5 (Day) Notes | Sutta Study @ Buddhist Maha Vihara, Brickfields | Bhante Dr. G. Chandima

 

*dassana (seeing like a sotāpanna) but no Diṭṭhi (Metta Sutta, Sn 1.8 or Khp 9)

*dassana sampanno (endowed with the sotāpanna way of seeing) (Ratana Sutta, Sn 2.1 or Khp 6)

lobha+view= Micchā Diṭṭhi

* Micchā Diṭṭhi as the worst akusala. 

• Sakkāya diṭṭhi versus micchā diṭṭhi
• Can we have a view without making it fixed? 
• Can we live without views? 
• Why is there a strong focus on the notion of diṭṭhi within early Buddhism?

Views entail mental rigidity and are potential objects of attachment. (becoming attached to objects of cognition). Therefore, cultivate the right view and abandon the wrong view. 

1. Introduction

Diṭṭhi is an obstacle to “seeing things as they are” (Yathā-bhūta-ñāna-dassana). The aim of the dhamma path is the transcendence of all views. Right view (sammā diṭṭhi) with “no view” at all (overcoming all views, even right view) | abandoning of wrong views (micchā diṭṭhi) but the relinquishment of all views. Wrong view is a form of greed (lobha). Right view signifies the cessation of craving. The circularity of the Buddhist path is right view. 

Right view is not a doctrine, a correct proposition (correct attitude towards the Buddha’s teachings). A correct knowledge of doctrine should not involve attachment, a true statement, if it is an object of attachment, is micchā diṭṭhi, even though it is still true.

2. Diṭṭhi (what you can see in the sutta texts about Diṭṭhi of other pre-Buddhist or contemporary schools)

-Brahmajāla Sutta (DN 1)- 62 wrong views

• eternalism 4
• partial eternalism 4
• extensionism 4
• endless eqivocation 4
• fortuitous origination 2
• immortality 32
• annihilationsim 7
• nibbana here and now 5

-Sāmaññaphala (DN 2)- views of contemporary śramaṇa Teachers

3. Diṭṭhi (analysis of views in the sutta texts)

-What is “sakkāya diṭṭhi” and “samma ditthi”? 

See https://patisota.blogspot.com/2021/06/20-kinds-of-identity-view-sakkaya-ditthi.html

Sakkāya diṭṭhi is the footing for all wrong views
Sakkāya diṭṭhi is the first view out of view all other views come

-What are the 6 places for Diṭṭhi ? (MN 22)

Regards rūpa (this is mine, this is i am, this is myself)
Regards vedanā (this is mine, this is i am, this is myself)
Regards saññā (this is mine, this is i am, this is myself)
Regards saṅkhāra (this is mine, this is i am, this is myself)
Regards viññāṇa (this is mine, this is i am, this is myself)

-Are the 10 avyākatas (AN 7.51) connected to Diṭṭhi? yes

The world is eternal. 

The world is not eternal.

The world is finite.

The world is infinite.

The soul and the body are the same. 

The soul is one thing, and the body is another.

The Tathāgata exists after death.

The Tathāgata does not exist after death. 

The Tathāgata both exists and does not exist after death. 

The Tathāgata neither exists nor does not exist after death.

- Nihilism and Eternalism with Diṭṭhi (Cula Vedalla Sutta, MN 44)

Five aggregates as self (nihilism)

Self as possessing the Five aggregates (eternalism)

-Identifying some of the Pali words used contextually with 

Diṭṭhi

• Miccā Diṭṭhi (one of the 14 akusala cetaskikas)
• Diṭṭhi Sampadā- the accomplishment in view
• Diṭṭhi Sampanna- accomplished in view
• Diṭṭhi Visuddhi- purification of view
• Diṭṭhi Vipallāsa- (inversion and distortion of reality) as one of the 3 Vipallāsas

1) Perversion of perception (saññā vipallāsa)
2) Perversion of thought (citta vipallāsa)
3) Perversion of view (diṭṭhi vipallāsa)

-What is the connection between diṭṭhi and papañca?

Taṇhā +Māna+Diṭṭhi= papañca (mental proliferation)

The Buddhist path is (nippapañca path)

4. What is the Right View? 

See https://patisota.blogspot.com/2021/06/tenfold-mundane-right-view-noble-right-view.html

5. Why is sammā diṭṭhi (right view) very important?

Having the proper mental attitude toward views is therefore considered an integral part of the Buddhist path, as sometimes correct views need to be put into practice and incorrect views abandoned, and sometimes all views are seen as obstacles to enlightenment. Right view as the first part of the Noble Eightfold Path leads ultimately not to the holding of correct views but to a detached form of cognition.

6. Is there a separate sutta about sammā diṭṭhi?

Yes, it is called “sammā diṭṭhi sutta” MN 09. The kind of sammā diṭṭhi this sutta talks about is the “Supramundane right view” (16 ways to check right view).

“When, friends, a noble disciple understands the unwholesome and the root of the unwholesome, the wholesome and the root of the wholesome, in that way he is one of right view, whose view is straight, who has unwavering confidence in the Dhamma and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

-16 ways to Check Right View

1. Unwholesome and wholesome (1)
2. Nutriments (1)
3. Four noble truths (1)
4. Twelve causes (12)
5. Taints (1)