The Four Cankers (sava)

By

T. H. Perera

Buddhist Publication Society

Kandy Sri Lanka

Bodhi Leaves No. 35.

First Published: 1967

Digital Transcription Source: Buddhist Publication Society.
For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted and redistributed in any
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The Four Cankers

(sav)
They who have given up passion, enmity,
And ignorance, the Arahants poison-purged, 1
I honour and revere, O Mtali.
Sayutta Nikya, Sakka Sayutta, XI, 2,9,

Honour to that Exalted One Arahant Buddha Supreme!

Lord Buddha, as recorded in the Mah Saccaka Sutta, Majjhima, No. 36, realised in the last watch of
the night: These are the cankers This the Arising of the cankers This is the Ceasing of the
cankers This the Path leading to the Cessation of the cankers. Thus cognizing, thus perceiving, my
mind was delivered from the canker of sensual craving; from the canker of craving for existence; from
the canker of ignorance. Being delivered, I knew: Delivered am I, and I realised: Rebirth is ended,
fulfilled is the Holy life (brahmacariya), done what was to be done; there is none other life beyond
this.
This Sutta lists three cankers (sava), namely: canker of
1. Sensual craving (kmsav)
2. Craving for existence (bhavsav)
3. Ignorance (avijjsav)
Here, in craving for existence is also included the canker of False Views (dihsava). Being delivered
means the knowledge of gaining the Path (maggaa-lbha), and delivered means the awareness of
its fruition (phala-a). This fact leads to two distinct divisions of Aryan Disciples, the Sekha and the
Asekha. The former includes all those Disciples who have gained, through being trained in Morality
(sla), Concentration (samdhi) and Wisdom (pa), the following Paths (magga) and Fruitions (phala)
of Sainthood, namely, Stream-Winner (sotpanna), Once-Returner (sakadgmi), Never-Returner
(angmi) and the Perfect One (Arahant) who has gained Path knowledge (magga-a) only, in all
seven Individuals. The term asekha includes all those Disciples who have completed the Aryan
training by gaining the Fruition-Knowledge (phala-a) of a Perfect One. These are the eight
Individuals (or four pairs of Aryan Disciples) whom the Buddha speaks of in the Ratana Sutta:
Those Eight Individuals, praised by the virtuous, constitute four pairs. They, the worthy of
offerings, the Disciples of the Sugata2, gifts given to these yield abundant fruit. Verily, in the Sangha is
this precious jewel. By this truth may there be happiness!
None of us can ever hope to cut across the turbulent waters of the cosmic ocean of births and
deaths, unless and until we have attained the status of these Eight Noble Individuals along with
Nibbna, often spoken of as the Nine Transcendental Dhammas (nava lokuttara dhamma). In the Mah
Magala Sutta gratitude (kataut) is mentioned (among other things) as one of the Highest
Blessings. Lord Buddha stands pre-eminent among all beings on whom we should bestow our
reverential gratitude. The highest form of gratitude that we could confer upon him is to objectify
Nibbna by treading the Noble Eightfold Path. Arahantship is the crowning glory of the Noble Path.
It should be noted here that Arahantship or Deliverance from Suffering is synonymous with Nibbna,
1

It means the cankers (sav). This figure of speech means an Arahant who is thoroughly cleansed of the
poisonous mix or ooze. sav also mean an intoxicant drug.
2 The Buddha.
3 Note by Nrada Thera: Nibbna is Deliverance from suffering (vimokkha). It is called Void because it is void
of lust, hatred and ignorance, not because it is nothingness or annihilation. Nibbna is a positive supramundane

and Arahantship is attained by the total destruction of the cankers (savas). I make this assertion on
very good authority. At verse 93 of the Dhammapada, the Blessed One says:
Yasssav parikkhhre ca anissito
Suato animitto cavimokkho yassa gocaro
kse va sakuntnapada tassa durannaya.
He whose cankers are destroyed, he who is not attached to food, he who has Deliverance, which
is Void and Signless, as his object,his path, like that of birds in the air, cannot be traced.4
For the benefit of most of us who are worldlings 5 intent on putting an end to this sorrow-laden
process of being born, ageing and dying, I shall deal with the four types of cankers which we must,
sooner or later, destroy to arrest the process of becoming ( bhava). The four types of cankers are:
1. Canker of sensuality (kmsav)
2. Canker of existence (bhavsav)
3 .Canker of false views (dihsava)
4 .Canker of ignorance (avijjsav)

