“Distorted saññā,” arising automatically in response to sensory inputs, falsely presents a world full of “sensory pleasures,” which the Buddha called a “mirage.” That is the origin of attachment (taṇhā).
December 12, 2023; revised December 16, 2025
Key Points from the Mūlapariyāya Sutta
1. The key points from the Mūlapariyāya Sutta (which we discussed in “Mūlapariyāya Sutta – The Root of All Things“) can be summarized in plain English as follows.
- Any “perception/feeling of pleasure” is not absolute and is mind-made. The detailed explanation is somewhat involved, as it requires a solid background in other concepts such as saññā, vedanā, gati, and bhavaṇga.
- This situation can be compared to enjoying a magic show. We understand that a magic show relies on illusion. However, because we derive enjoyment from it, we pay to watch a “good” magic show; here, a magic show is “good” if we cannot easily figure out the “trick” involved. The thrill will fade if we can see how the magician tricks us.
2. The Buddha explained that our lives are based on such an illusion on a grand scale. Even though we know that a magic show is based on an illusion, we would NEVER think of “pleasures in life” to arise from a “magic act”; the illusion is that good. It takes the efforts of a Bodhisatta through an incredible number of lives to figure that out.
- This “grand magician” is nature (or how the world operates based on our defiled minds), and only a Buddha can figure out the “trick.” He explained the term “trick” in several ways, and in my opinion, the best way to “see the trick” is to comprehend the Mūlapariyāya Sutta, i.e., how our “built-in” distorted perceptions mislead our minds. Our minds automatically attach (taṇhā) to that distorted perception, and the mind becomes defiled. This combined process is “saññā vipallāsa.”
- It is not easy to uncover that “trick,” i.e., how the mind gets that distorted perception in the first place. Understanding it may take an effort, but it is worth the effort. The background material needed is in the first post of “Sotapanna Stage via Understanding Perception (Saññā).” I will include it at the end of this post.
The “Grand Magician”
3. The trick is the following: When we see an external object, the mind generates its version of that rupa based on the mindset associated with the specific realm we are in; that mindset is called uppatti bhavaṇga, but don’t worry about not fully understanding what that means.
- Therefore, living beings in different realms see and perceive the same object differently. For example, when a human sees a pile of feces (excrement or poop), it is a distasteful sight; however, to a pig, it is an attractive sight because that is food for it. In the same way, even though humans perceive the smell of poop as repulsive, it is an attractive, mind-pleasing smell for a pig.
- Therefore, the pile of poop does not have a built-in “repulsiveness” or “attractiveness.” The respective perceptions (saññā) originated in the minds of a human and a pig!
- Believing those “made-up” perceptions are REAL, a mind automatically generates expectations for repeatedly enjoying such sensory inputs, i.e., generates “defiled viññāṇa,” which the Buddha called a “magician.”
4. That is the crucial point embedded in the Mūlapariyāya Sutta. Please take the time to reflect on this; one can consider various examples from life experience. While humans will not eat grass, a cow spends the whole day happily eating grass.
- Even among humans, such variations are evident to a lesser extent. Some prefer classical music, whereas others find it too dull and may prefer heavy metal. Such preferences are not embedded in the music itself but in particular minds.
- Based on such “mirages” constructed by our minds (stemming from the gati with which we are born), we automatically attach to external sights, sounds, tastes, etc., either with craving or aversion. Thus, it is this “distorted saññā” (which the Buddha called a “mirage”) that leads to the viññāṇa “making up” such external stimuli into categories of attractive, repulsive, or neutral.
- In reality, no external sensory input has intrinsic (built-in) attractive or repulsive properties. Again, if fully absorbed, this simple fact can make a significant difference in grasping the Buddha’s teachings.
Difference Between “Watching a Magic Show” and “Living Based on Distorted Sanna”
5. If the “trick” in a particular magic show is revealed, we can no longer get pleasure (assāda) from watching it. We can see that it is a fruitless/meaningless waste of time to watch.
- In the same way, if we can fully comprehend the “trick” involved in conjuring up non-existent pleasurable sights, sounds, tastes, and smells, we will no longer crave them. The only things that are at least “partially real” are the sukha and dukha vedanā associated with our physical bodies (where the dukha vedanā dominates in the long run.) We can overcome that, too, by avoiding rebirths in realms with “dense physical bodies.” Those sukha and dukha vedanā are absent in realms above the human realm.
- The other critical issue is that this is not just about “mindlessly enjoying made-up pleasures.”
- Most people would not mind “made-up sensory pleasures” if that is the only outcome (that is why they watch magic shows and movies.)
