Like several other Pāli words, rupa conveys different meanings in different contexts. However, in most cases, rupa refers to “rupa upādānakkhandha” that arises in the mind upon experiencing an external rupa.
May 10, 2025
Introduction
1. We can clear up many misconceptions by realizing that pañcupādānakkhandha (pañca upādāna khandha) is a mental process. All the terms in pañcupādānakkhandha arise in the mind.
- It is clear that the latter four components (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, viññāna) arise in the mind.
- So, we must look carefully at the “rupa” component of pañcupādānakkhandha.
- When we understand that, we can see why pañcakkhandha (pañca khandha) NEVER arises in a puthujjana or even any Noble Person below the Arahant stage. In all situations, it is the pañcupādānakkhandha (pañca upādāna khandha) that automatically arises with any sensory input, as shown below.
Mind Sees Rupa Upādānakkhandha, Not the External Rupa
2. This may come as a surprise to many. In the suttās, the Buddha almost always used the word “rupa” to indicate “rupa upādānakkhandha” (multiple mental images that arise in the mind upon seeing an ‘external rupa’).
- Consider a “seeing event” where A sees X approaching. With just one look at X, A can recognize X as his friend. Instantly, a joyful emotion arises in A, and he smiles.
- Even though it is a simple example of a “sensory input,” we can learn much by examining what happens in A’s mind upon seeing X.
- Recognition is an unimaginably fast mental process. First, the mind must match what is seen with prior experiences; otherwise, recognition is impossible. Thus, A’s mind must go through past experiences with X to recall past experiences where they had mutually good experiences.
- See “Amazingly Fast Time Evolution of a Thought (Citta).”
3. That means, A’s mind would have gone through at least the most recent interactions with X. It happens so fast that we are unaware that the mind is doing such a scan. Suppose A’s mind recalled, for example, how they went to a party the previous night and had a good time. The mind would recall scenes from the party (without us being aware), who else was there, and the activities that took place there. All those are mental images of not only people and things he saw there, but the emotions he felt are also included.
- This is why “seeing X” is more than just seeing a “snapshot” of X. It involves “past mental images of X” and also “emotions involved in those activities.”
- In other words, recognizing someone or something as a “seeing event” requires recalling past experiences. This is an automatic process that happens without us realizing it.
- It is accomplished with the saññā, a cetasika (mental factor), which arises with every citta.
Saññā – Based on Prior Experience
4. The 1980 comedy movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy” provides a good example of how saññā of a worldly object is established in the mind via familiarity and experience (“preconditioning.”)
- The movie stars Xi, a hunter-gatherer of the Kalahari Desert, whose tribe discovers an old-fashioned Coca-Cola bottle dropped from an airplane.
- Since the tribe is fully isolated from the modern world, they have no idea about Coke or even glass bottles. Thus, they were utterly confused when they saw the glass bottle. They initially thought it was a gift from the Gods.
- The following clip, up to 1 minute, is enough to get the idea. The rest is related to other aspects of the movie storyline.
- If we saw a Coke bottle, the “saññā” of the drink would instantly appear in our minds. However, Xi (or any of his people) had never experienced the taste of Coke or seen a Coke bottle or any glass object. They could not generate a “saññā” for the Coke bottle; it was a mysterious object.
- One must have prior experience with an object to identify it, i.e., to establish saññā about it!
- The above is from the post, “Saññā – What It Really Means“. It is a good idea to read that post to get a good idea of the meaning of “saññā.”
5. In the “Mālukyaputta Sutta (SN 35.95),” the Buddha asked the following question: “What do you think, Māluṅkyaputta? Would any desire or greed arise if you saw something that you had never seen before or had no familiarity with?” and Ven. Māluṅkyaputta answered, “No. Bhante.” See #3 of “‘Diṭṭhe Diṭṭhamattaṁ Bhavissati’ – Connection to Saññā.”
