PERCEPTION of CESSATION

It is said that perception is the cause for prapanca, translated as proliferation of (erroneous) concepts and also defined as taking as me mine and my soul. It is considered as an occurrence that fetters one to samsara. We need to study the consequences that prapanca bring in to our lives, so that it won’t be mistaken as an accepted norm.

The aggregates of perception or noting are categorised as

Perception of Form

Perception of Sound

Perception of Smell

Perception of Taste

Perception of touch and

Perception of mental objects based on six sense bases.

When an object impinges on the eye, eye consciousness arises and consequently the occurrence of eye contact followed by sensation and perception. At this point there are no defilements and the act of seeing is completed by knowing, as perceived. We contemplate on what we see, hear and smell etc. and express through thought, speech and action, committing kamma or formation. Determination or formation (Sankara) of what is perceived is said to be vital for the purpose of communication and use. We need to distinguish the state of perception in the process of seeing, hearing etc. from that of the state of determination.

One uses definitions for the purpose of expression and communication, for e.g. a toddler sees colour distinctions of a mobile hanging over his crib but doesn’t know descriptions of it such as the commonly used terminology, Red, Blue and yellow etc., to identify them. The state of seeing diversity of colour and shape, without knowing details, is the state of noting or perceiving (sanna), it is observation with no designation or description yet being aware of a visible form similar to what a toddler sees. Perceptions through other sense basses are the same. However, as the child matures in age and experience, he (or she) learns to differentiate colour by names which helps him to identify objects distinctly and to communicate.

In addition to aggregates of perceptions or noting there are other forms of perceptions such as perception of wholesomeness, permanence, happiness and self as well as perceptions of sense-desires (kama), ill will (vyapada) and cruelty (himsa) etc. These are caused by ‘micca ditti’ or wrong views and hence can be corrected.

It is said that the ability to perceive, developed through knowledge and application, augment contemplation. Madu Pindika Sutra describes that contemplation occur corresponding to the perception (Yan sanjati tan vitakketi). However, the sutra clearly states that this occurrence does not take place vice versa, i.e. perception is not determined by how we contemplate (Vitakka), for instance, though we consider aggregates as persons and associate, say for instance as father, mother or child, the state of aggregates will not change and thus need not necessarily be perceived as father, mother etc. Perception is fundamental to how we contemplate (on what we see or hear and so on) expressed through thought, speech and action. Nevertheless, our habits have an influence on how we perceive.

Perceiving as persons, say father, mother, son and so on is due to our habits of associating with the world developed through previous sense experiences known in the scripts as cankers or fermentations (Asrava).  We are unaware of being the owners of our perception that we often believe that perception is determined by external objects. We associate the world through perceptions we have developed through our previous experiences. We note persons as men, women etc. due to our defilements & cankers accumulated through previous experiences. If we are to remove attachments that we develop as father, mother etc., we should first recognise our errors in perceiving as persons.

The body formed of hair, nails, teeth, skin and flesh etc. nourished with edible food is not a person as we are used to perceive. The mind inhibits the body to make it conscious and to manoeuvre and when we see a body our cankers take precedence in perceiving it as a man or a woman. As we are ignorant of the reality of the body form we surrender to our defilements and cankers in perceiving and hence what we experience is distorted (Viparitha Sanna). Grasping as me, mine and myself (Prapanca) results from how we contemplate which is determined by how we perceive and therefore we form defilements in accordance with our sense of perception.

Madu Pindika Sutra goes onto explain that prapanca that arise due to contemplation hinder and delay our ability to see objects as it is at all times, i.e.in the past, present and in future, thereby restraining us in samsara grasping as me, mine and myself.

Objects themselves do not constitute elements of perception but the way we behold influence our perception. The Tathagata has explained this through the following stanza,

                           
Nete kāmā yāni citrāni loke;

Saṅkappa-rāgo purisassa kāmo, 
Tiṭṭhanti citrāni tatheva loke;
Athettha dhīrā vinayanti chandan. 

Nibbedika Sutra

Objects of sensuality in the world become pleasurable due to man’s lustful conceptions. Things of beauty exist in this world as they are; they do not constitute any sensuality that man associate with. The wise are not affected by them.

Here, The Enlightened one stresses that objects do not constitute sensuality but man’s lustful conceptions bring about sensuality on objects. In other words man’s perception is influenced by corrupted conceptions that are tainted by his defilements and cankers (or fermentations).

Venerable Sudassana explains “the dilemma is that the visual consciousness that arises due to conditions ceases when the conditions cease to exist, however, we tend to tie the corresponding thought that arises in the mind to that visual experience. This is to identify the object seen and to know with descriptions so that we can think, speak and act upon it. This, he says, is how we gather new Kamma and the difference between us and an enlightened person is that he or she does not combine the thought arising at the mind consciousness level (mental experience) to the visual experience. An arhat experiences both and could even respond with thought, speech or action, however, knows them apart as two different sense experiences and hence he or she does not collect kamma. The above distinction in responses to the same sense experience is said to be due to ignorance of the former and wisdom of the latter (being free of ignorance). We collect Kamma by combining the internal sense experience to the external sense experiences while an Arhat who knows them as independent occurrences discards Kamma. 

