diṭṭhi (lit. 'sight'; √dis to see): view, belief, speculative opinion, insight. If not qualified by sammā, 'right', it mostly refers to wrong and evil view or opinion, and only in a few instances to right view, understanding or insight (e.g. diṭṭhi-ppatta, q.v.; diṭṭhi-visuddhi, purification of insight; diṭṭhi-sampanna, possessed of insight).
Wrong or evil views (diṭṭhi or micchā-diṭṭhi) are declared as utterly rejectable for being a source of wrong and evil aspirations and conduct, and liable at times to lead man to the deepest abysses of depravity, as it is said in A. I, 22:
"No other thing than evil views do I know, o monks, whereby to such an extent the unwholesome things not yet arisen arise, and the unwholesome things already arisen are brought to growth and fullness. No other thing than evil views do I know, whereby to such an extent the wholesome things not yet arisen are hindered in their arising, and the wholesome things already arisen disappear. No other thing than evil views do I know, whereby to such an extent human beings at the dissolution of the body, at death, are passing to a way of suffering, into a world of woe, into hell." Further in A. I, 23: "Whatever a man filled with evil views performs or undertakes, or whatever he possesses of will, aspiration, longing and tendencies, all these things lead him to an undesirable, unpleasant and disagreeable state, to woe and suffering."
From the Abhidhamma (Dhs) it may be inferred that evil views, whenever they arise, are associated with greed (s. Tab. I. 22, 23, 26, 27).
Numerous speculative opinions and theories, which at all times have influenced and still are influencing mankind, are quoted in the Sutta-texts. Amongst them, however, the wrong view which everywhere, and at all times, has most misled and deluded mankind is the personality-belief, the ego-illusion. This personality-belief (sakkāya-diṭṭhi), or ego-illusion (atta-diṭṭhi), is of 2 kinds: eternity-belief and annihilation-belief.
Eternity-belief (sassata-diṭṭhi) is the belief in the existence of a persisting ego-entity, soul or personality, existing independently of those physical and mental processes that constitute life and continuing even after death.
Annihilation-belief (uccheda-diṭṭhi), on the other hand, is the belief in the existence of an ego-entity or personality as being more or less identical with those physical and mental processes, and which therefore, at the dissolution at death, will come to be annihilated. - For the 20 kinds of personality-belief, see sakkāya-diṭṭhi.
Now, the Buddha neither teaches a personality which will continue after death, nor does he teach a personality which will be annihilated at death, but he shows us that 'personality', 'ego', 'individual', 'man', etc., are nothing but mere conventional designations (vohāra-vacana) and that in the ultimate sense (s. paramattha-sacca) there is only this self-consuming process of physical and mental phenomena which continually arise and again disappear immediately. - For further details, s. anattā, khandha, paṭiccasamuppāda.
"The Perfect One is free from any theory (diṭṭhigata), for the Perfect One has seen what corporeality is, and how it arises and passes away. He has seen what feeling ... perception ... mental formations ... consciousness are, and how they arise and pass away. Therefore I say that the Perfect One has won complete deliverance through the extinction, fading away, disappearance, rejection and casting out of all imaginings and conjectures, of all inclination to the 'vain-glory of 'I' and 'mine." (M. 72).
The rejection of speculative views and theories is a prominent feature in a chapter of the Sutta Nipāta, the Aṭṭhaka Vagga.
The so-called 'evil views with fixed destiny' (niyata-micchādiṭṭhi) constituting the last of the 10 unwholesome courses of action (kammapatha, q.v.), are the following three: (1) the fatalistic 'view of the uncausedness' of existence (ahetukadiṭṭhi), (2) the view of the inefficacy of action' (akiriyadiṭṭhi), (3) nihilism (natthikadiṭṭhi).
(1) was taught by Makkhaligosāla, a contemporary of the Buddha who denied every cause for the corruptness and purity of beings, and asserted that everything is minutely predestined by fate.
(2) was taught by Pūraṇakassapa, another contemporary of the Buddha who denied every kammical effect of good and bad actions: "To him who kills, steals, robs, etc., nothing bad will happen. For generosity, self-restraint and truthfulness, etc. no reward is to be expected."
(3) was taught by Ajitakesakambala, a third contemporary of the Buddha who asserted that any belief in good action and its reward is a mere delusion, that after death no further life would follow, that man at death would become dissolved into the elements, etc.
For further details about these 3 views, s. D. 2, M. 60; commentarial exposition in WHEEL 98/99, P. 23.
Frequently mentioned are also the 10 antinomies (antagāhikā micchādiṭṭhi): 'Finite is the world' or 'infinite is the world' ... 'body and soul are identical' or 'body and soul are different' (e.g. M. 63).
