Perception (saññā)
Indeterminate qualities / Five Aggregates / Perception
43 excerpts, 3:10:11 total duration

All excerpts (45) Most relevant (25) Questions about (18) Answers involving (21) Stories (1) Quotes (2)

Tudong Stories at Spirit Rock, Session 2 – Jun. 2, 2011

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7. “Is there a distinction between the awareness and the naming? Does naming bring intellect or self into play? Is confusion the nagging sense of self or self-consciousness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Knowing itself] [Perception] [Noting] [Self-identity view] [Delusion] // [Investigation of states] [Proliferation] [Relinquishment] [Equanimity] [Doubt] [Mindfulness of body] [Continuity of mindfulness]


Brightening the Mind, Session 1 – Aug. 19, 2012

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1. “Could you expand about the layers of understanding of thought, perception, and dukkha?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Yatiko. [Discernment] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Perception] [Suffering] // [Proliferation] [Relinquishment]

Quote: “First you study the Dhamma, then you know the Dhamma, then you see the Dhamma, they you be the Dhamma.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma] [Progress of insight]

Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 631: The highest level of understanding is giving up.


Calming the Busy Mind, Session 2 – Aug. 11, 2013

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9. “What attitude should we take when observing things so we don’t objectify them or make it stressful?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception] [Knowing itself] [Appropriate attention] [Suffering] [Tranquility] [Proliferation] // [Direct experience]


Abhayagiri Monastic Retreat 2013, Session 2 – Nov. 24, 2013

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2. “Could you clarify the difference between perception (sañña), mental formations (saṅkhāra) and conscousness (viññana)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception ] [Volitional formations] [Consciousness] // [Memory] [Mindfulness] [Translation] [Volition] [Sense bases]


Abhayagiri Monastic Retreat 2013, Session 4 – Nov. 26, 2013

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10. “Could you please explain again the differences between sañña, saṅkāra, and viññana? I’m still not getting it.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception] [Volitional formations] [Consciousness] // [Memory] [Sense bases] [Dependent origination ] [Conditionality] [Suffering]

Quote: “All the details of the process of dependent origination....It’s like falling out of a tree. As you go down, you’re not really counting branches. You just know that when you hit the bottom, it’s going to hurt.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 13 – Jan. 22, 2014

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1. “Why is sañña often translated as perception?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception] [Translation] // [Thai] [Recollection] [Aggregates]

Sutta: MN 43.5 Mahāvedalla Sutta: Conjoined not disjoined.


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2. “Have you heard of sañña and saṅkhara being translated as short-term and long-term memory?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception] [Volitional formations] [Translation]


2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 5 – Nov. 26, 2014

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8. “Perception can be very slippery. I experience it as a veil, view, filter, or lens that colors a situation. The traditional Buddhist teaching of, ‘tinted glasses’ and ‘bowls of water,’ is very helpful. However, if identification is strong, I won’t see it. Do you have suggestions for how to see through perception? How to know when it is coloring my world view?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception ] [Self-identity view] [Delusion] // [Nature of mind] [Four Noble Truths] [Aggregates]

Sutta: MN 44: “Conjoined not disjoined.”


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 24 – Feb. 6, 2015

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1. “Why does the Buddha describe perception in terms of colors but consciousness in terms of tastes?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Perception] [Consciousness] [Sense bases] // [Bhikkhu Bodhi] [Commentaries] [Ven. Analayo] [Memory] [Feeling]

Sutta: SN 22.79: Being Devoured; footnote 114 in Bhikkhu Bodhi translation.

Follow-up: “Could you say that perception is identification whereas consciousness is more refined?” [Aggregates] [Not-self] [Self-identity view] [Rebirth] [Translation] [Similes]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 49 – Mar. 22, 2015

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3. Comment: Dependent origination is not necessarily time-based. [Dependent origination] [Conditionality] [Proliferation] [Perception]

Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo.


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4. “Can one sense-bases that starts the proliferation process lead to different sense-bases?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Sense bases] [Conditionality] [Proliferation] [Perception] // [Feeling] [Heart/mind]


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5. Examples of signs and secondary characteristics of sense objects? Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Sense bases] [Proliferation] [Perception] // [Ven. Analayo] [Sensual desire] [Conditionality] [Food] [Appropriate attention]

Sutta: Thig 14.1: Subhā.

Comment about the feedback loop of perceptions looking for reinforcing perceptions. [Perception] [Views] [Clinging]

Quote: “The underlying tendency to aversion is like a search engine.” — Ajahn Sucitto. Quoted by Beth Steff. [Ajahn Sucitto] [Aversion] [Similes] [Perception]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 4 – Nov. 24, 2015

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12. “If the list of the five khandas is intended to be linear, why is sense-consciousness the final one?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Aggregates ] [Consciousness] [Feeling] [Perception]

Sutta: MN 43.9: “Conjoined not disjoined”


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 5 – Nov. 25, 2015

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6. “Could you talk about the role memory plays in perception?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Memory] [Perception ] // [Thai]


Thanksgiving Retreat 2016, Session 3 – Nov. 21, 2016

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5. “Could you speak on working with sañña in meditation? Over these days there is an experience of heightened sensitivity to perception and the initial contact that gives rise to thought and feeling. In particular, I notice how an inaccurate perception, seen as inaccurate, gives rise to thought formations that move forward as if based on an accurate perception. This moves fast in the mind feels somewhat trippy and disorienting. How does one develop the skill of sensitivity and perception so as to have durability in daily life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception] [Dependent origination] [Everyday life] [Directed thought and evaluation] // [Suffering] [Four Noble Truths]

Sutta: MN 18: Madhupiṇḍika Sutta


Stanford Community Dhamma Discussion – Apr. 25, 2020

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7. “In what way are qualities and effects viral? Are right perception, right speech, right thought, and right action also viral?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Media] [Online community] [Perception] [Right View] [Right Speech] [Right Action] // [Abhayagiri] [History/Western Buddhism] [Mindfulness] [Skillful qualities] [Happiness] [Tranquility] [Trust] [Human]


Abhayagiri 25th Anniversary Retreat, Session 5 – Jun. 10, 2021

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3. “In living with others, we tend to stick with our perceptions, causing potential conflict with them. How can we accept others as they are and be able to live with others harmoniously?” Answered by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Perception] [Conflict] [Communal harmony] // [Goodwill] [Judgementalism] [Generosity]


Interreligious Retreat-Seminar on Dhamma and Non-duality, Session 1 – Nov. 24, 2023

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8. “Can building a continuous narrative regarding impermanence hinder the perception of beauty?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Impermanence] [Proliferation] [Perception] [Beauty]

Quote: “It’s not about finding a perfect position that you can be in. What you’re doing is finding a place of balance that you’re not shaken by anything.” [Middle Path] [Equanimity]