1. Right View
How to know Right View from Wrong View
DN 16, 4.8-11 After my parinibbāna, some will think that the Dhamma has ended, and you no longer have a teacher. This is wrong. After the Buddha’s parinibbāna, the Dhamma and discipline (vinaya) will be your teacher.
Suppose someone were to say: “Friends, this is the Buddha’s teaching, the Dhamma and the discipline that I heard myself from the Buddha.” Then you should check this person’s words with the suttas and with the discipline. If they agree, then you should conclude that this is the teaching of the Buddha. If it disagrees with the suttas and the discipline, then you should conclude that this person has wrongly understood the teaching of the Buddha.
Or, suppose someone were to say: “Friends, I heard this from a community of senior monastics with distinguished teachers … from many learned elders who uphold a tradition … from one learned elder.” Then you should check this person’s words with the suttas and the discipline. If they agree, then you should conclude that it is the teaching of the Buddha. If it disagrees with the suttas and the discipline, then you should conclude that this one learned elder has wrongly understood the teaching of the Buddha.
Wrong View
What, now, is wrong view?
DN 1, 2.13 There are some who state: “Whatever is called sight, hearing, smell, taste or touch; that is impermanent, unstable, non-eternal, and liable to change. But what is called ‘mentality’ (mano) or ‘mind’ (citta) or ‘consciousness’ (viññāṅa); that is the permanent essence, stable, eternal, not subject to change, the same forever and ever.”
Right View
DN 22 What now is right view?
The Four Noble Truths
It is the understanding of the four noble truths: suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering. This is called right view.
The Good and the Bad
What are the good and the bad and what is their cause?
MN 9 [Venerable Sāriputta:] Intentional killing; stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, malicious gossip, harsh speech, useless talk, desire relating to the five senses, ill will and wrong view—these are “the bad”.
Wanting, aversion and delusion, these are the causes of “the bad”.
Refraining from intentionally killing living beings, stealing, and sexual misconduct; from lying, malicious gossip, harsh speech and useless speech; having contentment, loving-kindness and right view is “the good”.
Renunciation, compassion and wisdom are the roots of “the good”.
Right View Regarding the Five Components of Existence
SN 22.51 You view your body as impermanent, suffering and non-self (not me, not mine, not a permanent essence).
You regard experience as impermanent, suffering and non-self.
You regard perception as impermanent, suffering and non-self.
You regard the will as impermanent, suffering and non-self.
You regard consciousnesses as impermanent, suffering and non-self.
That is right view.
Unprofitable Questions
MN 63 If anyone should say thus: “I will not become a practising Buddhist until I discover whether this universe is eternal or not, finite or infinite; or whether my permanent essence and my body are the same or my permanent essence is one thing, but my body is another; or whether the Buddha persists after death, does not persist after death, both persists and does not persist after death, or neither persists nor does not persist after death,” that person would die before they found out!
Suppose a person were shot with a gun and medics would come to help them. Then that person said “Hang on a minute! Who pulled the trigger? What type of gun did they use and why did they shoot me? Moreover, let me see your medical qualifications first. I will not let you treat me until you answer all these questions!” That person would be considered to have wrong view, and might die before their questions were answered.
Sn 592 Therefore, the one who seeks their own welfare should attend to this injury first—this trauma of unhappiness, pain, and suffering.
MN 63 For one with the view “life (the universe) is eternal,” the holy life is without meaning (there is no end of suffering whatever you do); and for one with the view “life is not eternal,” again the holy life is without meaning (your existence is going to end anyway). Whether one has the view “the universe is eternal” or the view “the universe is not eternal,” there is rebirth, there is old age, there is death, there is sorrow, crying, pain, unhappiness, and distress, the destruction of which I prescribe in this very life.
The Five Basic Fetters
MN 64 Here, one who has not seen the Dhamma (a puthujjana) abides with a mind addicted and attached to a view of a permanent essence, and they do not even seek an escape from the long-standing wrong view of a permanent essence. When that wrong view of a permanent essence has become habitual, it is regarded as a “basic fetter”.
One who abides with a mind addicted and attached to sceptical doubt … to a belief in rites and rituals (as sufficient in themselves to reach awakening) … to desire for the five senses … to aversion ... and they do not even seek an escape from these states—then when these states have become habitual, they are regarded as the “five basic fetters”.
Unwise Contemplations
MN 2 One who has not seen the Dhamma (a puthujjana) does not understand what things are fit for contemplation and what things are not. Thus, they contemplate on those things unfit for attention and not on those things fit for attention.