The Meaning of Canker

In simple language it is a malignant defilement of the mind that arrests its spiritual progress towards
complete liberation. With respect to the spheres of existence (bhmi), it extends up to the highest
Brahma Realm, the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception ( neva sa-nsayatana),
and with respect to the mind-flux (santati) it prevails right up to Maturity-Knowledge (gotrabh-a).
It oozes out, like water oozing out from tiny holes in a pot of water, through the unlocked doors of
the six senses. In the manner of a man, who under the influence of liquor, loses his normal sense and
commits various offences against society, even so under the influence of this poisonous drug (SN I 3,
3), man loses all sense of shame and fear, and acts in a manner detrimental to his own welfare as well
as the welfare of others. In short, it lengthens sasric existence with all the suffering inherent in it.
The destruction of the cankers has to be done by ones own efforts. Lord Buddha has shown the way
to do it. Mere belief in a supernatural being and the false sense of security and salvation in that belief
will never help; nor will matted hair or a tigers skin dress. The Blessed One very pithily puts it at
verse 394 of the Dhammapada:
Kim te jahi dummedha?
Kim te ajinasiy?
Abbhantara te gahana
Bhira parimajjasi?
What avails thee of thy matted hair, O fool? What of the dress of tigers skin ? Within thee is full
of defilements, why cleanest thou the outside?

1. The Canker of Sensuality (Kmsav)

This means the desire for sensual pleasures. Sensuality is twofold: the desire to enjoy the delightful
and pleasurable things found in the sentient sphere of existence and the objects that induce sensual
enjoyment, namely: the desire for sights, the desire for sounds, the desire for smell, the desire for taste
and the desire for tangibles. Beings intoxicated with the enjoyment of these sense objects, lose all
sense of proportion and behave like lunatics, and chase after these sense objects to enjoy them ad
state which cannot be expressed in mundane word. It is Signless because it is free from the signs of lust etc.
Arahants experience Nibbnic bliss while alive. It is not correct to say that Arahants exist after death, for
Nibbna is neither eternalism nor nihilism. In Nibbna nothing is eternalised, nor is anything, except passions,
annihilated. Arahants experience Nibbnic bliss by attaining to the fruit of Arahantship in this life itself.
4 Tr. by the Venerable Nrada Mah Thera.
5 Those who are neither sekhas nor asekhas, i.e. those who have neither entered the Path nor attained to the
fruition of Arhantship (arahat-phalaha).

libitum. Insatiate are their desires, now here, now there, seeking after more pleasures in pastures new.
At the moment of death, their minds, stupefied with sense-desires, provide these sense-indulgers
with a new mind-form in one of the four planes of woeful existence. While living on this plane, bereft
of fear and shame, they feel no compunction whatsoever in transgressing the five precepts of nonkilling, non-stealing, sexual purity, truthfulness and total abstinence from intoxicants.
The cause of sensuality is wrong thinking on an object that is sensually pleasant and agreeable.
This object can be sensuality itself, or that which gives rise to sensuality. Wrong thinking on this
sensuality-object is to take the impermanent as permanent; the ugly as beautiful; pain as pleasure; nosoul as soul. Sensuality is wiped out by right thinking, that is to consider the object as unwholesome
and inauspicious. In the words of the Blessed One: the condition for keeping out new sensuality and
for casting out old sensuality is abundant right reflection on the sensuously inauspicious or
unpromising object. This is the task assigned to the jhnas (vivicceva kmehi=detached from sensedesire). Wherefore, says the Blessed One: Develop the jhnas (absorptions), O Bhikkhus, and be not
heedless! Do not direct your mind to sense-desires that you may not for your heedlessness have to
swallow the iron ball in hell, and that you may not cry out when burning: this is pain
(Dhammapada verse 371).

