But the sutta definitely states it is a sphere or sense object. Please re-read the sutta & consider again. Also, if Nibbana was not a sense object, how could the Buddha have known or described it?
This is Dependent Origination rather than Satipatthana. Satipatthana is the path to purification rather than the mental turmoil you are describing. To quote MN 10:
This is the direct path for the purification of beings… MN 10
To me, what you are describing is not vedanupassana or cittanupassana but part of kayanupassana, that is, the 3rd stage of MN 118 called ‘experiencing sabbe kaya (all kaya)’. Breathe is a kaya, body is a kaya and mind is a kaya, i.e., nama-kaya.
For me, experiencing how the mind affects the body is part of kayanupassana (despite rarely taught as such).
The Buddha defined the ‘citta sankhara’ as ‘feelings’ (vedana). Refer to MN 44.
For me, the Buddha used the term ‘citta sankhara’ because the 7th step of MN 118 is to experience how the pleasant feelings ‘condition/influence’ (‘sankhara’) the citta, such as make the citta greedy for , infatuated with or simply lose composure due to the pleasant feelings.
Please refer to the original post of @sandundhanushka, which mentions how pleasant feelings give rise to greed, unpleasant feelings give rise to hatred & neither feeling gives rise to ignorance.
These feelings ‘condition’ the citta to generate greed, hatred & delusion, which seems why the Buddha called feeling & perception the ‘citta sankhara’ (‘mind conditioner’).
In short, if it is experienced in Satipatthana how the citta is conditioned into greed, hatred & delusion by pleasant feelings, this experience is part of vedananupassana (step 7 of MN 118) rather than part of cittanupassana.
It is not “interpret” as sanna & vedana in MN 44. It is actually defined as sanna & vedana in MN 44.
I agree. But I did not post vedana is “fully” calmed. I posted that pleasant vedana ceases to be the primary meditation object, as is described in the jhana formulas, where the pleasant feelings are calmed & the citta is said to become clear & bright with the feeling of equanimity.
The reverse direction is ‘dependent cessation’ rather than ‘dependent origination’; just as the 3rd noble truth is called ‘cessation’ rather than the ‘origination of nibbana’. I have personally not read any suttas that call the reverse direction ‘dependent origination’. To quote SN 12.1:
And what, bhikkhus, is dependent origination? With ignorance as condition, formations come to be; with formations as condition, consciousness; with consciousness as condition, name-and-form; with name-and-form as condition, the six sense bases; with the six sense bases as condition, contact; with contact as condition, feeling; with feeling as condition, craving; with craving as condition, clinging; with clinging as condition, existence; with existence as condition, birth; with birth as condition, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair come to be. Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering. This, bhikkhus, is called dependent origination. SN 12.1
Dependent Origination is called “the wrong way” or the “wrong path”. Please refer to SN 12.3.
My view is my view is not a wrong view. Please refer to SN 12.3 & MN 149 (below), which support my view that my view it is not a wrong view.
When one abides inflamed by lust, fettered, infatuated, contemplating gratification, then the five aggregates affected by clinging are built up (accumulate) for oneself in the future; and one’s craving—which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that—increases (accumulate). One’s bodily and mental troubles increase (accumulate), one’s bodily and mental torments increase (accumulate), one’s bodily and mental fevers increase (accumulate), and one experiences (accumulates) bodily and mental suffering. MN 149
To conclude, my primary purpose for answering the original question by @sandundhanushka on this topic was to suggest that cittanupassana is not about how the citta is conditioned into greed, hatred & delusion by feelings. Instead, cittanupassana is part of the purification process & cittanupassana occurs as the dominant object of meditation after the feelings have been calmed.
In other words, experiencing how the citta is conditioned into greed, hatred & delusion by pleasant feelings is part of vedananupassana (step 7 of MN 118) rather than part of cittanupassana (steps 9 to 12 of MN 118).
This purification process is well-described in the standard jhana formulas, which state:
With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, I entered upon and abided in the fourth jhāna, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity… my concentrated mind (citta) was thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady and attained to imperturbability… MN 4
With metta