“Mind-Pleasing Things” in the World Arise via Paṭicca Samuppāda

“Mind-Pleasing Things” in the world arise via Paṭicca Samuppāda; their ability to generate “happiness” in the mind results from a grand illusion via “distorted saññā.” Everything in the world (living and inert) is a saṅkhata (“prepared entity”) and has the mind as the precursor.

December 28, 2024

Two Factors Contribute to “Distorted Saññā“

1. When a mind craves something, it will generate kammic energy to fulfill that desire in future lives. If one craves the taste of honey, it will not only generate future births that can enjoy the taste of honey, but it will also create “honey” in the external world to bring such a sweet taste. However, not all living beings experience an appealing taste when eating honey; that shows the “sweetness” is not in the honey. That is the critical point only a Buddha thinks about and fully unravels. 

  • That mechanism of “triggering a joyful sensation” is based on the universal principle of Paṭicca Samuppāda, leading to two effects: (i) future births occur according to kammic energies generated, and (ii) prepare the external world to provide the “matching environment.” No one has discussed the second aspect of Paṭicca Samuppāda in recent years, even though it can be deduced from the suttās and Abhidhamma, as we will discuss. 
  • If one craves hurting and killing others, the kammic energy generated will contribute to the arising of future births in a violent environment. To be reborn as an animal, a suitable environment must exist in the world for that animal to be born and survive. However, it takes the combined kammic energies of many to “prepare such an environment.” That leads to the following two deductions: (i) Each individual’s rebirth is based on the actions of that individual), (ii) the environment is prepared by the collective actions (kammic energy generated by many individuals with similar mindsets.)
  • Only the purified mind of an Arahant will not generate javana cittās that generate kammic energy for both processes; see “Recovering the Suffering-Free Pure Mind.”

2. The mindset of an individual is related to their gati (pronounced: “gathi.”) The Buddha stated there are five main categories of gati. Those are the gati of beings in the realms of hell (niraya), the animal realm (tiracchāna), the ghost realm (peta), the human realm (manussa), and the realms of the “gods” (Devās and Brahmās). See “Gati Sutta (AN 9.68).”

  • Of course, there are numerous subcategories within each of the five main categories. That is evident among animals; some are vicious, and others are harmless. Even among humans, there is a broad spectrum of gati (i.e., character/habits); see, for example, “The Law of Attraction, Habits, Character (Gati), and Cravings (Āsavas)“ and “9. Key to Ānāpānasati – How to Change Habits and Character (Gati).”
  • As we can see, there are many issues involved. Even though it may not be apparent, all those are interrelated. Learning Buddha’s teachings is like solving a big jigsaw puzzle. As each piece falls into place, the “big picture” emerges. 
  • Even though this process could be tiresome initially, it becomes an exhilarating experience as major features emerge! That is when one becomes a Sotapanna Anugāmi and starts building “true faith” (saddhā) in Buddha’s teachings.
“Manōpubbangamā Dhammā” – Mind is the Precursor

3. Everything in the world is a saṅkhata (“prepared entity”) with the mind as the precursor. Mind is the precursor to all living and non-living things in the world, as summarized by the first verse in Dhammapada: “Manōpubbangamā dhammā...”

  • Manō is, of course, the (defiled) mind.  Dhammā (plural, not Buddha Dhamma) are the energies the mind generates (via javana power.) Dhammā means “to bear,” meaning “everything arises due to Dhammā. See “What are rūpa? – Dhamma are rūpa too!“
  • Those dhammās then give rise to everything (all phenomena) in this world – whether living or inert.
Devolution of “Early Humans” – Aggañña Sutta

4. Paṭicca Samuppāda determines not only future rebirths. It also prepares the environments where sentient beings with specific gati can be reborn. We can get some insights from the Aggañña Sutta.