Distorted Saññā Makes Us Do Immoral Deeds
6. The problem is that “distorted saññā” leads to unfathomable suffering. That suffering is visible to us even in the human realm; we can also see the higher level of animal suffering. It is much higher in the other three apāyās than we cannot see. How is that suffering related to “distorted saññā“?
- Based on the “distorted saññā,” we tend to engage in immoral deeds to either obtain more of a “pleasing sensory experience” or to eliminate a “depressing sensory experience.”
- For example, to enjoy sensory experiences, people steal, lie, engage in sexual misconduct, and even kill. The problem is that all those actions (kamma) are going to have their consequences (kamma vipāka). It may take only a second to shoot and kill another human, but that may lead to rebirth as an animal or even in “hell or niraya.”
- Therefore, the problem is that “distorted saññā” automatically leads to “defiled saññā” and makes us engage in immoral deeds. That leads to suffering in this life and future lives (by being reborn in the apāyās).
- Thus, understanding the role of the “distorted saññā” makes it easier to understand the “anicca nature,” i.e., such actions can only lead to more suffering.
7. Most living beings are trapped in the lowest realm of “niraya,” where no “pleasures” can be found. It is all about dukha vedanā felt by the physical body. We will not last a minute if we are subjected to that type of suffering. However, their bodies can endure it for millions to billions of years. I am not saying this to alarm anyone; that is what the Buddha observed for himself and recorded in the suttās.
- We can also engage in “moral deeds” that lead to rebirth in the “good realms.” However, that never leads to “breaking the ten samsāric bonds or saṁyojana.” However, until at least three saṁyojanās are broken, rebirth in the apāyās is possible because temptations for some sensory pleasures will be unavoidable; see below.
- Although we cannot confirm the existence of realms such as niraya, Deva, and Brahma, it is reasonable within the broader worldview of the Buddha, given how Paṭicca Samuppāda accounts for rebirth in all those realms.
Saññā (Our Perceptions About the World) Is a Mirage
8. Those are the key ideas expressed in the Mūlapariyāya Sutta. The Buddha directly called saññā a mirage in the “Pheṇapiṇḍūpama Sutta (SN 22.95),” and we discussed that in the post, “Sotapanna Stage and Distorted/Defiled Saññā.”
- However, poor translations of key suttās, such as the Mūlapariyāya Sutta, have obscured that point for centuries. Once you start seeing that “hidden gem” (i.e., that saññā is a mirage), you see it in other suttās; however, those highly condensed suttās need to be explained in detail, at least initially.
- We now need to understand why merely engaging in “moral deeds” (puñña abhisaṅkhāra) cannot lead to a “suffering-free mind,” even though those must also be undertaken. Cultivating puñña abhisaṅkhāra (cultivation of the mundane eightfold path) avoids rebirth in the apāyās. Additionally, it prepares the mind to comprehend deeper concepts such as “saññā vipallāsa” and to begin the Noble Eightfold Path.
- See “Six Root Causes – Loka Samudaya (Arising of Suffering) and Loka Nirodhaya (Nibbāna)” and “Rebirths Take Place According to Abhisaṅkhāra.”
Connection to the “Hidden Pure Mind”
9. Let us also review the other critical concept that is related. We all have a “suffering-free pure mind” (let us call it the “pabhassara mind”; see “Recovering the Suffering-Free Pure Mind“) hidden underneath our defiled minds. Here, note that “pabhassara cittas” or “suffering-free, uncontaminated cittas” arise in a “pabhassara mind” free of defilements.
- The mind of a puthujjana (average human) is covered with ten layers of defilements, i.e., ten saṁyojana. Those are also the “mental bonds” that bind the mind of a puthujjana to suffering and the process of rebirth: “Dasa Samyōjana – Bonds in Rebirth Process.”
- The Buddha taught that it is impossible to determine how the minds of all beings initially became contaminated by those ten layers of defilement. The Buddha, upon his Enlightenment, kept looking back and could not discern a “beginning” when all those minds got “defiled” in the first place. (This issue of an “untraceable beginning” is built into the Principle of Causality. See the Summary at the end of the post, “How the Buddha Described the Chance of Rebirth in the Human Realm” and “The Infinity Problem in Buddhism.”) However, if someone can uncover that “pabhassara mind,” it will NEVER be defiled again because a “pabhassara mind,” by its nature, cannot be defiled. That, again, is compatible with the presumption that there was “no beginning” to the rebirth process.
