Buddhist worldview is based on the sensory experience. Specifically, it focuses on how sensory experience arises and how our unwise response to it (with rāga, dosa, and moha) keeps us bound to the rebirth process dominated by suffering.
August 26, 2019; rewritten December 20, 2024
Cornerstones of Buddha’s Worldview
1. The following are the fundamental aspects of Buddha’s worldview. I will address them in detail in this series of posts: “Worldview of the Buddha.” I am rewriting the old posts (and adding a few) in this section to make a better presentation.
- Our “actions” with rāga, dosa, and moha maintain the rebirth process. Such actions (including bodily actions, speech, and thoughts with rāga, dosa, and moha) generate kammic energies to bring in “unpleasant consequences” (kamma vipāka) in the future (and sustain the rebirth process.)
- Such actions are initiated by attaching to sensory inputs (ārammaṇa) with rāga, dosa, and moha. Let us focus on attachment with rāga (cravings) to make the discussion easier.
Two Ways to Stop Attachment (Rāga)
2. The Buddha pointed out two ways to stop attaching to “appealing” sensory inputs.
- One is to examine the harmful consequences of actions with rāga (cravings). To satisfy those cravings, we engage in akusala kamma, which generates kammic energies to bring their results in the future, including rebirths in “undesired realms.” Some people can focus on this aspect and break the mental bonds (saṁyojana) that bind one to the rebirth process.
- The second approach is to examine the root causes for such cravings to arise in our minds in the first place. We attach to certain sensory inputs because our minds get a “joyful sensation” when experiencing them. These include sensory inputs coming through all six senses. For example, we automatically feel a “sense of joy” when eating tasty food or looking at an “attractive person.” The Buddha explained that such sensations are illusory, i.e., the mind is the root cause of such sensations. However, that illusion is not made at the moment of experience; it arises because we had desired such experiences in previous lives, and our current “bodies” and the “environment” have been “prepared” via Paṭicca Samuppāda to bring that illusive “sensation” which I call “distorted saññā.” Even though the Buddha sometimes used the phrase “saññā vipallāsa” (see the links in the summary below) to describe that, in most cases, there was no distinction made (and the word “saññā” was used) because “saññā” is always “saññā vipallāsa,“ i.e., it is built into our “bodies” and the “environment.”
- The second approach is a bit harder to understand. However, once understood, losing the craving for sensory inputs becomes easy.
World Offers “Mind-Pleasing Experiences”
3. Note that both approaches admit the following fact: There are sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and body touches that do generate a “feeling of happiness/joy” in our minds.
- The first approach admits that there are things that can bring assāda (pleasure) to mind, but one can try to overcome that attachment by looking at the dire consequences (ādinava) of attaching to them; if one can engage the mind fully with that approach it can lead to breaking of mental bonds (saṁyojana) that bind one to the rebirth process, i.e., it leads to nissarana. Thus, this approach can be called “looking at assāda, ādinava, nissarana.”
- The second approach looks into why and how things exist in the world to bring such assāda (pleasure) to mind. Even though it is more challenging in one aspect (one must understand how those “mind-pleasing things” in the world arise via Paṭicca Samuppāda), it explains why those apparent “assāda” are an illusion on a grand scale.
- A critical point is that different species (such as humans and animals) experience joy/happiness when experiencing different sensory inputs. If “seeds of happiness” are embedded in external things, they must provide the same “happiness” to all living beings; that is not the case. Let us discuss that briefly.
Paṭicca Samuppāda Determines Which Experiences Are “Mind-Pleasing”
4. The following is a summary of the two approaches in another way.
- Our sensory experiences arise because we are born with six sensory faculties (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind). Each lifestream’s physical and mental bodies arise via Paṭicca Samuppāda, where only actions by that lifestream matter. We all have our unique “lifestream,” which can take the form of a human, animal, Deva, etc., based on Paṭicca Samuppāda; see “What Reincarnates? – Concept of a Lifestream.“ Kammic energies accumulated over all past lives can contribute to determining future lives.
- “Things in the external world” (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, body touches, and memories) also arise via Paṭicca Samuppāda. However, actions by all relevant living beings (or “lifestreams”) contribute to “making” the external world.
“Distorted Saññā” Is Built-in to the Bodies We are Born with
5. A specific set of sensory experiences leads to an “automatic pleasure sensation/perception” (“saññā“) within a particular lifestream. For example, humans enjoy different sensory experiences compared to any animal species. In the same way, each animal species has its own sensory experiences that provide an “automatic pleasure sensation/perception.” Because each “lifestream” (or living being) and the environment are “created” by kammic energy (via Paṭicca Samuppāda), that “distorted saññā” is built into both. That is why it is difficult to “remove the distorted saññā” (for example, the sweet taste of honey is a “distorted saññā“; it feels “real.”)