This is how you contemplate unwisely: “Did my permanent essence exist in the past? Did my permanent essence not exist in the past? What was my permanent essence in the past? How was my permanent essence in the past? Having been what, what did my permanent essence become in the past? Shall my permanent essence be in the future? Shall my permanent essence not be in the future? What shall my permanent essence be in the future? How shall my permanent essence be in the future? Having been what, what shall my permanent essence become in the future?”
Or else you are inwardly perplexed about the present thus: “Is this my permanent essence? Is this not my permanent essence? What is this permanent essence? How is this permanent essence? Where has this permanent essence come from? Where will it go?”
The Six Views about the Permanent Essence
MN 2 When you attend unwisely in this way, one of six views arises in you.
- The view “I possess a permanent essence” arises in you as true and established;
- or the view “I possess no permanent essence, only a material body whose conscious life is a mere by-product of a brain” arises in you as true and established;
- or the view “I know the permanent essence with a permanent essence” (I know therefore I am) arises in you as true and established;
- or the view “I perceive there is no permanent essence with a permanent essence” arises in you as true and established (the permanent essence is but cannot be known);
- or the view “I perceive a permanent essence with what is without a permanent essence” arises in you as true and established (the five khandhas can know an “original mind” existing outside of the five khandhas);
- or else you have some such view as this: “It is this permanent essence of mine that speaks and feels and experiences here and there the result of good and bad actions; but this permanent essence of mine is permanent, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and it will endure as long as eternity.”
The Two Extremes and the Middle Doctrine
SN 12.15 “Venerable sir, it is said ‘right view, right view.’ In what way is there right view?”
“This world, Kaccāna, mostly depends on a duality, upon a theory of existence and a theory of non-existence. But for one who sees the origin of phenomena as it really is, there is no idea of non-existence of the world. And for one who sees the cessation of phenomena as it really is, there is no idea of existence of the world.
Most people are attached to one of these wrong views. But one with right view disengages from such dualistic theories about ‘my permanent essence.’ You have no perplexity or doubt that what arises is only suffering arising, what ceases is only suffering ceasing. Your knowledge about this is independent of mere belief and acceptance. In this way there is right view.
‘Phenomena exist’ is one extreme. ‘Phenomena do not exist’ is the second extreme. Without veering to either of these extremes, the Buddha teaches the Dhamma by the middle: with delusion as the cause, volition arises…”
MN 22 “If there was a permanent essence, would there be what belongs to a permanent essence (its attributes)?”
“Yes, venerable sir.”
“Or, if there were what belongs to a permanent essence, would there be a permanent essence?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Since a permanent essence and any attributes of a permanent essence are not apprehended as true and established, then this basic belief, namely, ‘This is the permanent essence, this is the world; after death I shall be permanent, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change; I shall endure as long as eternity’—would it not be an utterly and completely foolish belief?”
MN 2 Such speculative beliefs are called the thicket of views, the wilderness of views, the contortion of views, the procrastination of views, the fetter of views. Shackled by the fetter of views, the unawakened person is not freed from birth, old age, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, unhappiness, and distress; they are not freed from suffering, I say.
SN 12.61 The unawakened worldling might experience revulsion (nibbidā) from this body, let its importance fade away and be liberated from it. Why? Because growth and decay are seen in this body, moreover it is born and dies. But, that which is called “mind” or “mentality” or “consciousness”, the unawakened worldling is unable to experience revulsion towards it, let its importance fade away and be liberated from it. Why? Because for a long time you have held, appropriated and grasped the wrong view: ‘This “citta”, or “mind”, or “consciousness”, whatever you call it, is “mine”, this I am, this is the permanent essence.’
MN 72 Suppose a fire was burning in front of you, would you know that a fire was burning in front of you? If someone asked you what this fire burned in dependence on, how would you answer? You would answer that the fire was burning in dependence on the fuel of grass and sticks. If the fire was extinguished (nibbuto), would you know that the fire was extinguished? Yes.
If someone then asked you where that fire went when it was extinguished—did it go to the east, west, north or south? How would you answer?
That question makes no sense. That fire burnt in dependence on its fuel of grass and sticks. When that was used up, not getting any more fuel, it became extinguished. It didn’t go anywhere.
So too, where does an Awakened One go after death? That question makes no sense.
Views and Discussions about the Permanent Essence
DN 15 Now, one who says: “Experience is my permanent essence” should be told: “There are three kinds of experience: pleasant, painful, and neutral. Which of the three do you consider to be your permanent essence?”
