Sañjānāti – Animals Mostly Have This Level of Understanding

Average humans have two levels of comprehension about the world. One is ‘sañjānātī‘ that comes automatically based on ‘kāma saññā,’ and the other (vijānāti) is cultivated via thinking and mundane investigations as scientists do (with viññāṇa). Animals mostly operate on sañjānātī. 

April 10, 2026

Saññā Is the First Level of Awareness/Understanding

1. Any living being’s (animal, human, Deva, etc.) first exposure to a sensory input is via the ‘built-in’ saññā. In ‘kāma loka‘ to which both human and animal realms belong, that saññā is ‘kāma saññā.‘

  • When we get hungry, how do we know that? The ‘sense of hunger’ appears in the mind as a ‘saññā.’ The body signals when we need to eat; we automatically feel ‘hunger.’ The same applies to the need to use the bathroom.
  • We don’t need to think about recognizing a friend, the taste of sugar, the smell of coffee, or the color blue. We recognize people/things, sounds, tastes, odors, and touches, as well as memories, through the first impression that automatically comes to mind.
  • This level of understanding about one’s own body and the environment is common to humans and animals. Even animals become aware of when they are hungry, when to relieve themselves, and which foods they need to eat or avoid.
  • Those ‘built-in’ instincts arise automatically via ‘kāma saññā‘. For those who are well-versed in Abhidhamma, the ‘kāma saññā‘ is built into the mental body (manomaya kāya or gandhabba); see “Bhava and Bhavaṅga – Simply Explained!“
Many ‘Kāma Saññā‘ Are Misleading/False

2. Knowing something purely based on ‘saññā‘ is called ‘sañjānātī‘ in the Buddha Dhamma.

  • For example, the perception that the sky is blue or a strawberry is red is understood purely via saññā.
  • In the “Mahāvedalla Sutta (MN 43),” the question asked: ‘How is perception (saññā) defined?‘ and the answer is ‘It’s called perception (saññā) because it is known via ‘sañjānāti’ (‘Sañjānāti sañjānātī’ti kho, āvuso, tasmā saññāti vuccati.)
  • The same question is asked in the “Khajjanīya Sutta (SN 22.79).” Then the next question is, ‘And what does it perceive?‘ Both suttās provide the same answer, given below. 
What Is ‘Sañjānāti‘ or What Is Perceived?

3. ‘And what does it perceive?’ (‘Kiñca sañjānāti?’). The answer is ‘It perceives blue, yellow, red, and white.’ 

Second Level of Understanding – Vijānāti

4. Humans have the capacity/capability to think about and investigate their bodies and their environment. Through such investigations, they can improve their lives. For example, humans discovered electricity, which has drastically improved our lives. Animals do not have that capability. 

  • That second level of understanding is called vijānāti.
  • Humans have the ability to even investigate and check the validity of the ‘innate sense provided by saññā.’ 
  • A good example is that, within the past few decades, modern science has discovered that ‘color’ is a ‘mind-made saññā‘ and is not associated with light or with objects in the world. Not only that, they found that musical notes in sound, taste, smell, and the feeling of pain/pleasure are purely mind-made. See “Without ‘Mind-Made’ Perception, World Is Colorless, Soundless, Tasteless, Odorless, and Touchless.”
  • Thus, vijānāti is a better framework than sañjānāti.
Vijānātī Is Better Than Sañjānātī 

5. Even though vijānātī is a ‘better mode of understanding’ than sañjānātī, and one can come to ‘better conclusions about the world,’ it still does not reveal the ‘true nature of the world.’ This is why scientists are now trying to attribute ‘false perception’ to evolution, as noted in the link above. 

  • Thus, even vijānāti is not sufficient to comprehend the ‘true nature of the world.’ Even though scientists discovered the problem with sañjānātī, they are on the wrong track when they try to assign sañjānātī to arise in the brain. Only a Buddha can discover the next level of pajānātī, i.e., the ‘true nature of the world.’ 
  • Also note that a critical error many English translators make is to translate viññāṇa as ‘consciousness’; it is ‘defiled consciousness.’ Scientific discoveries do not address the issue of ‘defiled consciousness,‘ which is the root cause of suffering in the rebirth process.
  • The Buddha taught that the arising of ‘color perception’ is a consequence of ‘defiled consciousness,‘ and is explained via Paṭicca Samuppāda; see “Saññā – Hidden Aspect of Paṭicca Samuppāda.”
Sañjānāti, Vijānātī, and Pajānātī

6. Jānāti means “to know,” and Jānāto means to ‘have understood.’ The first level of understanding is only with the ‘built-in’ saññā, and that is sañjānātī (‘sañ’ + ‘jānātī‘; short for ‘saññā‘ + ‘jānātī‘).