  • For example, at the beginning of a “new Earth,” all sentient beings on Earth have fine/invisible bodies like those of Brahmās. Initially, no vegetation, animals, or male/female humans. They have just descended from the Ābhassara Brahma realm and are like Brahmās. Just like Brahmās, there is no need to eat food. There are no males or females, i.e., no sex organs in those “first humans.”
  • Their “manussa gati” slowly emerges with time. Their bodies become dense, and initially, there is “free food” in terms of natural rice-like vegetation that can be eaten without any preparation.
  • Then, sexes emerge and more incentive to engage in defiled activities.

5. With time, those with worse gati are reborn as animals. By that time, there is more vegetation to sustain the animal population. 

  • The nirayās (hellish realms) inside the Earth emerge last, and some humans/animals are born there.
  • That is an example of how the environment changes as the dominant gati of sentient beings change.
  • The critical point is that as “early humans” devolve (the opposite of evolution, which means “getting better with time) into not only humans like today with much more defiled minds but also reborn as animals, petas, and hellish beings. The Earth’s features also change first to accommodate such births. For example, there was no vegetation on “early Earth”; plants and trees appeared before animals appeared. That is the second aspect of Paṭicca Samuppāda that has not been discussed in detail by anyone in recent years to my knowledge. However, Waharaka Thero discussed this second aspect of Paṭicca Samuppāda in a few discourses. See, for example, “මලක පටිච්චසමුප්පාදය.” However, he did not make the connection to “distorted saññā.“

6. Understanding the above is essential to comprehend the origins of the “distorted saññā,” which is the root cause of our attachments! See “Fooled by Distorted Saññā (Sañjānāti) – Origin of Attachment (Taṇhā).”

“Paṭi+ichcha” Leads to “Sama+uppāda“ – Contribution to Rebirths

7. Almost all current interpretations of Buddha’s teachings (Tipiṭaka) focus on only one aspect of Paṭicca Samuppāda. That is, “paṭi+ichcha” leads to “sama+uppāda,“ i.e., “willingly attaching to the root causes” leads to “corresponding (re)births.” See “Paṭicca Samuppāda – ‘Pati+ichcha’+’Sama+uppāda’.”

  • For example, when person X generates potent hateful thoughts about a person, X could be in the mindset of an animal. At that moment, X may even behave like an animal, hitting and clawing at that person if things get out of hand. Even if X does not act physically, he will have that “animal-like” mindset. At that moment, X generates a gati (character) corresponding to “bhava,” or existence similar to an animal. That, in turn, leads to grasping a corresponding “bhava.” Then “bhava paccayā jāti” can lead to a similar “jāti” or birth at that time, i.e., X will behave like an animal. This is the Idappaccayatā Paṭicca Samuppāda that explains “bhava and jāti” during life.
  • Each Idappaccayatā Paṭicca Samuppāda cycle adds more to the existing pañcupādānakkhandha (pañca upādāna khandha).
  • Accumulating a specific type of kamma bija (or growth of a certain gati) can eventually lead to rebirth in a compatible realm. That is the basis of Uppatti Paṭicca Samuppāda.
“Paṭi+ichcha” also Leads to “Sama+uppāda“ – Making of the External World

8. The second, still mostly hidden, aspect of Paṭicca Samuppāda is that it creates the necessary environment (external world) to generate the appropriate “saññā.” I have been trying to explain this aspect for two years now; I don’t know how many have grasped this concept. I hope the current approach will be helpful!