When a pleasant experience is felt, no painful or neutral experience is felt. When a painful experience is felt, no pleasant or neutral experience is felt. And when a neutral experience is felt, no pleasant or painful experience is felt.
Pleasant experience is impermanent, conditioned, dependently-arisen, bound to decay, to vanish, to fade away, to cease—and so too are painful experience and neutral experience.
So anyone who, on experiencing a pleasant experience, thinks: “This is my permanent essence,” must, at the cessation of that pleasant experience, think: “my permanent essence has gone!” and the same with painful and neutral experience. Thus whoever thinks: “Experience is my permanent essence” is contemplating something in this present life that is impermanent, a mixture of happiness and unhappiness, subject to arising and passing away. Therefore it is not fitting to maintain: “Experience is my permanent essence.”
But anyone who says: “Experience is not my permanent essence; my permanent essence is, only it does not experience anything,” should be asked: “If your permanent essence had no experience at all, could its existence be known to itself?” [To which they would have to reply:] “No.” Therefore it is not reasonable to maintain: “Experience is not my permanent essence; my permanent essence is, but has no experience.”
And anyone who says: “Experience is not my permanent essence; my permanent essence is, and does not not experience anything; only my permanent essence performs the act of experience, that is its nature,” should be asked: “Well, if all experience absolutely and totally ceased, could its existence be known to itself?” [To which they would have to reply:] “No.” Therefore it is not tenable to maintain: “Experience is not my permanent essence; my permanent essence is, and does not not experience anything; my permanent essence performs the act of experiencing, for that is its nature.”
From the time when a meditator no longer regards experience as the permanent essence; or that the permanent essence is, only does not experience anything; or that the permanent essence is, and does not not experience anything, only the permanent essence performs the act of experience, that is its nature; from that point on, they cling to nothing in the world; not clinging, they are not agitated by anything; and not being agitated, they gain personal liberation; and they know: “Rebirth is finished, the holy life has been fulfilled, done was what had to be done, there is nothing more here.”
MN 148 If anyone says, “The mind is the permanent essence,” that is not reasonable. The appearance and disappearance of the mind are discerned, and since its appearance and disappearance are discerned, it would follow: “My permanent essence appears and then disappears.”
That is why it is not acceptable for anyone to say, “The mind is the permanent essence.”
If anyone says, “Mind-objects are the permanent essence” … “Mind-consciousness is the permanent essence” … “Experience is the permanent essence” … “Wanting is the permanent essence” … These things come and go, which is why it is not reasonable for anyone to say, “Mind-objects; mind-consciousness; experience or wanting is the permanent essence.”
Thus the mind is not the permanent essence; mind-objects, mind-consciousness, mind-contact, experience and wanting—all these are not a permanent essence.
SN 12.61 It would be better for the uninstructed worldling to take as the permanent essence this body rather than the mind (citta). Why? Because this body lasts for up to a hundred years, or even longer.
But that which is called “mind” (citta), or “mentality” (mano), or “consciousnesses” (viññāna), arises as one thing and ceases as another all the time.
Wise Contemplations
MN 2 An Awakened One, or one on the path to awakening (an ariyapuggala), understands what things are fit for attention and what things are unfit for attention. Thus they do not contemplate things unfit for attention, only those things fit for attention.
One contemplates: “This is suffering;”
“This is the origin of suffering;”
“This is the cessation of suffering;”
“This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.”
The Sotāpanna, or “Stream-Winner”
MN 22 When you contemplate in this way, three fetters are abandoned in you: a view of a permanent essence, sceptical doubt, and belief in rites and rituals (as sufficient in themselves to reach awakening). Those who have abandoned three fetters are all stream-winners, no longer subject to rebirth in a lower realm and headed for full awakening.
Dhp 187 Absolute rule over the earth, going to heaven, supreme sovereignty over all worlds—the fruit of stream-winning surpasses them all.
Causes for the Arising of the Right View of Stream-Winning
MN 43 [Venerable Sāriputta:] There are two conditions for the arising of right view: the word of another (an ariyan), and “work of the mind that goes back to the source” (yoniso manasikāra). There are five factors that build on right view and take it to full awakening: virtue, learning, discussion, stillness and insight.
What is the View of a Permanent Essence (Sakkāya Diṭṭhi)?