In the Brahmajāla Sutta .(D.1), 62 false views are classified and described, comprising all conceivable wrong views and speculations about man and world.
See The All-Embracing Net of Views (Brahmajāla Sutta ), tr. with Com. by Bhikkhu Bodhi (BPS).
Further s. D. 15, 23, 24, 28; M. 11, 12, 25, 60, 63, 72, 76, 101, 102, 110; A. II, 16; X, 93; S. XXI, XXIV; Pts.M. Diṭṭhikathā,. etc.
Wrong views (diṭṭhi) are one of the proclivities (s. anusaya), cankers (s. āsava), clingings (s. upādāna), one of the three modes of perversions (s. vipallāsa). Unwholesome consciousness (akusalacitta), rooted in greed, may be either with or without wrong views (diṭṭhigata-sampayutta or vippayutta); s. Dhs.; Tab I.
On right view (sammā-diṭṭhi), s. magga and M. 9 (Trans. with Com. in 'R. Und.').
diṭṭhi : [f.] dogma; theory; belief.
Diṭṭhi (f.) [Sk. dṛṣṭi; cp. dassana] view, belief, dogma, theory, speculation, esp. false theory, groundless or unfounded opinion. -- (a) The latter is rejected by the Buddha as pāpa˚ (A iv.172) and pāpikā d. (opp. bhaddikā: A v.212 sq.; It 26): Vin i.98, 323; Dh 164; Pv iv.354; whereas the right, the true, the best doctrine is as sammā d. the first condition to be complied with by anyone entering the Path. As such the sammā d. is opposed to micchā d. wrong views or heresy (see b). Equivalent with micchā d. is kudiṭṭhi (late) Dāvs ii.58. -- (b) Characterized more especially as: (a) sammā diṭṭhi right doctrine, right philosophy Vin i.10; S ii.17; v.11, 14, 30 sq., 458 sq., M i.315; ii.12, 29, 87; iii.72; Nd2 485; Vbh 104 sq. See magga. --ujukā d. S v.143, 165; ujugatā d. M i.46 sq. -- (b) micchā d. wrong theory, false doctrine S i.145; ii.153 (caused by avijjā); M iii.71; Dh 167, 316; Nd2 271iiib; Vbh 361, 389. -- The foll. theories are to be considered as varieties of micchā d., viz. (in limited enumn) akiriyavāda S iii.208; iv.349;aññaŋ aññena S iii.211; antaggāhikā A i.154; ii.240; iii.130; antânantikā D i.22 sq. S iii.214, 258 sq.; assāda˚ A iii.447; ahetukavādā S iii.210;ucchedavādā D i.34; S ii.20; iii.99; 110 sq.; bhava˚ S iii.93; M i.65; A i.83; sakkāya˚ A iii.438; v.144; Sn 231 (cp. KhA 188); Nd2 271iiib (20 fold, as diṭṭhilepa); sassatavādā D i.13; S ii.20; iii.98, 213 sq., 258 sq. -- (c) Various theories & doctrines are mentioned & discussed at: Vin i.115; S i.133;ii.61 sq., 75 sq., 222; iii.215 sq., 258 sq.; iv.286; v.448 (=D i.31); D iii.13 sq., 45, 246, 267; M i.40; A i.32; ii.252 sq.; iii.132, 289, 349; Th 2, 184; Psi.135 sq.; Pug 22; Dhs 392, 1003 (cp. Dhs. trsl. pp. 257 sq., 293, 325); Vbh 145, 245, 341, 393 sq.; Sdhp 13, 333. -- (d) Miscellaneous: 4 diṭṭhiyo at Vbh 376; also at Vism 511 (sakkāya˚, uccheda˚, sassata˚, akiriya˚); 5 Vbh 378; 6 at M i.8; Vbh 382; 7 at Vbh 383; 20 see under sakkāya˚; 62 under diṭṭhigata. -- In series diṭṭhi khanti ruci laddhi characterizing "diṭṭhadhamma" at Nd2 299 & passim. Diṭṭhiyā sutiyā ñāṇena in def. of a theory of cognition at Nd2 300 as complementing taṇhā: see taṇhā B 3. Coupled with vācā & citta in formula (taŋ) vācaŋ appahāya cittaŋ appahāya diṭṭhiŋ appaṭinissajjitvā . . . (nikkhitto evaŋ niraye) at S iv.319= D iii.13, 15; combd with (& opposed to) sīla (as pāpaka & bhaddaka) at It 26, 27. -- diṭṭhiŋ āsevati to hold a view M i.323; ˚ŋ bhindati to give up a view J i.273; Dāvs ii.58.