- Therefore, it is pointless to spend time on that issue. We have a limited time (left in this life) to uncover that “suffering-free mind.” Nibbāna is not an abstract thing. It can be attained in this life, which is why it is “sandiṭṭhika Dhamma.” “Sandiṭṭhika” means “being able to see (or figure) out how the accumulation of ‘san‘ leads only one way, i.e., further defiling a mind.
- Let us briefly discuss the background. “Sandiṭṭhika” is explained in detail in “Sandiṭṭhiko – What Does It Mean?“
Rupaṁ, bhikkhave, aniccaṁ vipariṇāmi aññathābhāvi”
10. In the “Khandha Sutta (SN 25.10),” the Buddha stated, “Rūpaṁ, bhikkhave, aniccaṁ vipariṇāmi aññathābhāvi.” The English translation in the link translates that as “Mendicants, form is impermanent, decaying, and perishing.”
- That translation explains why Buddha’s teachings have been hidden for centuries. It is a prime example of a completely wrong “mundane, word-by-word translation”!
- Here, “rupa” refers to the “mental reproduction of an external rupa” (with “distorted saññā“); “anicca” does not mean “impermanence;” “vipariṇāmi” does not mean “decay,” and “aññathābhāvi” does not mean “perishing.” The translator did not even come close to explaining the meaning of that critical verse.
- A critical problem at the root is the following. By the words “rupa” or “rūpaṁ,” the Buddha almost always referred to a “mental reconstruction of an external rupa,” not to an external rupa. From his misinterpretation, the translator focuses on the EXTERNAL rupa‘s impermanence, decay, and perishing. An external rupa indeed does all that. However, any average person can tell you those characteristics of an external rupa. There is no need for a Buddha to teach that.
11. The Buddha was trying to explain that the misguided mind makes an “incorrect version of the external rupa“ based on the mindset it was born with (uppatti bhavaṇga).
- Based on that “incorrect version of the external rupa” (created based on the “distorted saññā,”) a mind then attaches to it and starts engaging in immoral (or at least unfruitful) actions that move it AWAY from the pabhassara mind.
- Thus, engaging in such unfruitful actions is of an “anicca nature,” i.e., one’s “icca” (pronounced “ichcha”) or “expectation” is more pleasure, but the eventual outcome is the opposite.
- “Pariṇāmi” is to proceed in the right direction with better results. However, with that “distorted saññā,” one moves in the wrong direction with unpleasant and dangerous outcomes; that is, “vipariṇāmi.”
- Finally, “aññatha” means “deviate for the worse” (moving away from the “pabhassara mind”) and is the opposite of “ittha” or the “stable state of Nibbāna.”
- A detailed explanation in: “Aniccaṁ Vipariṇāmi Aññathābhāvi – A Critical Verse.” Please feel free to ask questions in the forum. These are critical issues to be understood.
Previously Unheard Teachings
12. I hope the above explanation makes it clear why the Buddha himself called his teachings “pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu cakkhuṁ udapādi, ñāṇaṁ udapādi, paññā udapādi, vijjā udapādi, āloko udapādi.” It means “the vision, knowledge, wisdom, the truth, and how to disengage from this suffering-filled world (āloko) arose in me, and this has not been known to the world.”
- The above verse appears in 15 places in the Tipiṭaka: “pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu.”
- Until a Buddha discovers it, no human, Deva, or Brahma can figure out the above-discussed truth: Any “pleasurable experience available in any realm” arises because the saññā arises with any sensory input acts like a mirage: It gives the impression that certain things in this world have inherent “attractive or mind-pleasing” properties. It is like a mirage of a water-filled lake seen ahead in a hot desert, but anyone running toward it will never get any water and will die of thirst!
Required Background
13. This post is the third in a series of posts in the new section, “Sotapanna Stage via Understanding Perception (Saññā),” linked below. It will help a puthujjana get to the Sotapanna stage. Furthermore, this material is ESSENTIAL for a Sotapanna to attain the higher stages of Nibbāna. Anyone wishing to learn the required background or to “brush up” on those required concepts, the following are the steps:
- For an introduction to saññā, see “Saññā – What It Really Means.”
- The concept of the “hidden pure mind” (pabhassara citta) is explained in the “Recovering the Suffering-Free Pure Mind” series of posts.
- Then I realized that the anicca, dukkha, and anatta nature could be explained differently based on that approach. See “Does “Anatta” Refer to a “Self”? ”
- The current post is a follow-up to the two posts in the “Sensory Experience – A Deeper Analysis” section.
- The current section has two previous posts: “Sotapanna Stage via Understanding Perception (Saññā).”
- December 20, 2024: A new series of posts systematically discusses the origin of “distorted saññā” in the context of the “Worldview of the Buddha.”