MN 44.8 Friend Visākha, one who is an ariyan cannot regard the body, experience, perception, will or consciousnesses (being the five components of existence) as a permanent essence, nor a permanent essence as possessing any of these five components of existence, nor any of the five components of existence as within a permanent essence, nor a permanent essence as within any of the five components of existence. That is how sakkāya diṭṭhi comes not to be.
Explanation from the Paṭisambhidāmagga 1.144-145:
One who is an ariyan does not regard the mind as a permanent essence—like the flame and hue of a lamp; does not regard the mind as possessing a permanent essence—like a tree has a shadow; does not regard the mind as within a permanent essence—like the scent in a flower; and does not regard a permanent essence as within the mind—like a jewel in a casket (The mind is part of the five components of existence, the sixth type of consciousness.)
“Word of Another” Means the Word of an Ariyan
AN 10.76 One who is shameless, reckless and heedless will be unable to abandon disrespect, being difficult to admonish and keeping bad company.
One who is disrespectful, incorrigible and keeps bad company will be unable to abandon lack of faith, stinginess and laziness.
One who is lacking in faith, uncharitable and lazy, will be unable to abandon restlessness, lack of restraint and immorality.
One who is restless, unrestrained and immoral will be unable to abandon their fault-finding mind and their disinterest in seeing ariyans or hearing their teachings.
One who is not interested in meeting with ariyans, does not hear the teachings of an ariyan, but has a fault-finding mind, will be unable to establish mindfulness and understanding of the purpose—they will be distracted.
One who is without mindfulness and understanding, with a wandering mind, will be unable to abandon useless trains of thought, following a wrong path and mental sluggishness.
One who wastes time on useless thinking, on following a wrong path leading to a dull mind, will be unable to abandon the view of a permanent essence, sceptical doubt and belief in rites and rituals (the first three of the five basic fetters).
One who has not abandoned the first three of the five basic fetters will be unable to abandon desire for the world of the five senses, aversion and delusion.
One who has not abandoned desire, aversion and delusion, will not be able to abandon birth, old age and death.
Stream-Winning and the Seven in the Water Simile
AN 7.15 There are these seven kinds of persons similar to those in the water:
- One who goes under and drowns—meaning one with bad qualities.
- One who floats then drowns—meaning good at first but then bad qualities dominate.
- One who floats and keeps their head above water—meaning the good qualities become ever stronger.
- The one who looks around and sees safety—meaning the stream-winner.
- The one who is swimming to safety—meaning the once-returner.
- The one who feels solid earth underfoot—meaning the non-returner.
- The one who is safe on dry land—meaning the arahant.
The Jhānānāgāmī or “Jhāna-Non-Returner”
AN 3.94 Just as when the sky is clear and cloudless, the sun, ascending in the sky, dispels all darkness as it shines and radiates; so too, when the dust-free, stainless Dhamma-eye arises in you, then, together with the arising of vision, you abandon three fetters: the view of a permanent essence, doubt, and wrong grasp of rites and rituals.
Afterward, when you restrain two states—wanting and aversion—then, totally secluded from the five senses, secluded from the five hindrances, you enter and dwell for a while in the first jhāna, which consists of rapture and pleasure born of freedom from the five senses, accompanied by movements of the mind onto the bliss and holding the bliss. If you should pass away while in jhāna, there’s no fetter bound by which you might ever return to this world.
Scent of ‘I am’
SN 22.89 [Elder bhikkhus:] “Friend Khemaka, when you speak of this ‘I am’ … what is it that you speak of as ‘I am’?”
[Venerable Khemaka:] “Friends, I do not speak of form as ‘I am’, nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from form. I do not speak of experience (vedanā) as ‘I am’ … nor of perception as ‘I am’ … nor of will as ‘I am’ …nor of consciousnesses as ‘I am’, nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from consciousnesses.”
“Friends, although the thought ‘I am’ has not yet vanished in me in relation to these five components of existence, still I do not regard anything among them as ‘This I am’.”
“Suppose, friends, there is the scent of a lotus. Would you be speaking rightly if you were to say, ‘the scent belongs to the petals’, or ‘the scent belongs to the stalk’, or ‘the scent belongs to the pistils’?”
“No.”
“And how, friends, should you answer if you were to answer rightly?”
“You should answer: ‘The scent belongs to the flower.’”
“So too, friends, I do not speak of form as ‘I am’, nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from form. I do not speak of experience, of perception, of will, of consciousnesses as ‘I am’, nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from consciousnesses.”
“Friends, although the thought ‘I am’ has not yet vanished in me in relation to these five components of existence, still I do not regard anything among them as ‘This I am’.”