- It is not easy to come up with an example of something that “we have never seen before or had no familiarity with.” That is why the example in the video above is excellent. That Amazon tribe had never tasted Coca-Cola or seen a Coke bottle (or anything made of glass).
- However, saññā is more than recognition. It can also cause attachment via likes or dislikes based on past experiences. That idea of “inducing attachment” is of critical importance to us. The “rupa” that arises in a mind (not the “external rupa“) may cause us to attach to it.
- Even though Xi did not generate rāga or dosa upon seeing the Coke bottle, he still became attached to it with moha (ignorance) and started a journey to reach the “end of the world” to get rid of it, as discussed below in #9.
Same “External Rupa” Leads to Different Emotions in Different People
6. Suppose three people, A, B, and C, sit in a small coffee shop. They are all facing the door, and person X walks in. Suppose that person X is a close friend of A, the worst enemy of B, and C does not know X. We will also assume that all are males.
- So, let us see what happens within a split second. A recognizes X as his friend, and a smile comes to his face. B recognizes X as his enemy, and his face darkens instantly.
- On the other hand, C’s mind does not register anything about X, and X is just another person to him. He immediately goes back to whatever he was doing.
- It is informative to consider the vastly different responses from A, B, and C upon seeing X.
7. In #2 and #3 above, we discussed how A recognizes X as his friend based on past experiences.
- Recognition is an unimaginably fast mental process. First, the mind must match what is seen with one’s prior experiences. Thus, A’s mind must go through past experiences with X to recall past experiences where they had mutually good experiences. The same holds for B; for him to recognize X as an enemy, his mind would have gone through his past experiences where he got into arguments/fights with X.
- Therefore, recognition requires “mental images of past experiences.”
- This is a critical observation. Even though we think of “seeing something” as “taking a snapshot” (like taking a photo with a camera), even taking one look at X in the above example is a complex process with many steps occurring within a fraction of a second.
- That complex process happens in an unbelievably short time. This is why the Buddha said he could not even give an example to indicate how fast the mind is.
All Five Upādānakkhandha Arise In a Sensory Event
8. A critical observation is the following: Not only “the physical features of X,” but also the joyful memories of past experiences of X would arise in A’s mind upon seeing X.
- In those past experiences, A would have experienced mostly “sukha vedanā,” and A would have recognized X with “saññā” just as in the present case. A’s mind would have generated saṅkhāra and viññāna too.
- In other words, all five upādānakkhandha would have also arisen in those past experiences!
- Thus, simultaneously with the recognition of X, those past emotions (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, viññāna) also came instantly to A’s mind.
- This is why the Buddha described a sensory event with pañcupādānakkhandha, which many translators translate as “five grasping aggregates.” Here, “grasping” (upādāna) means to attach with rāga, dosa, or moha.
Mind Attaches to “Rupa Upādānakkhandha” Even in the Purāna Kamma (Vipāka) Stage
9. The time sequence of attachment to a “seeing event” is shown in the chart below. It is a simplified version of the charts discussed in previous posts.
Download/Print: “Purāna and Nava Kamma – 5“
- Even in the “kāma dhātu” stage, to the extreme left, a mind goes through the “recalling past events process” that we discussed in #6 and #7 above. This is when the minds of A, B, and C “get the saññā” of person X. Thus, even though I indicate the “bahiddha viññāna” stage with a small dot, it is already complex; with the mind engaging further, it expands as shown.
- Even the mind of C (we recall that all three are puthujjanās) instantly moves to the “bahiddha viññāna” stage in the kāma loka (red box). As we have discussed, the mind of anyone with all ten saṁyojana intact) will ALWAYS move to kāma loka. Thus, even the “vipāka viññāna” stage is not attachment-free. See, “Is Cakkhu Viññāṇa Free of Defilements?” However, C’s mind will not get to the “nava kamma” stage because his mind would not go through the “tanhā paccayā upādāna” step in Paṭicca Samuppāda; see the above chart.
- As discussed above, A and B attach to the “seeing event” with liking and dislike, respectively. Their minds advance to the “nava kamma” stage.
