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May 13, 2018; revised June 20, 2020; September 4, 2022; January 19, 2023; July 7, 2024
Sammā Diṭṭhi Is the Realization of the Origin of Suffering
1. Sammā Diṭṭhi (or comprehension of the Four Noble Truths/Paṭicca Samuppāda/Tilakkhaṇa) is the necessary first step to start on the Noble Eightfold Path. If one has gained Sammā Diṭṭhi (i.e., if one is a Sotāpanna/Sotāpanna Anugāmi), one would have understood the Four Noble Truths and can “see” (not with eyes, but with paññā) the path to Nibbāna. See “Paṭicca Samuppāda, Tilakkhaṇa, Four Noble Truths.”
▪One has “seen” that there would be much suffering in future lives (especially in the apāyā), if one gets too attached to worldly things by assuming that they can provide lasting happiness (this is the comprehension of the anicca nature).
▪The reason for such future suffering is immoral actions, speech, and conscious thinking (kāya and vacī saṅkhāra done with ignorance or avijjā). This is why the first step in Paṭicca Samuppāda is “avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra.”
▪By controlling one’s kāya and vacī saṅkhāra or staying away from dasa akusala, one can prevent future suffering from arising.
▪The way to accomplish that is through the Noble Eightfold Path.
Those are the Four Noble Truths. However, the path to Nibbāna remains elusive until one comprehends the root causes of future suffering.
Root Causes are Rāga, Dosa, Moha (Avijjā)
2. We can analyze it differently by first discussing Nibbāna and Sotāpanna.
▪The “WebLink: suttacentral: Nibbānapañhā Sutta (SN 38.1)” clearly describes Nibbāna as, “..ragakkhayo, dosakkhayo, mohakkhayo — idaṁ vuccati nibbānanti.” That means Nibbāna is attained via removing greed, hate/anger, and ignorance from one’s mind.
▪But rāga, dosa, and moha are not always present in mind. They remain hidden as anusaya.
▪The step-by-step procedure to attain Nibbāna involves four steps, which remove seven types of anusaya or mental fermentations that contaminate a mind. That will lead to the stopping of the four types of āsava; see “The Way to Nibbāna – Removal of Āsavā.” [Diṭṭhāsava, kāmāsava, bhavāsava, and avijjāsava.]
3. It is essential to understand what anusaya or mental fermentations are, how they accumulate, and how they lead to grasping new bhava at the moment of cuti.
▪Let us take an example. When one keeps doing immoral things based on greed (hurting others, stealing, sexually misbehaving, etc., to satisfy that greed), then one’s mind accumulates “anusaya of greedy type.” “Mental fermentations” is a good translation for anusaya; the longer one keeps them, the harder it becomes to remove them.
▪Another way to say that is to say one is cultivating “greedy gati.”
▪This can be compared to adding rotten things to a pool of water. Contamination gets worse with time. Still, the dirt may settle down at the bottom of the pool, and the water may look relatively clean.
▪However, when the water is disturbed, say by stirring it with a long stick, some contaminants will come to the surface; that is anusaya. How much comes to the surface (as āsava or cravings/temptations) depends on how hard the water is stirred, i.e., how strong the sensory input is. Furthermore, even a slight stirring can bring dirt up to the surface if there is a lot of dirt.
4. Anusaya, or mental fermentations, are like mud at the bottom of the pool. When a mind has built up a lot of anusaya accumulating deep inside, it is easier for them to come to the surface (i.e., for cravings to come to the mind) when one receives a corresponding sensory input (seeing an attractive person, for example). This is āsava or cravings. So, how one automatically responds in a given situation depends on those three parameters (gati, anusaya, āsava), which are interconnected: “Āsava, Anusaya, and Gati (Gathi).”