“Friends, even though a noble disciple has abandoned the five basic fetters, still, in relation to the five components of existence there lingers in them a residual thought ‘I am’, a desire ‘I am’, an underlying tendency ‘I am’, that has not yet been uprooted.”
“Sometime later they dwell contemplating dependency on causes of the five components of existence: “Such is form, such its origin, such its passing away; such is experience … such is perception … such is will … such are consciousnesses, such their origin, such their passing away.”
“As they dwell contemplating dependency on causes of the five components of existence, the residual thought ‘I am’, the desire ‘I am’, the underlying tendency ‘I am’, that had not yet been uprooted—this comes to be uprooted.”
“Suppose you washed a cloth in a washing machine, rinsed, and spun it, and then put it in a drier. Although that cloth would be clean, still it might retain the residual smell of the soap powder. Then you would hang it out in the sun to air and, after a while, the residual smell of the soap powder would vanish.”
“So too, friends, even though a noble disciple has abandoned the five basic fetters, still, in relation to the five components of existence, there lingers in them a residual thought ‘I am’, a desire ‘I am’, an underlying tendency ‘I am’, that has not yet been uprooted …”
[Elder bhikkhus:] “Friend Khemaka, when you speak of this ‘I am’ … what is it that you speak of as ‘I am’?”
[Venerable Khemaka:] “Friends, I do not speak of form as ‘I am’, nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from form. I do not speak of experience (vedanā) as ‘I am’ … nor of perception as ‘I am’ … nor of will as ‘I am’ …nor of consciousnesses as ‘I am’, nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from consciousnesses.”
“Friends, although the thought ‘I am’ has not yet vanished in me in relation to these five components of existence, still I do not regard anything among them as ‘This I am’.”
“Suppose, friends, there is the scent of a lotus. Would you be speaking rightly if you were to say, ‘the scent belongs to the petals’, or ‘the scent belongs to the stalk’, or ‘the scent belongs to the pistils’?”
“No.”
“And how, friends, should you answer if you were to answer rightly?”
“You should answer: ‘The scent belongs to the flower.’”
As you dwell contemplating dependency on causes of the five components of existence, the residual thought ‘I am’, the desire ‘I am’, the underlying tendency ‘I am’, that had not yet been uprooted—this comes to be uprooted.”
Free from All Speculative Views
MN 72 [Vacchagotta:] “Then does the Buddha hold any speculative belief at all?”
“‘Speculative belief’ is something that the Buddha has put away. For the Buddha has seen this: ‘Such is form, such its origin, such its disappearance; such is experience … such is perception … such is will … such are consciousnesses, such their origin, such their disappearance.’”
“Therefore, I say, with the destruction, fading away, cessation, giving up, and relinquishing of all conceptual proliferations, all philosophising, all I-making, mine-making, and the underlying tendency to assuming a permanent essence, the Buddha is liberated through exhausting the fuel that drives rebirth.”
The Three Characteristics
AN 3.136 Whether Buddhas arise or not, there persists that law, that stable Dhamma, that fixed course of the Dhamma: “All phenomena that arise from a cause (all saṅkhārā) are impermanent, suffering and not a permanent essence.”
A Buddha awakens to this and breaks through to it, and then explains it, teaches it, proclaims it, establishes it, discloses it, analyses it, and elucidates it.
SN 22.94 And what is it that the wise in the world agree upon as not existing, of which I too say that it does not exist?
Form that is permanent, stable, and eternal, not subject to change: this the wise in the world agree upon as not existing, and I too say that it does not exist.
Experience … perception … will … consciousnesses that are permanent, stable, and eternal, not subject to change: this the wise in the world agree upon as not existing, and I too say that it does not exist.
AN 1.15 It is impossible and inconceivable that a person who is awakened or on the path to awakening (an ariyapuggala) could consider any phenomena that arise from a cause as permanent, as pleasurable and as a permanent essence—there is no such possibility.
But it is possible that an unawakened worldling might consider some phenomena that arise from a cause as permanent, as pleasurable and as a permanent essence—there is such a possibility.
SN 22.59 Therefore any kind of form whatsoever … any kind of experience whatsoever … any kind of perception whatsoever … any kind of will whatsoever … any kind of consciousnesses whatsoever—whether past, future, or present, one’s own or others’, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near—all form … experience … perception … will … consciousnesses should be seen as they really are with correct wisdom thus: “This is not mine, this I am not, this is not a permanent essence.”
Vism XVI Mere suffering exists, no sufferer is found.
