Vijanati and the Khandha’s

Q & A
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Hi all, this is my first post, so I hope it’s appropriate.

I’m having a look at MN43 The Great Classification and wondering about vijanati. It is placed as the basic cognitive salient response (yes/no/neutral) to a form/image/impression etc.

Because it seems the basic building block of misery I’m wondering where it would sit in the khandha’s?

MN43 has it as the working part of consciousness or would it be the working part of vedana? Or just a floating process involved in all the aggregates – reinforcing sankhara, informing sanna, a building block of vedana, etc.?

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Welcome Pagiek. For me, MN 43 does not provide a clear explanation, similar to SN 22.79, which says:

And why do you call it consciousness?
Kiñca, bhikkhave, viññāṇaṁ vadetha?

It cognizes; that’s why it’s called ‘consciousness’.
Vijānātīti kho, bhikkhave, tasmā ‘viññāṇan’ti vuccati.

And what does it cognize?
Kiñca vijānāti?

It cognizes sour, bitter, pungent, sweet, hot, mild, salty, and bland.
Ambilampi vijānāti, tittakampi vijānāti, kaṭukampi vijānāti, madhurampi vijānāti, khārikampi vijānāti, akhārikampi vijānāti, loṇikampi vijānāti, aloṇikampi vijānāti.

It cognizes; that’s why it’s called ‘consciousness’.
Vijānātīti kho, bhikkhave, tasmā ‘viññāṇan’ti vuccati.

SN 22.79

Possibly we can compare it to perception (sanna), described as:

And why do you call it perception?
Kiñca, bhikkhave, saññaṁ vadetha?

It perceives; that’s why it’s called ‘perception’.
Sañjānātīti kho, bhikkhave, tasmā ‘saññā’ti vuccati.

And what does it perceive?
Kiñca sañjānāti?

It perceives blue, yellow, red, and white.
Nīlampi sañjānāti, pītakampi sañjānāti, lohitakampi sañjānāti, odātampi sañjānāti.

It perceives; that’s why it’s called ‘perception’.
Sañjānātīti kho, bhikkhave, tasmā ‘saññā’ti vuccati.

MN 43; SN 22.79

While not clear sutta explanations, my mere guess is MN 43 & SN 22.79 are describing consciousness as ‘sensory impact’, using ‘impacting’ experiences such as ‘pleasure’, ‘pain’, ‘neutral’, ‘sour’, ‘bitter’, ‘pungent’, ‘sweet’, ‘hot’, ‘mild’, ‘salty’ and ‘bland’.

Where as ‘sanna/perception’ is more ‘descriptive/labelling’, using examples of ‘blue, yellow, red and white’.

However, as i said, I am only guessing. :saluting_face:

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Yes, thank you CurlyCarl - sensory impact at this stage would be the best description of vijanati, whether it sits with vedana or vinanna (or both),

I guess it stands out for me in the first instance as first place to become mindful of mental defilements (and maybe insert some metta).

I’ll sit with this, thanks.

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In practice this is wise attention, the option to either feed the defilements or develop right view, a choice which is available at the juncture of every occurrence.

“Monks, there are these two conditions for the arising of wrong view. Which two? The voice of another[1] and inappropriate attention. These are the two conditions for the arising of wrong view.”

—Anguttara Nikaya 2.125-126

Dhamma study (reading) fortifies appropriate attention by strengthening the sense of the object of right choice, a level above the practitioner’s comfort zone. These are represented in the suttas by the seven factors of awakening.

When working on eliminating a hindrance, simultaneously its opposite positive quality must be being cultivated. In this text will be found the factors of awakening appropriate to replace each of the five hindrances:

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel026.html

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