  • In the second level, humans can think rationally (within the mundane framework) using viññāṇa and reach better conclusions using vijānātī (‘vi‘ + ‘jānātī‘; short for ‘viññāṇa‘ + ‘jānātī‘). Scientific investigations belong to this category. Their recent investigations confirm that ‘color’ does not exist in sunlight or in the objects we see. See “Human Life is Unlivable in a ‘Colorless’ World.”
  • Only a Buddha can discover the ‘true nature of the world’ with ‘paññā,‘ and that is ‘pajānātī‘ (‘pa’ + ‘jānātī‘; short for ‘paññā‘ + ‘jānātī‘). See “Cognition Modes – Sañjānāti, Vijānāti, Pajānāti, Abhijānāti.” We will discuss that more in upcoming posts.
Animals Generally Operate on Sañjānāti

7. Animals mostly operate only on sañjānāti. Animals mostly live their lives based on the ‘built-in’ first level of understanding (sañjānātī), and are more like pre-programmed robots.  On the other hand, humans have the capacity to investigate and even identify errors in sañjānātī (as scientists have uncovered the misleading nature of saññā).

Animals live their lives mainly on two aspects of sañjānātī. Depending on the context/situation, sañjānātī can be separated into TWO categories. But both are operative: 

  1. ‘innate sense’ of recognition of the sensory input
  2. ‘innate sense’ of finding one’s way in the world to optimize survival

As we will discuss in the next post, humans also use these two modes, but they can advance a bit further and investigate the world, including the truth of those two modes of ‘built-in saññā,’ with vijānāti.

  • Let us first discuss how animals mostly operate with sañjānātī.
Animal Realm Is the Most Diverse

8. Out of all 31 realms in the world, the animal realm is the most diverse. We can see numerous types of animals on land itself.

  • The Buddha stated that even a larger variety lives in the oceans; see, for example, “Pāṇa Sutta (SN 56.36).”
  • Let us now discuss the two categories of sañjānāti listed in #7 above.
‘Innate Sense’ of Recognition of the Sensory Input

9. FIRST Category: Most ‘higher order animals’ like dogs and monkeys have the five physical sensory faculties very similar to ours. They experience the external world essentially the same way as we do, at least in the early stages of sensory processing. 

  • They see things in the world similarly, even though color perception varies. Dogs see colors using only two types of sensors in their eyes, versus the three types humans have. Thus, their world is ‘less colorful.’ Many lower animals don’t even have vision. Bats don’t have eyes and navigate primarily through echolocation, a biological sonar system that allows them to find food in the dark.  
  • There are huge variations in tastes even among the animals. Some animals, like lions and tigers, eat only the flesh of other animals, whereas cows or rabbits are ‘vegetarians.’ Various births are according to the gati that led those births in various realms in the world, and can be explained via Paṭicca Samuppāda. See, for example, “Jāti – Different Types of Births” and “Gati (Habits/Character) Determine Births – Saṃsappanīya Sutta.”
  • Even ‘lower animals’ (such as worms and other microscopic life forms) have sensory faculties that enable them to live.
‘Innate Sense’ of Finding One’s Way in the World To Optimize Survival

10. The SECOND major category of saññā is common among animals. Different species have different types of “built-in saññā” for their survival.  Humans generally lack this type of “built-in” saññā. However, an exception is discussed in #14 below.

  • One of the easiest examples is how animals know instinctively which foods they can eat. Cows eat grass, even though it is very hard to digest; they have several chambers in the stomach to break down grass and extract the nutrients. Dogs avoid eating sweets or chocolates. Lions eat only meat. Pigs can eat all sorts of things. 
  • Now, let us examine some deeper levels within this second category in detail, as it provides a good idea of “saññā,” which is difficult to explain in words.
  • The following section on migrating birds explains that the “built-in saññā” operates through sensors in their physical bodies. Here, the physical body has incorporated specific ‘magnetic field sensing sensors.’ 
Bird Migration 

11. Migratory birds instinctively know when to start and which direction to fly in their long migrations based solely on an “innate sense” of initiation, direction, and length of travel.

  • Scientists have discovered that the birds have “built-in” magnetic field receptors. But how did they acquire such receptors? 
  • The explanation in the Buddha Dhamma is straightforward. Migrating birds have built-in mechanisms (via kammic energy/Paṭicca Samuppāda) to provide navigation. A matching external environment (Earth’s magnetic field) guides the birds with their built-in magnetic receptors; some birds have them in their eyes.
  • Of course, the Earth’s magnetic field serves other purposes as well. There are many interconnected aspects that we cannot even begin to understand.
Ants Build Megacities Without Blueprints or Supervisors

12. Another example is how ants build sophisticated “cities.” 

  • However, unlike humans, ants do not have ingenious minds; the role each ant must play is built into their minds through saññā, and they have been doing so for eons. Each ant does its work based only on instinct (saññā). They are not even aware that they are building and maintaining a ‘megacity.’
  • It is a “characteristic” naturally associated with the “ant bhava.” Each ant instinctively “knows” what to do. Even though there is no “supervisor” to direct individual ants, their efforts (based solely on innate saññā) result in a “megacity” with all the necessary facilities (farms, storage rooms, etc.) that sustain the whole colony for years to come.
Newborn Turtles Know Their Way to the Sea

13. Another example is the baby turtles that rush to the sea immediately after hatching.

  • To evade the vultures looking for an easy meal, they must get to the sea before they are spotted. They have an “innate sense” to run towards the sea as soon as they hatch. 