  • The kammic energies generated when one engages in akusala kamma (based on upādāna) lead to two effects: (i) they can bring vipāka for that person in the future (for example, lead to rebirth in a given realm), and (ii) that energy also contributes to the preparation of the external environment necessary to bring that vipāka. For example, a suitable environment must exist for an animal to be born. 
  • For example, when the Sun, Earth, and other planets are “re-formed,” initially, all four lowest realms are absent. Then, as people (Brahma-kāyika humans) start gradually “going back to their old ways and engaging in akusala kamma,” they generate kammic energies for their individual futures and also collectively to make the environment for such births to occur. 
  • In a newly-formed Earth, the animal realm will likely emerge first before the other three apāyās. Initially, the environment for animals to survive (vegetation) was absent. With the collective kammic energy being generated, that environment emerges first, i.e., plants appear first, plant-eating animals, and then carnivorous animals. The first animals of a given type appear with opapātika births. Depending on the situation, one of four birth types can occur; see “Four Types of Births in Buddhism.” 
Everything Is Made of Suddhāṭṭhaka

9. Everything in the world (living and inert) is made based on a single fundamental entity called suddhāṭṭhaka. Just like all programming languages are based on two digits of zero and one, all living and non-living things are made of suddhāṭṭhaka with eight subunits. Just like combinations of two digits can handle the complexity of programming, various combinations of the eight constituents of suddhāṭṭhaka — together with internal rotation (paribbramana) and spin (bramana) — are enough to describe the highly complex world. See “31 Realms Associated with the Earth.”

  • The proportion of the eight constituents dictates any specific entity. For example, the Earth’s crust is made of “hard things” like rocks. Those are made of suddhāṭṭhaka with mainly the pathavi element, which determines the “hardness.”
  • Water and most liquids are made of suddhāṭṭhaka with predominantly the apo element. Similarly, air (wind) and fire have suddhāṭṭhaka made predominantly with the vayo and tejo elements.
  • This set of four constituents (pathavi, āpo, tejo, vāyo) is added to suddhāṭṭhaka due to moha (or avijjā).

10. The other four constituents (vaṇṇa, gandha, rasa, oja) are added to suddhāṭṭhaka due to rāga and dosa, both of which arise based on taṇhā. 

  • In simple terms, “rāga” means to crave things in the world; living beings in kāma, rupa, and arupa loka have kāma rāga, rupa rāga, and arupa rāga respectively. As we have discussed, “kāma rāga” means craving “close contact sensory inputs” (especially taste, smell, and touch, including sex); “rupa rāga” means craving jhānic experiences, and “arupa rāga” means craving arupāvacara samāpatti experiences.
  • The mental pollutant/defilement dosa (anger) arises only in kāma loka when deprived of sensory pleasures. Thus, it is associated with kāma rāga.
  • Another way to say that is that the four constituents (vaṇṇa, gandha, rasa, oja) arise due to craving (taṇhā) kāma assāda (close-contact sensory pleasures), jhānic pleasures, or samāpatti pleasures. 
  • For details, see “Buddhist Theory of Matter – Fundamentals.” The issue of why suddhāṭṭhaka is not discussed in the suttās is also addressed in this post.
Suddhāṭṭhaka in Living Beings and Inert Matter

11. When one generates greedy thoughts based on the taste of honey, for example, two types of suddhāṭṭhaka are created via javana cittās: (i) One type of suddhāṭṭhaka will contribute to the sense faculty of taste (jivhā pasāda rupa) in future existences. (ii). The other type of suddhāṭṭhaka will contribute to the process of generating honey in the external world; that includes generating plants bearing flowers (so that bees can make honey).

  • Thus, suddhāṭṭhaka generation leads to two effects: (i) Generating kammic energy to create sensory faculties for each person’s future existences. (ii) Formation of the external world via the collective kammic energies of all sentient beings. The mechanism of generating “distorted saññā” is built-in to both, so it is not easy to figure out that it is an illusion; see #6 above.
  • I hope you get the basic idea. Fundamental aspects of #9 and #10 above were discussed in “The Origin of Matter – Suddhāṭṭhaka,“
  • If someone is truly interested in understanding this topic, it is essential to read the links provided. It takes an effort to understand the deeper teachings of the Buddha; that is why these are not being discussed today. I have focused on Buddha Dhamma for over ten years (doing nothing else since my retirement) and made the above-critical connections only in the last three years. Please feel free to ask questions from any of the posts in the discussion forum.
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