The deed is, but no doer of the deed is there.
Nibbāna is, but not a person who enters it.
The path is, but no traveller on it is seen.
SN 44.4 It is those who do not understand form as it really is, who do not know and see its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation, that think: “An Awakened One exists after death, or does not exist after death, or both exists and does not exist after death, or neither exists nor does not exist after death.”
It is those who do not know and see experience as it really is … who do not know and see perception as it really is … who do not know and see the will as it really is … who do not know and see consciousnesses as they really are, who do not know and see their origin, their cessation, and the way leading to their cessation, that think: “An Awakened One exists after death, or does not exist after death, or both exists and does not exist after death, or neither exists nor does not exist after death.’’
But one who knows and sees form … experience … perception … will … consciousnesses as they really are, who knows and sees their origin, their cessation, and the way leading to their cessation, does not think: “An Awakened One exists after death, or does not exist after death, or both exists and does not exist after death, or neither exists nor does not exist after death.’’
Sn 22.85 [Sāriputta:] “What do you think, Yamaka, do you regard the body, experience, perception, will or consciousnesses as being an Awakened One?”
“No, venerable sir.”
“Do you regard an Awakened One as within the body, as within experience, as within perception, as within will or as within consciousnesses?”
“No, sir.”
“Do you regard the body, experience, perception, will and consciousnesses taken together as being an Awakened One?”
“No, sir.”
“Do you take an Awakened One as one who is without form, without experience, without perception, without will and without consciousnesses?”
“No, sir.”
“But, Yamaka, when an Awakened One is not apprehended by you as real and actual here in this very life, is it fitting for you to declare that an Awakened One is annihilated and perishes with the break-up of the body and does not exist after death?”
“If, Yamaka, they were to ask you what happens to an Awakened One with the break-up of their body, after death, how would you answer?”
“I would answer that the body is impermanent; what is impermanent is suffering, what is suffering has ceased and passed away. Experience is impermanent; what is impermanent is suffering, what is suffering has ceased and passed away. Perception is impermanent; what is impermanent is suffering, what is suffering has ceased and passed away. Will is impermanent; what is impermanent is suffering, what is suffering has ceased and passed away. Consciousnesses are impermanent; what is impermanent is suffering, what is suffering has ceased and passed away.”
“Good, Yamaka. Good!”
SN 12.35 If there is the view, “The permanent essence and the body are the same,” there is no living of the holy life; and if there is the view, “The permanent essence is one thing, the body is another,” there is no living of the holy life. Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Buddha teaches the Dhamma by the middle: dependent origination and dependent cessation.
Dependent Origination
MN 28.38 One who sees dependent origination and cessation sees the Dhamma; one who sees the Dhamma sees dependent origination and cessation.
SN 12.1 With delusion as cause, will [comes to be];
with will as cause, consciousnesses;
with consciousness as cause, name-and-form (the objects of consciousnesses);
with name-and-form as cause, the six sense bases;
with the six sense bases as cause, sensory contact;
with sensory contact as cause, experience;
with experience as cause, wanting;
with wanting as cause, fuel;
with fuel as cause, states of existence;
with states of existence as cause, rebirth;
with rebirth as cause, old-age-and-death, sorrow, crying, pain, unhappiness, and distress come to be.
Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering.
Vism 19 No God, no Brahma can be called the maker of life;
Empty phenomena roll on, dependent on conditions all.
SN 12.51 But when a meditator has abandoned delusion and aroused true knowledge—then, with the fading away of delusion and the arising of true knowledge, one does not generate a meritorious volition, or a demeritorious volition, or a neutral volition.
SN 12.1 But with the remainderless fading away and cessation of delusion comes cessation of will;
with the cessation of will, cessation of consciousnesses;
with the cessation of consciousnesses, cessation of name-and-form;
with the cessation of name-and-form, cessation of the six sense bases;
with the cessation of the six sense bases, cessation of sensory contact;
with the cessation of sensory contact, cessation of experience;
with the cessation of experience, cessation of wanting;
with the cessation of wanting, cessation of fuel;
with the cessation of fuel, cessation of states of existence;
with the cessation of states of existence, cessation of rebirth;
with the cessation of rebirth, old-age-and-death, sorrow, crying, pain, unhappiness, and distress cease.
Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.
Thag 184 House builder, you have now been seen. You shall build no houses again. Your rafters have been broken and your gables all torn. Thrown off course, the mind (citta) will be destroyed right here.
Thag 1144 Without any doubt, Mind, you shall be destroyed.