  • Think about it: They do not run in random directions. How do they know which direction the sea is? It is a built-in saññā, just like that of a migrating bird or an ant in an ant colony, which instinctively knows what to do. 
  • There are many other examples, such as dogs finding their way home even when released hundreds of miles away.
Sensing the Shortest Path

14. The following application of ‘innate sense’ (another form of ‘built-in saññā‘) applies to humans as well as to animals. The following figure illustrates a lifeguard rescuing a drowning swimmer in the water.

  • A lifeguard on the beach sees a drowning swimmer. The straight line (path A) is the shortest path. However, it isn’t the quickest path because one can run faster along the beach and cover more distance on land than on the water. Even the path that would cover the shortest distance in the water is not the path that would take the least time. 
  • Even though the lifeguard would not try to calculate the ‘path of least time,’ he would instinctively jump into the water to take the ‘path of least time (C)’ shown in the figure. That is another example of ‘built-in saññā.’
Fermat’s Principle of Least Time

14. Living beings, in general, instinctively know the ‘shortest path’ when the travel is through two distinct regions of easier and difficult terrains of travel. I discussed that in the post “‘Exploring All Possible Paths’ Leads to Fermat’s Principle of Least Time.” There, I discuss an experiment where a dog jumping into the water to retrieve a stick thrown by a researcher also took the ‘path of least time (C).’

  • In another experiment discussed in that post, a group of researchers used a smooth glass surface and a rough green felt surface—analogous to air and water or sand and water in the above cases—to separate a colony of ants. They placed ant food some distance into the rough green felt surface.
  • They found that the ant trails were far closer to the quickest path than to the direct route. Like light and lifeguards, these ants seemed to minimize time and not distance.
  • An interesting observation is the following. Even light takes that ‘path of least time (C)’ when traveling across an air-to-water interface. That discussion is also related to quantum mechanics. That aspect is also discussed in the above post.
Perception – The Concept of  ‘Umwelt’

15. Each species perceives “the world” through a highly filtered and processed sliver of the available data; no single species even gets close to experiencing the ‘wole world.’ In that aspect, humans are not special; for example, snakes can ‘see’ the infrared part of the Sunlight, while human vision is restricted to ‘see’ only higher frequencies in a narrow band. The sensing capabilities of each species could be different even though there is overlap. This phenomenon is best understood through the concept of the Umwelt, a term introduced by the zoologist Jakob von Uexküll to describe the specific sensory bubble in which every organism resides.

  • Every creature, from the simplest invertebrate to the most complex mammal, is equipped with a specialized biological apparatus that extracts only the information necessary for its specific survival requirements. To understand our planet is to investigate ‘other types of eyes,’ moving beyond the limits of human biology to appreciate the hidden dimensions of the animal kingdom.
  • The scientific facts of animal perception demonstrate that “reality” is not a single, objective landscape, but a collection of billions of individual Umwelten.
  • The following book provides a good account of the Umwelt experienced by various animals: “An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us” by Ed Hong (2023).
  • The following videos are based on that book.

  • The following is a set of videos that cover each chapter in the book.

  • The Buddha expanded the concept of Umwelt beyond humans and animals; see “World Operates on Mind-Made Perception (Saññā).” The types of saññā experienced by Brahmās in rupa and arupa loka are less diverse and are vastly different from the kāma saññā experienced by humans and animals, as explained in that post.
Summary

16. As discussed above, saññā is an ‘innate, inborn sense’ built into humans and animals, who share some common types of saññā, such as becoming aware of hunger or the need to relieve oneself. It also includes more complex phenomena, such as the ability to see in color, as discussed in #3 above. 

  • Animal lives depend on the types of saññā they are born with, i.e., they live their lives based on sañjānātī. Each species has its own set of saññā for its survival. I discussed only a few in the above.
  • The ability to think and take action beyond sañjānātī (with vijānātī) is not generally available to animals. Higher animals, such as dogs and monkeys, can operate with vijānātī in a few cases. 
  • It is humans who can operate with vijānātī and improve their lives. They can build increasingly sophisticated houses, vehicles, etc., and even build rockets to travel to the Moon! 
  • However, only a Buddha can fully comprehend the ‘true nature of the world’ (which includes a ‘wider world of 31 realms’ beyond the human and animal realms) through abhijānātī.  Then other humans can learn from the Buddha and advance to the level of pajānātī. 
  • Related posts can be found in the “Buddha Dhamma” section.
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