Assāda, Ādīnava, Nissarana – Introduction

Assāda describes how a mind becomes joyful with sensory experiences due to ‘false, mind-made perceptions.’ Based on such meaningless assāda, people tend to engage in akusala kamma, which leads to ‘bad vipāka‘ (including rebirths in the apāyās), and that is ādīnava. By comprehending that process, one can stop the generation of assāda and end future suffering; that is nissarana. 

November 1, 2017; rewritten February 28, 2026

Assāda, Ādīnava, Nissarana

1. I discussed how ‘manāpa‘ (a ‘trace of liking‘) automatically generated via the ‘kāma saññā‘ magnifies into an enjoyable ‘assāda‘ consciously experienced by a puthujjana in “Assāda (Sense Pleasure) Experienced Is Mostly Mind-Made.”

• A puthujjana attaches to sensory inputs due to such meaningless assāda and starts accumulating potent kamma, as explained by Paṭicca Samuppāda. That leads to future suffering in the rebirth process, which is the drawback or bad consequence of assāda, i.e., ādīnava.
• As we have also discussed, those mind-made assāda are the result of attachment to kāma saññā or ‘false perceptions.’ For example, an apple is not red nor tasty, and both the color and taste are made up by the mind; see “Rūpa Samudaya – A ‘Colorful World’ Is Created by the Mind.” In other words, suffering in ‘bad rebirths’ is entirely due to chasing the ‘illusion of pleasures’ created by the mind!
• An initial ‘weak manāpa‘ is amplified to ‘assāda‘ via many steps as described in ‘Assāda (Sense Pleasure) Experienced Is Mostly Mind-Made.’

Comprehension of How Assāda Leads to Ādīnava Results in Magga Phala

2. When one comprehends that process, one becomes a Noble Person (Ariya) and begins avoiding attachment to kāma saññā (by eliminating ‘kāma rāga‘). In other words, one begins the process of becoming free of future suffering, known as nissarana.

• Here is the pronunciation of the three words:
• Those three terms of assāda, ādīnava, and nissarana embed the same meanings as the Four Noble Truths.

Assāda, Ādīnava, Nissarana = Four Noble Truths

3. “Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11)” summarizes the Four Noble Truths:

• First Noble Truth (‘What is suffering?’) as, ‘In brief, the five grasping aggregates (pañca upādānakkhandhā) are suffering’ (saṅkhittena pañcupādānakkhandhā dukkhā).
• @markers 4.3-4.5 summarizes the Second Noble Truth (‘What is the cause of suffering?) as, ‘craving (taṇhā) for sensual pleasures, to continue existence, and nonexistence'(kāma taṇhā, bhava taṇhā, vibhava taṇhā).’
• @markers 4.6-4.7 summarizes the Third Noble Truth (‘What is the cessation of suffering?) as, ‘It’s the cessation of craving (yo tassāyeva taṇhāya asesa virāga nirodho cāgo paṭinissaggo mutti anālayo).’
• @markers 4.8-4.10 summarizes the Fourth Noble Truth (‘What is the way to the cessation of suffering?) as, ‘It’s the Noble Eightfold Path – Sammā Diṭṭhi through Sammā Samādhi.’

The ‘Seed for Suffering’ Is ‘Kāma Saññā’

4. Let us simplify the verses in #3 above. We will focus on humans living in ‘kāma loka‘ to keep the discussion simple.

• First Noble Truth: As long as pañca upādānakkhandhā generation is continued, suffering continues. As we have discussed, the generation of pañca upādānakkhandhā is the same as the operation of Paṭicca Samuppāda (PS), fueling the rebirth process, where any birth ends in death without exception!
• Second Noble Truth: The initiation of PS (‘avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra‘) starts with the attachment to ‘kāma saññā‘ that arises automatically with each sensory input with ‘kāma rāga.’ The kammic energies giving rise to future existences (bhava) arise only if the mind goes through the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage and reaches the ‘vedanā paccayā taṇhā‘ step. (Note: That is why the ’cause of suffering’ is assigned to taṇhā; some pañca upādānakkhandha processes stop early in the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage and do not reach the ‘vedanā paccayā taṇhā‘ step in PS). Thus, the actual initiation of ‘mind contamination’ starts well before reaching the ‘taṇhā‘ stage, with the mind attaching to the ‘kāma saññā‘ at the ‘kāma dhātu‘ stage (with ‘kāma rāga‘). Therefore, taṇhā cannot be stopped without stopping ‘kāma rāga‘ at the very beginning of the process. This is a critical point to understand. This is easy to see in a chart, for example, the one in #8 of “Assāda (Sense Pleasure) Experienced Is Mostly Mind-Made.”
• Third Noble Truth: Now, it is clear that the key to stopping future suffering (in the ‘kāma loka‘) is to stop taṇhā from arising, and thus, from ‘kāma rāga‘ from arising via attachment to ‘kāma saññā.’
• Fourth Noble Truth: The only way to stop suffering in the ‘kāma loka,‘ i.e., ‘kāma rāga‘ from arising, is to eliminate the ‘kāma rāga saṁyojana‘ by cultivating wisdom (paññā). The way to remove the ‘kāma rāga saṁyojana‘ is the Noble Eightfold Path. It starts with Sammā Diṭṭhi, which basically means understanding the above three Noble Truths, with which one understands how ‘suffering in the kāma loka‘ is initiated via attachment to ‘kāma saññā.’ One becomes a Sotapanna by reaching Sammā Diṭṭhi. See “Sandiṭṭhiko – What Does It Mean?“

