Notes on MN 1 Mūlapariyāya Sutta - The Root Sequence
Summary notes & practical applications
In Mūlapariyāya Sutta (MN 1), “The Root Sequence”, the Buddha contrasts four ways of relating to the same field of experience, from earth and water to the six senses and even nibbāna. An ordinary person adds stories, ownership, and delight; the trainee is learning to stop; the arahant has stopped; the Tathāgata has fully understood this and teaches it. The takeaway: meet each experience plainly and drop the extra moves that turn it into “mine”.
Summary
Etymology
Mūla – root, base, foundation; the source from which something grows or originates.
Pariyāya – order, sequence, method, course of exposition. Can also mean occasion or turn, depending on context.
Mūlapariyāya – “Root Sequence” or “Root of All Things.” In this sutta, it refers to the foundational order in which phenomena are understood, from coarse elements to the most refined states, and the different ways beings relate to them.
Setting & Cast
Place: Ukkaṭṭhā, under a royal sal tree.
Speaker: The Buddha addressing monks.
Thesis
The Buddha teaches a “root sequence” for how experience is handled.
Same objects appear at every stage. What changes is the relationship to them.
Scope of “Objects”
Elements: earth, water, fire, wind.
Realms and beings, even the highest gods.
Meditative attainments, the six senses, “the All.”
Even unbinding (nibbāna) itself is included.
Five “Extra Moves” the Mind Adds
About: Projecting ideas onto the thing.
In: Imagining something hidden inside it.
Out Of: Spinning stories of origin or outcome.
Mine: Claiming or identifying with it.
Delight: Savoring in a way that feeds clinging.
Four Stages
Uninstructed Person: Perceives correctly but adds all five extra moves, even to lofty states and to unbinding. Reason: no comprehension.
Trainee: Directly knows each thing and is instructed not to add the five moves. Reason: so comprehension can develop.
Arahant: Directly knows without the five moves. Reason: comprehension is complete and greed, aversion, delusion are ended.
Tathāgata: Same freedom, plus full realization of causality: delight feeds suffering, becoming brings birth, and what is born ages and dies. Result: unsurpassed awakening and the role of teacher.
Key Lesson
Liberation is not about switching to special objects. It is about ending the extra moves of appropriation everywhere, even around spiritual attainments and the idea of nibbāna.
Conclusion
The monks were displeased. Teachings that cut our subtle attachments can land hard, and the truth hurts.
Practicing During Meditation
Core Instruction
“Directly know X as X.” Notice and drop the five extra moves.
Practical loop
Notice an object: breath, sound, warmth, pressure, thinking.
Name it once, softly: “breathing,” “hearing,” “warmth,” “thinking.”
Scan for the five moves:
Am I adding a story about it?
Am I imagining something hidden in it?
Am I building origin or outcome around it?
Did “mine” or “me” sneak in?
Is there sticky enjoyment or aversion?
Release the move you spot. Return to bare knowing.
When Calm or Bliss Show Up
Treat jhāna factors and spaciousness like any other object.
Enjoy the clarity, but do not crown it. Know it and let it pass.
With Pain or Restlessness
Meet the raw texture first. If a story starts, note “story.”
Soften the body, widen the field, recontact the anchor.
On Goals & Progress
Aim is fine. Ownership is the problem.
When “my attainment” appears, label “thinking,” then resume direct knowing.
Short Mantra
“Know it. Drop the extra. Stay kind.”
Off the Cushion
Paying Attention & Labeling
Catch the first moment of contact in daily life. Label once: “seeing,” “hearing,” “thinking.”
Ask: Which of the five moves am I adding right now?
Email & Meetings
Before replying, strip “mine” from views and plans. State facts first. Add care second. Keep ownership minimal.
Pleasure & Success
Enjoy, then practice the release on purpose. Let the pleasant fade without grabbing a souvenir.
Stress & Conflict
Name the raw data: “tight chest,” “heat in face,” “fast thoughts.”
Do not build origin tales or predictions. Handle the one step in front of you.
Decisions
List options plainly. Notice where delight or fear loads the dice.
Choose the skillful option you can stand behind without needing to possess the outcome.
Micro-drills
Opening a doorway: one breath of “know and drop.”
Hourly cue: “Which move am I adding?” Remove one, even briefly.
Conclusion
The Buddha’s point is brutally simple: stop making more out of things than what they are.
Train by meeting every experience with direct knowing and by refusing the five extra moves.
Do this with dirt and with god realms, with pain and with bliss, with failure and with nibbāna.
Freedom is the absence of “about, in, out of, mine, delight.” Keep subtracting until only knowing remains.