- We remember that attachment (tanhā) can occur via like, dislike, or even with a neutral mind (with rāga, dosa, and moha, respectively). See “Tanhā – How We Attach Via Greed, Hate, and Ignorance.” In the case of Xi (of the Amazon tribe, discussed in #4), attachment to the Coke bottle happens via moha; even though his mind did not generate rāga or dosa, he was fully confused and got into a lot of trouble trying to get rid of the bottle.
Mind Deals With “Rupa Upādānakkhandha” and Not a Single “Snapshot”
10. As we saw in #2 and #3 above, the time sequence for A to recognize X MUST involve the following steps: (i) Upon seeing X (in one glance), A’s mind would have to go through past experiences with X. (ii) Based on those past experiences (which include images of X and the emotions associated with such past images), A recognized X as his friend, and (iii) that recognition led to a positive mindset (viññāna) arising in A.
- Thus, the process of recognizing X involved much more than receiving a “snapshot of X.” Specifically, it REQUIRED recalling “past rupa of X” that arose in the mind of A in many past encounters with X and also the mental factors associated with those past experiences.
- This is why a “seeing event” involves “rupa upādānakkhandha,” which is defined to include “past rupa” of X (that had arisen in A’s mind). In addition, “past vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāna” also contributed to helping recognize X. (In addition to the “past” component, there are ten more possible components in each upādānakkhandha. See “Khandha Sutta (SN 22.48).” We will discuss that later.)
- Critical conclusion: Any sensory event involves all five aggregates: rupakkhandha, vedanākkhandha, saññākkhandha, saṅkhārakkhandha, and viññānakkhandha. However, since a puthujjana has NEVER experienced pañcakkhandha, but ALWAYS experienced pañcupādānakkhandha, we must re-state that as follows: Any sensory event involves all five “grasping” aggregates: rupa upādānakkhandha, vedanā upādānakkhandha, saññā upādānakkhandha, saṅkhāra upādānakkhandha, and viññāna upādānakkhandha.
Summary
11. It is critical to understand the following to pursue the Noble Path.
- Saññā means more than “perception” or “recognition.” Our bodies and the external environment are built (via Paṭicca Samuppāda) to generate “false emotions” or “distorted saññā.” This is discussed in detail in “Worldview of the Buddha.”
- Each of our sensory experiences leads to Paṭicca Samuppāda cycles. The sensory experience for a puthujjana always starts with the “purāna kamma” stage. It may proceed to the “nava kamma” stage only if the mind is sufficiently interested in the sensory input. If not, the Paṭicca Samuppāda process stops at the “tanhā paccayā upādāna” step, and no new “kammic energies” are generated.
- At the beginning of sensory experience, the mind must first recognize it. That recognition is only one part of saññā. That recognition is based on prior similar experiences, and the emotions associated with them also come to the mind; that leads to automatic attachment to the sensory input for anyone below the Arahant stage, i.e., anyone with unbroken saṁyojana.
- Until that automatic attachment that takes the mind to the bahiddha viññāna stage is stopped, one is not fully released from the rebirth cycle. That can happen only by understanding how the “purāna kamma” stage is initiated; see “Sandiṭṭhiko – What Does It Mean?“
- The discussion on the origin of the “distorted saññā” leads to the fact that a mind attaches to sensory inputs via a complex process taking into account not just a “snapshot” of the sensory input, but one’s prior experiences. Thus, “rupa” does not refer only to the external stimulus but is inherently connected to an “aggregate of prior experiences” or “rupa upādānakkhandha.” It is mainly in Abhidhamma that “external rupa” made of pathavi, āpo, tejo, vāyo, vaṇṇa, gandha, rasa, oja (i.e., suddhāṭṭhaka) are discussed.
- In the same way, vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāna in the Sutta Piṭaka (almost always) refer to vedanā upādānakkhandha, saññā upādānakkhandha, saṅkhāra upādānakkhandha, and viññāna upādānakkhandha.
