Dhammarakkhito wrote: ↑Sat Apr 28, 2018 4:31 am
“But what, Noble Lady, is bodily process, what is speech process, what is mental process?”
“In-breathing and out-breathing, friend Visākha, is bodily process, thinking and reflection is speech process, perception and feeling is mental process.”
“But why is in-breathing and out-breathing, Noble Lady, bodily process, why is thinking and reflection speech process, why is perception and feeling mental process?”
“In-breathing and out-breathing, friend Visākha, are bodily, these things are bound up with the body, therefore in-breathing and out-breathing is a bodily process.
Having thought and reflected beforehand, friend Visākha, he afterwards breaks forth with a word, therefore thinking and reflection is a speech process.
Perception and feeling are mental factors, these things are bound up with the mind, therefore perception and feeling are mental processes.”
https://suttacentral.net/mn44/en/anandajoti
I am not inclined to the above translation because the "sankhara" described above are
causes (rather than effects). For example, breathing causes life & health to the body; thoughts cause speech; perception & feeling cause defilements of the citta. The idea that perception and feeling are mental (
citta) processes appears seriously flawed because perception and feeling are never correlated with the term "citta", which is used to refer to mental defilements or the absence of mental defilements. For example:
Luminous, monks, is the mind (citta). And it is defiled by incoming defilements."
"Luminous, monks, is the mind (citta). And it is freed from incoming defilements."
Pabhassara Sutta
And how does a monk remain focused on the mind (citta) in & of itself? There is the case where a monk, when the mind has passion, discerns that the mind has passion. When the mind is without passion, he discerns that the mind is without passion. When the mind has aversion, he discerns that the mind has aversion. When the mind is without aversion, he discerns that the mind is without aversion. When the mind has delusion, he discerns that the mind has delusion. When the mind is without delusion, he discerns that the mind is without delusion.
MN 10
Perception and
feeling are fabricators or causal agents of the
citta rather than processes or products of the citta; as follows:
When one is touched by a pleasant feeling... the underlying tendency to lust lies within one. When one is touched by a painful feeling...the underlying tendency to aversion lies within one. When one is touched by a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling... the underlying tendency to ignorance lies within one.
MN 148
Therefore, in MN 44, the word "sankhara" appears to mean something that "fabricates" or "conditions" the citta.
Dhammarakkhito wrote: ↑Sat Apr 28, 2018 4:31 amthe translation 'preparation' has been used for sankhara.
I think "preparation" is better than "process" however my inclination is to translate as "preparator". Feeling & perception prepare the citta to generate defilements. This is the most basic Dhamma understanding a Buddhist must have. When there is pleasant feeling & pleasant perceptions in the mind; then the mind has the potential to generate lust or greed. It is the pleasant feeling that prepares the mind to descend into lust & greed. Buddhism 101.