Due to ignorance we form defilements on aggregates and due to our habits in associating with defilements (say as son, daughter etc.) our mind gets polluted (with cankers) distorting our perceptions. As we interact with such cankers we perceive the corporeal as man or woman and contemplate accordingly. In summary we are associating aggregates and defilements which are described, in terms of Four Noble truths, as suffering and cause for suffering. The teachings urge us to separate defilements from aggregates in order to attain cessation of suffering. If we cease perceiving as persons we will not contemplate on ‘persons’ and hence we free ourselves from suffering from decay, sickness and death due to grasping as father, mother, son or daughter. This implies that we need a shift in our ‘View’ in order to correct the way we perceive. If we can see aggregates as they are with the Right View we will not form defilements and that in turn will free us from grasping as me, mine and my-self (prapanca).

Scarecrow Example

Imagine a scarecrow in the middle of a paddy field which may appear as a real person to someone looking from far. Being deceived he may start contemplating about the ‘person’ say as a youth or an old person, a man or woman etc. Due to his wrong perception a stream of conceptions will flow in his mind (prapanca) with regard to the ‘person’ he is ‘seeing’. Eventually if he walks towards the scarecrow, at some point he will realise what it is and discard all conceptions he had developed on it so far, instantly. At that particular point having gained a clear view, his perception becomes clearer and hence, his contemplation followed by how he respond through thought, speech and action.

Venerable Sudassana finds no difference between seeing the scarecrow as a person and perceiving a body, that is dependent on edible food, as a person or a soul. “Our habits of perception or defilements come to the fore here distorting the view” he says.

The Venerable further compares such perception to looking through a pair of coloured glasses, as our contemplation is influenced by our perceptions similar to the way a pair of coloured glasses influences our view. The challenge is to remove this pair of coloured glasses, says the Venerable.

How can we associate the world without perceiving erroneously so that we can free ourselves from prapanca and liberate from this samsaric cycle? How can we discard the habits of taking as me mine and myself?

The challenge as Buddha has preached is that we must associate the world exactly like the others do but perceive differently by not having greed, ill will or delusion that corrupt our conceptions. By gaining the Right View one can change the way he or she perceives things and persons and hence, how we associate the world. The teachings refer to a cessation that can take place regardless of whether the eye (or ear etc.) is present or not. It advocates a philosophy of wisdom that the world cannot even imagine.

The Enlightened one has preached,

Na saññasaññi na visaññasaññi
Nopi asaññi na vibhūtasaññi,
Evaṃ sametassa vibhoti rūpaṃ
Saññānidānā hi papañcasaṅkhā.

-Kalaha Vivada Sutra

Let us examine this profound teaching.

We all perceive visible objects, sound, odour, taste, touch and mental objects, as worldly beings. The six forms of perceptions are the world. Here, the Buddha shows us a goal to reach through the Noble Path, to be free from all six sense perceptions, na sanna sanni.  If one is to cease the world (loka Nirodha) he needs to be free from perceiving forms as the rest of the world do, through sense bases. However, he can’t be unconscious, stresses the Buddha, as one may suggest that being unconscious he can be free from all sense perceptions. One can also argue that he can move to the state of nothingness (asanna), No, the teaching does not accept that either. How about reaching a state beyond perception, neither consciousness nor unconsciousness (neva sanna na sanna), the Buddha wouldn't concur with that either.

According to the Teachings, one needs to associate the world while being detached from it. This is the challenge in front of us, to clear our view and live in a state of being ‘free from worldly perceptions’ i.e. ‘nirodha sanna’. However, it’s not associating nothingness or living without associating objects, the cessation or nirvana is not that, it is stressed. It is the state of perceiving cessation of the eye, ear etc., a state through which one can liberate from objects of sight, sound, smell etc., while still living in the world. 

It is the state of living with perception of cessation (nirodha sanna) where one does associate the world, however, differently to how the others do perceiving the opposite, i.e. arising (samudaya) only. He or she perceives things but in such a way that suffering is ceased by abandoning ignorance that causes kamma formation and therefore, he is not affected by decay, sickness or death. 

The one who is free from worldly perceptions, experiences cessation of contact, but not by removing eye, ear etc. It is to be noted here that sanna nirodaya is different to nirodha sanna , the former is similar to the state of a dead body, no perceptions whatsoever, on the contrary, an enlightened one (Arhat) lives within the world, free from worldly perceptions, and is called the one who has ceased the world.

The Buddha preached that the one who moves beyond form relinquishes himself from contact as well as from cause for contact & experience cessation. Such person is free from all forms of sense perceptions however; continue to associates the world perceiving arising as well as cessation of aggregates. To move beyond the form, one needs to see things as they really are with the Right View and see that things do not exist before or after being sensed but arise to the occasion due to conditions and cease when the conditions cease to exist.

Tranquillity meditation techniques help in cultivating concentration that is essential to experience arising ceasing nature of aggregates with insight. The teachings emphasise that the practitioner needs to adopt both forms of meditation techniques, tranquility and insight, in his endeavour.