Critical Role of ‘Kāma Saññā‘ in the Generation of ‘Assāda‘

5. Let us look at the sequence of events leading to future suffering:

(i) ‘Kāma saññā‘ automatically generates a ‘world with attractive colors, sounds, tastes, odors, and touches’ even though none of them exist in the world. This is a critical point to comprehend; this may be hard to believe, but it has been fully confirmed by science: ‘The Illusion of Perception (Saññā) – It Is Scientific Consensus.” Please do your own research and let me know if you find otherwise; these days, many AI bots are available for free. Ask the question: ‘Is the perception of color made up in the mind?’ It will say it is made in the brain. You should confirm that the same holds for other sense faculties. In another example, honey does not have a ‘taste’ in reality; taste is also a mind-made perception, as modern science confirms.

(ii) The initial ‘sense of liking’ (manāpa) triggered by the ‘kāma saññā‘ grows to a ‘sense of joy’ (somanassa vedanā) in a puthujjana within a split second. That makes them believe that those sensory inputs are real, and one must make an effort to ‘accumulate/experience’ more of them. That gives rise to ‘taṇhā‘ and to the subsequent step of ‘taṇhā paccayā upādāna‘ step in PS. 

(iii) That ‘taṇhā paccayā upādāna‘ step initiates the ‘nava kamma‘ stage, where one starts accumulating kāya, vaci, and mano kamma by engaging in akusala kamma. Those kammic energies give rise to  future existences with suffering: “upādāna paccayā bhava.’

• Thus, assāda (mind-made pleasure) and kamma accumulation (via attachment) feed on each other. Both grow within an instant in the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage, even without one being consciously aware of it. See #9-#10 in “Assāda (Sense Pleasure) Experienced Is Mostly Mind-Made.”

Fooled by ‘Kāma Saññā,‘ We Suffer in the Cycle of Rebirth

6. The same cycle repeats in future rebirths, sustaining the rebirth process. There is no escape from it until one comprehends the teachings of the Buddha.

• The role of ‘kāma saññā‘ in ‘kāma loka‘ (and other types in rūpa and arūpa loka; see #10 below) in this process has been hidden for a long time, even though many suttās point that out. See #5 of “Sakkāya Diṭṭhi and ‘Mind-Made Rūpa’” for posts discussing a few suttās.
• The other critical point is that those ‘saññā‘ are not even real; they are ‘illusions’ or ‘mirages’ made up by the mind, as explained in those posts. We are fortunate to live in a time when modern science has confirmed that ‘kāma saññā‘ are indeed illusions; see “Rūpa Samudaya – A ‘Colorful World’ Is Created by the Mind.”
• Colorful objects help sustain attachment via ‘kāma saññā.‘ It is wrong to believe that ‘seeing colourful lights’ during meditation means ‘making progress.’

‘Ālokō Udapādi‘ – Nothing to do With ‘Light’

7. All lights have color. Sunlight or white light is also a color. They are all perceptions made up by the mind, as we discussed in several posts; see, for example, #4 of “Rūpa Samudaya – A ‘Colorful World’ Is Created by the Mind.”

• The verse, ‘pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu cakkhuṁ udapādi, ñāṇaṁ udapādi, paññā udapādi, vijjā udapādi, āloko udapādi‘ appears several times in the “Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11).” 
• That verse means, ‘(I realized) the previously unknown vision, knowledge, wisdom, and the truth, and Nibbāna arose in me (by separating from the loka).’ 
• Many translators incorrectly render ‘āloka‘ as ‘light,’ including in the link above. However, ‘light’ belongs to the ‘world’ (a totally mind-made perception) and not to Nibbāna. Some people are thrilled to ‘see lights’ during ‘meditation’, thinking it means they have attained a magga phala or a jhāna; that is a wrong belief.
• As we have discussed, the Buddha referred to ‘loka‘ as the ‘world.’ In Buddha’s wider worldview, the 31 realms in the world belong to kāma, rūpa, and arūpa loka (our kāma loka has only 11 realms; see #10 below). Thus, ‘āloka’ means to ‘detach’separate from all three lokās, and to stop the rebirth process. See “Loka and Nibbāna (Aloka) – Complete Overview.”