- Even after attaining Arahanthood, that “distorted saññā” does not disappear because it is built into the body of that Arahant. However, when its origin is comprehended, all ten mental bonds (saṁyojana) are broken; thus, Arahant‘s mind will not be attached to any sensory experience. This is why the Buddha emphasized that Nibbāna can be reached only by cultivating wisdom (paññā).
- In this series of posts, I will focus on the second approach; see #2 above. I will leave it up to each person to decide whether to follow this series or try to stick with the first approach. My goal is to fully describe the second approach for the benefit of future generations. I have not seen anyone else explain it, even though it is in the suttās and Abhidhamma.
Importance of “Distorted Saññā“
6. In many suttās, the Buddha explained that what we perceive as pleasure (the taste of food, pleasant smells, pleasing sights/sounds, etc.) is a grand illusion. That illusion is so good that it takes a Buddha to uncover it.
- For example, by analyzing the structure of honey, scientists can show that it contains “flavor-giving compounds” in it. When coming into contact with sensors in our tongues, those molecules generate a pleasure sensation in our minds.
- In the same way, a rose emits microscopic particles, which, when they come into contact with the sensors in our noses, lead to a sensation of pleasure in our minds. Bodily contacts also provide a sensation of pleasure/displeasure via the nerves on the skin.
- The other two sensory faculties (sights and sounds) work differently. No particles/molecules contact our eyes or ears to yield a direct sensation. Even though “light particles” (photons) make contact with our eyes, they only produce an “image” on the retina in the back of our eyes. That image is sent to the brain and converted into a signal that generates a “pleasure-inducing saññā” in our minds. Sounds work similarly; vibrations in the eardrums are sent to the brain, which generates a “pleasure-inducing saññā” in the mind.
Saññā Depends on the Living Being and Specific Sensory Input
7. The interesting and critical aspect of this phenomenon is that the “pleasure-inducing saññā” depends not only on external sensory input (sight, sound, etc.), but also on the sentient being. Humans experience different types of saññā compared to animals.
- In one example above, we noted that honey contains “flavor-giving compounds” (fructose molecules). In the same way, sucrose molecules in sugar provide a similar “tasty experience” in humans. However, the sensors in the tongues of cows or tigers do not provide a “pleasure sensation” for them. In another example, pigs like to eat garbage and even feces. They enjoy that taste.
- The same is true for smell and body touches. Even though an injury can produce a “painful sensation,” some people who have a deficiency in their nervous system do not feel the pain.
Even Among Humans, Saññā Can Vary
8. For sights and sounds, “pleasure-inducing saññā” is even more vague. These sensory experiences do not involve “direct contacts” like taste, smell, and body touch.
- We discussed the main difference in #7 above. There is another aspect that is a bit more subtle.
- For example, suppose two men, X and Y, see the same woman, Z, who is perceived as a “beautiful woman.” However, if Y and Z are sworn enemies, that takes precedence when Y sees Z. Within a split-second of seeing Z, displeasure arises in Y’s mind (it does not involve conscious thinking; just the sight of Z causes displeasure in Y’s mind). In this case, the “enemy saññā” dominates and overrides the “beauty saññā.”
- Thus, even though X and Y are looking at the same beautiful woman (Z), their minds automatically generate “pleasure-inducing saññā” and “displeasure-inducing saññā” respectively.
Summary
9. Saññā plays a critical role in our sensory experience. Most of the joy/happiness we experience with sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touches (and recalling such previous experiences) has the root cause in saññā. See “Mūlapariyāya Sutta – The Root of All Things.”
- The illusory nature of saññā is stated as “saññā vipallāsa“; see “Vipallāsa Sutta (AN 4.49).” All our wrong views (diṭṭhi vipallāsa) and wrong way of thinking (citta vipallāsa) have origins in saññā vipallāsa. In most suttas, “saññā” is used without explicitly pointing out it is a “distorted saññā.” All “saññās” we experience are “distorted saññā.”
- It is “saññā” that is the root cause of our attachments to sensory inputs; because of such attachments, we engage in immoral deeds to “get more of them.” See “Fooled by Distorted Saññā (Sañjānāti) – Origin of Attachment (Taṇhā)” and “Saññā Nidānā hi Papañca Saṅkhā – Immoral Thoughts Based on “Distorted Saññā.”
- I will discuss this in future posts and refer to old posts (like those in the above links; they are from the section: “Sotapanna Stage via Understanding Perception (Saññā),” which was my first attempt to discuss this topic). Please remember that grasping these deeper aspects will take an effort; don’t expect to read a few posts and understand these concepts. Feel free to ask questions in the forum. That is the best way to resolve any issues. I have no way of figuring out how much a given person has understood. I can write specific posts to clear up any problems as they are brought up.