▪Removal of the seven types of anusaya [diṭṭhi, vicikicchā, kāma rāga, paṭigha, bhava rāga, māna, avijjā] (the same as removing corresponding gati) leads to the stopping of the four types of āsava; see “Conditions for the Four Stages of Nibbāna.”
First to Remove – Diṭṭhi Anusaya
5. The most important of the seven anusaya [kāmarāga, bhavarāga, paṭigha, māna, diṭṭhi, vicikicchā, avijjā] is the diṭṭhi anusaya. All other anusayā are influenced by the wrong views one has. With the removal of diṭṭhi anusaya at the Sotāpanna stage, 99+% of all “mental junk” or “mental fermentations” disappear from the mind.
▪This is why the Buddha said that a Sotāpanna had removed defilements comparable to the soil on the whole of Earth. The remaining defilements due to all other types of anusaya are equivalent to the amount of soil picked up by one’s thumb.
▪Therefore, one needs to get a clear idea of what Nibbāna means and to see why that necessarily means getting out of the rebirth process. The rebirth process is filled with so much suffering in the apāyā. The Buddha said that any given living being spends most of the rebirth process in the apāyā.
6. Therefore, the first and most crucial step towards attaining Nibbāna is to remove diṭṭhi anusaya that builds up over time due to wrong views, at which time three types of saṁyojana are also removed; see, “Conditions for the Four Stages of Nibbāna”:
▪The removal of diṭṭhi anusaya leads to the removal of diṭṭhāsava and also “vicikicchā anusaya.”
▪Simultaneously, the three saṁyojana (sakkāya diṭṭhi, vicikicchā, sīlabbata parāmāsa) disappear.
▪They are all removed by the “right vision.” It is called “dassanena pahātabbā” or “removal via right vision.”
Unfruitful/Dangerous Nature of this World
7. The most challenging part of understanding is what is meant by the “right vision.” We have discussed at length on this website that it involves the comprehension of the unfruitful nature of this world or Tilakkhaṇa (anicca, dukkha, anatta): That one cannot achieve long-lasting happiness by pursuing enticing things in this world, that one will be subjected to suffering in the long run if one does that, and therefore, such an approach will lead to one becoming helpless (especially when one is reborn in the apāyā).
▪That is the essential “right vision” that must REGISTER in one’s mind. The truth of that needs to be accepted by the mind.
▪Just reading about this and memorizing it is not enough.
Seeing the Validity of the Rebirth Process – Essential Part of Sammā Diṭṭhi
8. Let us take an example to illustrate this point. Some people do not believe in rebirth. That is a “wrong diṭṭhi” or “wrong vision,” according to the Buddha. But if one’s mind does not see that rebirth must be valid, just reading about it will not change that impression in that mind.
▪One should look at the evidence for rebirth with an open mind; see “Evidence for Rebirth.” One should contemplate that nothing happens without causes, i.e., kammā will have vipāka. That, in turn, leads to the conclusion that rebirth must be valid.
▪This is why getting rid of the ten types of micchā diṭṭhi MUST happen before one can comprehend Tilakkhaṇa and become Sotāpanna. See “Buddhism without Rebirth and Nibbāna?”
9. One issue that I do not quite understand is that some people do not believe in rebirth but want to attain the Sotāpanna stage and even the Arahant stage! Don’t they realize the contradiction?
▪One wants to attain the Sotāpanna stage to avoid births in the apāyā. So, if one does not believe in rebirth, why does one believe that it is possible to be born in the apāyā?
▪We must also remember that even those who believe in rebirth have been in this rebirth for a time that has no traceable beginning. Therefore, we must have also held such wrong views in the past. It is not easy to get rid of these ten types of micchā diṭṭhi.
Sammā Diṭṭhi – Correct Worldview
10. We still need more clarification on what happens when one truly comprehends Tilakkhaṇa.
▪I think one good analogy is if one is wearing — say, blue-tinted glasses — all the time, then no matter how hard one tries, one WILL see the world see white objects as blue and other objects also distorted to appear with different colors.