-- ânugati a sign of speculation Vin ii.108; S ii.203; Pug 33. -- ânusaya inclination to speculation D iii.254, 282; S v.60; A iv.9; -- āsava the intoxicant of speculation, the 3rd of four āsavā, viz. kāma˚, bhava˚, d.˚, avijjā˚ Vin iii.5; Nd2 134; Dhs 1099, 1448; Vbh 373; cp. ˚ogha; -- upadānātaking up or adhering to false doctrines, the 2nd of the four upādānāni or attachments, viz. kāma˚, d.˚, sīlabbata˚, attavāda˚ D iii.230; Dhs 1215, 1536; -- ogha the flood of false doctrine, in set of four ogha's as under ˚āsava D iii.230, 276; Nd2 178; -- kantāra the wilderness of groundless speculation Dhs 381, 1003, 1099, etc.; see ˚gata; -- gaṇṭhi the web or tangle of sophisticism VvA 297; cp. ˚sanghāṭa; -- gata (nt.) "resorting to views," theory, groundless opinion, false doctrine, often followed by series of characterizing epithets: d. -- gahana, ˚kantāra, ˚visūka, ˚vipphandita, ˚saññojana, e. g. M i.8; Nd2 271iiib. Of these sophistical speculations 2 are mentioned at It 43, Ps i.129; 6 at Ps i.130; 62 (the usual number, expressing "great and small" sets, cp. dvi A ii.) at D i.12 -- 39 (in detail); S iv.286; Ps i.130; Nd2 271iiib; Nett 96, 112, 160. <-> Vin i.49; D i.162, 224, 226; S i.135, 142; ii.230; iii.109, 258 sq. (anekavihitāni); iv.286 (id.); M i.8, 176, 256 sq. (pāpaka), 326 (id.), 426 sq.; A iv.68; v.72 sq., 194 (pāpaka); Sn 649, 834, 913; Pug 15; Dhs 277, 339, 392, 505; Vism 454. -- adj. ˚gatika adhering to (false) doctrine Dpvs vi.25; -- gahana the thicket of speculation Dhs 381, 1003; see ˚gata; -- jāla the net of sophistry D i.46; DA i.129; -- ṭṭhāna a tenet of speculative philosophy D i.16; M i.136; Av.198; Ps i.138 (eight); Miln 332; DA i.107; -- nijjhānakkhanti forbearance with wrong views S ii.115; iv.139; A i.189 sq.; ii.191; Nd2 151; -- nipātaa glance VvA 279; -- nissaya the foundation of speculation M i.137; D ii.137 sq.; -- pakkha the side or party of sophists Nett 53, 88, 160; -- paṭilābhathe attainment of speculation M iii.46; -- paṭivedha=prec. D iii.253; -- patta one who has formed (a right or wrong) view D iii.105, 254; M i.439; Ai.74; 118, iv.10; v.23; -- parāmasa perversion by false doctrine Dhs 1498; -- maṇḍala the circle of speculative dogmatics DhsA 109; -- vipatti failure in theory, the 3rd of the four vipattiyo viz. sīla˚, ācāra˚, d.˚, ājīva˚; opp. ˚sampadā Vin v.98; D iii.213; A i.95, 268; Pug 21; Dhs 1362; Vbh 361; -- vipallāsa contortion of views A ii.52; -- visaŋyoga disconnection with false doctrine D iii.230, 276; -- visuddhi beauty of right theory A i.95; M i.147 sq.; D iii.214, 288; -- visūka (nt.) the discord or disunion (lit. the going into parties) of theories, the (?) puppet -- show of opinion M i.8, 486; Sn 55 (=dvāsaṭṭhi diṭṭhigatāni), K S ii.44; Vv 8426; Pv iv.137; Nd2 301 (=vīsati -- vattukā sakkāyadiṭṭhi); cp. Nd2 25 (attānudiṭṭhi); Dhs 381 (cp. Dhs. trsl. p. 101), 1003, 1099. See also ˚gata; -- vyasana failing or misfortune in theory (+sīla˚, in character) D iii.235; Nd2 304; -- saŋyojana the fetter or bond of empty speculation (cp. ˚anusaya) D iii.254; A iv.7 sq.; -- sanghāta the weft or tangle of wrong views (cp. ˚gaṇṭhi) Nd1 343; Nd2 503; -- samudaya the origin of wrong views A iv.68; -- sampadā success in theory, blessing of right views, attainment of truth D iii.213; 235 (opp. ˚vipatti), S v.30 sq.; A i.95, 269; iii.438; iv.238; Pug 25; Dhs 1364; VvA 297; -- sampanna endowed with right views S ii.43, 58, 80; v.11; A iii.438 sq.; iv.394; Vbh 366; Dialogues iii.206, n. 10; -- sārin (adj.) following wrong views Sn 911.
diṭṭhi: f. 見[解]
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