Ādīnava – Future Suffering

8. From the above discussion, it is clear that the ādīnava (bad consequences) of assāda is future suffering when reborn in the four lower realms (apāyās) due to such accumulated kammic energies generated via Paṭicca Samuppāda.

• As discussed above, the key step of taṇhā is generated by the ‘somanassa vedanā‘ (or ‘assāda‘). However, that ‘assāda‘ starts as a mild ‘manāpa‘ triggered by the ‘built-in saññā‘ and amplified via saṅkappa and sara saṅkappa in the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage, and then accelerates in the ‘nava kamma‘ stage to ‘assāda‘ with potent mano, vaci, and kāya saṅkhāra. See #9, #10 in “Assāda (Sense Pleasure) Experienced Is Mostly Mind-Made .”
• For humans in ‘kāma loka‘, that ‘built-in saññā‘ is ‘kāma saññā.’ We will generalize it into rūpa and arūpa loka below.
• Thus, ādīnava (bad consequences) inevitably follow ‘assāda.‘
• The sad fact is that those ‘assāda‘ are not even real! They arise based on the illusion of ‘kāma saññā.’

Nissarana – Escaping the Cycle of Rebirth

9. When one fully understands the bad consequences (ādīnava) of these mind-made pleasures (assāda), that means one has understood the First Noble Truth as well as the causes for it, how to eliminate those causes, and the way to do it, i.e., all four Noble Truths.

• That leads to the cessation of the samsāric journey, and that is called nissarana (end of “carana” or journey (“nis” + “charana,” which rhymes as “nissarana”).
• But it is a step-by-step process that starts with the Sōtapanna Anugāmi stage and culminates at the Arahant stage.
• Now, let us expand the above discussion restricted to ‘kāma loka‘ to ‘rūpa loka‘ and ‘arūpa loka.’
• Additional posts in “Assāda, Ādīnava, Nissarana.”

Extending to All Rupa Loka and Arupa Loka

10. Births in the 31 realms are divided into three main categories: kāma loka, rūpa loka, and arūpa loka. For details, see “Kāma Rāga, Rupa Rāga and Arupa Rāga.”

• Just as those in kāma loka automatically experience ‘kāma saññā,’ rūpa loka Brahmās automatically attach to ‘jhāna saññā,’ and arūpa loka Brahmās attach to ‘arūpa samāpatti saññā.’ 
• Tasty foods or sexual contacts are not available in rūpa or arūpa loka. They only experience ‘jhānic pleasures’ or ‘arūpa samāpatti pleasures’ based on ‘jhāna saññā’ and ‘arūpa samāpatti saññā’ respectively. Those types of saññā are also mind-made,’ just like ‘kāma saññā.’
• The main difference is that rūpa or arūpa Brahmās do not need to engage in akusala kamma. Jhāna, or arūpa samāpatti, does not require external stimuli, such as colorful or tasty things; one only needs one’s mind! This is why ‘kāma rāga‘ is much worse than ‘rūpa rāga‘ or ‘arūpa rāga.’
• Taṇhā, as described in #3 above, includes kāma taṇhā, bhava taṇhā, and vibhava taṇhā, and applies to all three loka: kāma loka, rūpa loka, and arūpa loka. Let us discuss them briefly.

All Three Types of Taṇhā Are Based on Two Main Wrong Views

11. In #3, #4 above, the Second Noble Truth says that all suffering arises based on the three types of taṇhā: kāma taṇhā, bhava taṇhā, vibhava taṇhā. They arise due to two main types of wrong views (diṭṭhi):

(i) Uccheda Diṭṭhi: Life ends with the death of the physical body, i.e., there is no rebirth process, and there are no other future existences (bhava). This gives rise to ‘vibhava taṇhā.’ This wrong view is ‘uccheda diṭṭhi,’ and it is the worst of the two. One does not believe that one’s actions can lead to future rebirths in ‘good or bad realms.’ Those with this view believe that thoughts and perceptions arise in the brain. So, when the brain dies with the physical body, that is the end! One does not need to worry about future lives. However, as we have discussed, evidence is emerging, especially in the research on Near-Death Experience, that thoughts and perceptions can arise while the brain is confirmed to be inactive: “Near-Death Experiences (NDE): Brain Is Not the Mind.”