▪Removing a diṭṭhi (or wrong vision) is like removing those tinted glasses. It happens when one’s mind comes to a certain stage of understanding. This is cultivating paññā (wisdom).
▪The only way to remove those “tinted glasses” is to contemplate Buddha’s teachings and engage in puñña/kusala kammā, providing the conditions for the mind to comprehend those teachings.
11. A critical factor that most people disregard is how much of a difference it can make in one’s mindset when one stays away from dasa akusala and engages actively in kusala/puñña kammā. One’s mind becomes clear and sharp; one can comprehend more profound concepts easily; see “Kilesa – Relationship To Akusala, Kusala, And Puñña Kamma.”
▪Then one will be able to get rid of the ten types of micchā diṭṭhi and then make the transition to the Noble Path by starting to comprehend Tilakkhaṇa; see, “Sīla, Samādhi, Paññā to Paññā, sīla, Samādhi.”
•Comprehending Tilakkhaṇa is different than learning mundane subjects like geometry or even mathematics. It can be complex or relatively more straightforward depending on how many “preparations” (dāna, sīla, bhāvanā) one has made in this life and also in previous lives; see “Puñña Kamma – Dāna, Sīla, Bhāvanā” and “Kilesa – Relationship To Akusala, Kusala, And Puñña Kamma.”
Apāyagāmi Gati Removed with Sammā Diṭṭhi
12. As we discussed above, the critical step in getting to the “right view” is for one’s mind to see the truth in the Buddha’s worldview: Our world is much more complex than what we experience with our senses, there are more realms of existence, suffering is worst in apāyā, and unless we get rid of “apāyagāmi gati” one can end up in the apāyā.
▪Those “apāyagāmi gati” are closely related to diṭṭhāsava, which arise and accumulate due to ignorance of the Buddha’s worldview or the fundamental nature of the world (Tilakkhaṇa).
▪Furthermore, at the dying moment, the mind can grasp such an apāyagāmi sense input (ārammaṇa).
▪As we have discussed, those things happen AUTOMATICALLY, based on one’s gati (āsava). That is a crucial point to understand. Unless one is a Sotāpanna, those possibilities cannot be ruled out.
13. Another key issue related to this is the following: It does not matter how many bad kammā bīja have been accumulated. Instead, what is important is whether one’s mind will grasp bhava (upādāna) in a given realm. That depends only on the level of paññā (wisdom) one has cultivated and, THEREFORE, what kind of gati one has.
▪It DOES NOT matter how many kammā bīja suitable to give rebirth in the apāyā are there. If one has removed “apāyagāmi gati” by cultivating paññā to the Sotāpanna stage, then one’s mind would not grasp such bhava.
▪If one’s mind has removed all gati that can lead to rebirth in any realm, then one’s mind would not be able to grasp any bhava, and thus one would attain Parinibbāna at the dying moment.
▪For example, Aṅgulimāla killed 999 people but attained Arahanthood within a week. Bad kammā bījā that he generated were still there, but his mind would not grasp (upādāna) them. See “Account of Aṅgulimāla – Many Insights to Buddha Dhamma.”
14. When one gets to Sammā Diṭṭhi (i.e. when one becomes at least a Sotāpanna Anugāmi), one’s gati have changed permanently. Since the next birth is according to one’s gati, one will not be born into a family with micchā diṭṭhi. This is how it is guaranteed that one will have only seven more bhava left.
▪One may grasp Tilakkhaṇa by focusing on one of them, and that will lead to comprehension of all three, and even more characteristics like the asubha (unfruitful) nature. They are all interrelated.
▪Even though diṭṭhi vipallāsa is removed and Sammā Diṭṭhi is complete at the Sotāpanna stage, two other types of vipallāsa remain until the Arahant stage. See “Vipallāsa (Diṭṭhi, Saññā, Citta) Affect Saṅkhāra.”