – Gandhabba.”
- Second Step: The mind automatically generates a ‘kāma saññā‘ and converts that ‘image of the external object’ to a ‘mind-made rupa.’ This step happens for anyone born in the ‘kāma loka‘ because that ‘kāma saññā‘ is built into both the mental and physical bodies of anyone born in the ‘kāma loka.’ Thus, even an Arahant‘s mind generates this mind-pleasing ‘mind-made rupa.’ The mind is still in the uncontaminated ‘kāma dhātu‘ stage; see the above chart. The Buddha advised Bāhiya to try not to go beyond this stage (‘diṭṭhe diṭṭhamattaṁ bhavissati‘); see “‘Diṭṭhe Diṭṭhamattaṁ Bhavissati’ – Connection to Saññā.”
- Third Step: This is based solely on whether or not ‘kāma rāga saṁyojana‘ is present in the mind. If it is intact, the mind automatically attaches to it by generating ‘subtle/weak saṅkhāra‘ called saṅkappa. With this critical step, the mind moves over to the ‘kāma loka.’ This is the first step of ‘avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra‘ at the beginning of kamma accumulation per the Paṭicca Samuppāda process. ‘Kama rāga‘ is automatically generated in this step, i.e., this is what the Buddha referred to as ‘saṅkappa rāgo purisassa kāmo’ OR ‘kāma rāga is defined as kāma saṅkappa (mano saṅkhāra contaminated with rāga)’ in the “Nibbedhika Sutta (AN 6.63).” The initial five entities of pancupadanakkhandha arise in this step: bahiddha rupa through bahiddha viññāṇa.
- Fourth Step: In the next step, the mind reattaches to that bahiddha rupa, with the further generation of kāma saṅkappa, leading to the ajjhatta rupa and the associated four entities of pancupadanakkhandha, i.e., ajjhatta vedana through ajjhatta viññāṇa. Now, the generation of cakkhu āyatana (cakkhāyatana) is complete. This bahiddha viññāṇa is the same as cakkhu viññāṇa for a ‘seeing event.’
Kāye Kāyānupassanā Is About ‘Purāna Kamma‘ Stage
13. The “Mahā Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (DN 22)” starts with ‘Kāye Kāyānupassanā‘ (@marker 1.9): “Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kāye kāyānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṁ.”
- Kāye Kāyānupassanā is about another ‘kāya‘ in the ‘pañcupādānakkhandha kāya.’
- That ‘kāya within kāya’ is the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage of the ‘pañcupādānakkhandha kāya.’ The initial part of the ‘pañcupādānakkhandha kāya’ (‘purāna kamma‘ stage) can be uncovered only by a Buddha.
- (@2.11) ‘Iti ajjhattaṁ vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, bahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, ajjhattabahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati.‘ This verse is about Buddha’s advice to focus on the ajjhatta and bahiddha steps in the generation of the ‘pañcupādānakkhandha kāya.’
- In other words, one must fully comprehend that the origin of suffering starts with the ajjhatta and bahiddha stages of pañcupādānakkhandha. As we saw above, this step is also summarized in the ‘avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra‘ step in the Paṭicca Samuppāda process. Here, avijjā is not to be aware of these two critical steps (ajjhatta and bahiddha).
14. However, the automatic generation of the bahiddha stage (of the early stage of the pañcupādānakkhandha) was also due to a cause. That was the ‘kāma saññā‘ which arose as soon as the mind received the image of the external rupa from the brain.
- If that ‘kāma saññā‘ did not arise, the mind would not have attached to the external object.
- Thus, we are helpless in stopping this automatic attachment until we learn about this complete process and understand that we must eliminate the automatic attachment to ‘kāma saññā‘ in a two-step process: (i) Fully understand this complete process and thereby eliminate the first three ‘ditthi saṁyojana,’ and (ii) Overcome the tendency to attach to the ‘kāma saññā‘ by eliminating the next two saṁyojana of kāma rāga and patigha.
- One becomes a Sotapanna by completing (i) and then an Anāgāmi by completing (ii).
Summary
15. We have been stuck in the suffering-filled rebirth process only because we have been trying to evade the hard work needed to overcome the ‘kāma saññā.’ Spending five to ten minutes reading a post won’t do it. It is necessary to do your own research, contemplate, and ask questions about things you do not understand.
- If one is serious about stopping future suffering, one must understand the details in the ‘saṅ generation’ (‘saṅ‘ ‘uppāda‘ which rhymes like ‘samuppāda‘). As we know, ‘saṅ‘ refers to the defilements of rāga, dosa, and moha: “What is ‘San’? Meaning of Sansāra (or Saṃsāra).”
- In the next post, we will discuss the difference between the ‘rupa that we perceive’ and the ‘external rupa‘ that actually exists in reality. Hopefully, that will help open a few more ‘eyes.’
- We are fortunate to live in a time when modern science has confirmed Buddha’s teaching that the ‘rupa we perceive’ (with kāma saññā) are vastly different from the ‘external rupa.‘