(ii) Sassata Diṭṭhi: Then there are others who believe there is a ‘permanent existence’ in a Deva or a Brahma realm. Those of the Abrahamic or Hindu religions are likely to belong to this category. This is the better of the two wrong views, because they believe that one’s actions can have consequences (loosely, kamma leads to kamma vipāka). However, the Buddha taught that no existence anywhere can be permanent. Future existences are maintained with kammic energy, and when that energy runs out, the existence comes to an end. Some Brahmās have lifetimes of several maha kappās (many billions of years), which gives the false impression that they could be permanent. Those with this view have ‘bhava taṇhā.’

Kāma Taṇhā Could be Associated With Either Wrong View

12. The third category of taṇhā (kāma taṇhā) arises specifically with attachment to sensory pleasures (especially via taste, smell, and touch, including sex) that are available only in ‘kāma loka.’ Those are absent in the Brahma realms. Those with ‘vibhava taṇhā’ also have strong kāma taṇhā. On the other hand, those who believe in a permanent existence in a Brahma realm try to overcome kāma taṇhā and cultivate jhāna/arūpa samāpatti so that they can transcend ‘kāma loka‘ and be reborn in a specific Brahma realm.

• It is clear that one must eliminate ‘vibhava taṇhā’ first to start following Buddha’s teachings. It is easier for those with ‘bhava taṇhā’ (especially those who are trying to cultivate jhāna/arūpa samāpatti) since they already believe in kamma/kamma vipāka; they have mostly overcome the ten types of micchā diṭṭhi; see “Micchā Diṭṭhi, Gandhabba, and Sōtapanna Stage.”
• Before one attains the Sotapanna stage, one must overcome the ten types of micchā diṭṭhi first, and then sakkāya diṭṭhi (and two other saṁyojana related to it, i.e., silabbata parāmāsa and vicikicchā). A Sotapanna has eliminated ‘vibhava taṇhā’ but still has ‘bhava taṇhā’ (they have not eliminated kāma rāga, rūpa rāga, or arūpa rāga). Even though they still have kāma rāga, they are free from rebirths in the lowest four realms in ‘kāma loka‘ (apāyās), because they have eliminated sakkāya diṭṭhi (and the other two related saṁyojana).
• An Anāgāmi still has ‘bhava taṇhā’ since they have not yet eliminated rūpa rāga or arūpa rāga saṁyojana. They may still crave jhāna or arupa samāpattis. Thus, they are not released from rebirths in rupa and arupa loka.
• All types of defilements (taṇhā, saṁyojana, anusaya, āsava, etc.) have been eliminated for an Arahant.

One Must Eliminate Sakkāya Diṭṭhi After Overcoming Uccheda and Sassata Diṭṭhi 

13. Sakkāya diṭṭhi is the wrong view that ‘pleasures’ in the world are real and beneficial. 

• That can be understood only after eliminating uccheda and sassata diṭṭhi. One completes those two requirements while in the ‘mundane eightfold path.’
• Sakkāya diṭṭhi, or the wrong view that ‘pleasures’ in the world are real and beneficial, is based on the ‘viparita saññā‘ or the ‘false, mind-made perceptions.’ In the human realm, that ‘viparita saññā‘ is the ‘kāma saññā.’ See “Saññā In Kāma, Rupa, and Arupa Loka.”
• Thus, it becomes easier to eliminate sakkāya diṭṭhi by comprehending the fact that ‘kāma saññā‘ are mind-made and can be overcome. See, for example, “Avijjā is Triggered by Kāma Saññā in Kāma Loka.” 

‘Hard Problem of Consciousness’ Applies to Only Those With Uccheda Diṭṭhi

14. It is worth noting that the ‘Hard Problem of Consciousness’ applies to only those with uccheda diṭṭhi. Many, but not all,  scientists and philosophers belong to this category. They believe that thoughts (citta/viññāna) and perceptions (saññā) arise in the brain.

• However, that ‘Hard Problem of Consciousness’ does not apply to those of us who believe that life continues after death. There is absolutely no such problem! The Buddha has explained how thoughts and perceptions arise in the ‘manomaya kāya‘ (gandhabba for humans) generated via Paṭicca Samuppāda.  Even those with ‘sassata diṭṭhi’ do not believe that thoughts and perceptions arise in the brain made of inert atoms and molecules.
• Around 9.30 minutes into the video, he says that consciousness could be fundamental and not derived from inert matter. That is the correct approach!
• Also see, “Mind Is Not in the Brain.”