2. Canker of Existence (Bhavsav)

This is the desire for continued or eternal existence (bhava-tah) either in the form-world or formlessworld (rprpaloka). This is so-called eternity belief of the theists who hold the belief in an eternal
soul. in contradistinction to the eternity belief is the belief in self-annihilation (vibhava or ucchedadihi), in which the soul is annihilated at death, and as a result there is no life after death. This is the
doctrine maintained by the materialists. Lord Buddha rejected both these beliefs and taught the
Middle Way, based on the natural law of cause and effect, or kamma, action-reaction. It must be
clearly understood that kamma is the volitional act and its result or reaction (vipka) follows the act.
The principle involved is good begets good; bad or evil begets bad or evil.
Hence it is kamma that results in birth either in the form-world (rpa-loka) or in the formless-world.
A person who is dissatisfied with sense-desires, a really refined and holy person develops his mind
(bhvan) to gain concentration (samatha or the jhnas). So long as he abides in the jhna, he will
experience a subtle and exhilarating sense of relief gained by total detachment from sense-desires. At
death if he happens to be abiding in one of the four form-world jhnas, his dying consciousness will
lead to birth in a form-world consonant with the jhna he was abiding in at the moment of death.
There is also the individual who finds no delight in Form-World existence, for he is convinced that
suffering is due to this body of flesh and blood. Accordingly he objectifies a higher spiritual value and
content. Based on the fourth form-world jhna, he develops his mind to gain the formless-world
spheres. At the moment of death, while still abiding in one of the four formless-world jhnas, he will
be born in a Formless-Realm in keeping with the jhna of his dying consciousness. This is the highest
form of existence, where no trace of matter exists but only the mind. In both spheres of existence
form and formlessone may enjoy several kalpas of life, yet the fact remains, that one is liable to be
born again in the sentient spheres and may also suffer in the states of woe. Therefore, intoxicated with
the drug of eternal existence man is confined within the limits of Sasra to continue the process of
being born and dying. It is for this reason it is called a canker.
The Buddha-Dhamma does not at all value either type of existence. It goes beyond the cosmos,
beyond conditioned existence. While accepting the jhnas as a sine qua non for further development of
mind, it has bestowed upon man the priceless pearl, insight-wisdom (vipassan-a). In fact,
vipassan is a sole monopoly of Buddha-Dhamma. Wherefore, says the Blessed One at the Sayutta
Nikya (Devat Sayutta, I 33):

They that have lust and hate and nescience 6 spurned,

The Arahants, immune from deadly drugs.7
For them the tangle8 all unravelled lies,
Where mind and body wholly cease to be,
And earthly sense and sense celestial;
Here is the tangle riven utterly.

3. The Canker of False View (Dihsava)

The Brahmajla Sutta or the Discourse on the Supreme Net (Dgha Nikya Sutta 1) gives us a list of 62
beliefs (dihi) current in the time of the Buddha. These beliefs are compared to a net in which beings
are caught and made to run hither and thither and from which no escape is possible. Such is the fate
of all mortals who are infected with the canker of false beliefs. There is, in this Sutta, a very interesting
and illuminating passage which speaks of the beginning of theistic beliefs. Here, a person at the end
of his jhnic existence in the world of Brahm, is born on this earth. He leaves home for the homeless
life and practises asceticism. At the height of a jhnic experience, he beholds the Brahma world from
where he came, but, mind you, he does not see beyond. In a moment of ecstatic emotion, he rushes to the
conclusion that, at the beginning, Heaven and earth and everything in it was the work of God, the
Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the All-Seeing, the Lord of All, the Creator, the most High and
Almighty Father of beings that are and are to be. This illustrates how various theistic beliefs have
arisen, and, also explains the various inconsistencies and contradictions in regard to God and the
Creation, in regard to his nature and intentions and in regard to mans position in relation to God. All
these divergent views are due to the fact that one attempts to expatiate on his limited experience in
order to build up a concept of universalitythe fallacy of part for the whole. This is the bane of
conceptual ideas, which necessitates periodical revisions to harmonise and accommodate them in the
light of the scientific knowledge. Truth is Truth; it is indivisible and cannot change. Lord Buddha
speaks of himself as the Tathgata. One of the interpretations of this multi-meaning word is: He
practised what he preached and preached what he practised (yathvd tathkr yathkr tathvd).
There is an attempt made by men of goodwill and understanding to harmonise and blend and bind
together the truths in all faiths. It is a praiseworthy attempt in so far as it tends to arrest the growing
malaise of irreligion, of religious fanaticism, of religious discrimination and the insidious attempt to
proselytise the heathen to the true faith. But partial truths will never help anyone to gain total
emancipation from suffering. No wonder that I heard, the other day, a distinguished Christian
prelate, remarking that he believed in Kamma and the Noble Eightfold Path as the solution to mans
ills, but he advised his audience to infuse the spirit of God into its working! This spirit of God,
this Soul, this Ego, this Divine Spark, this Eternal Entity forms the central core of all theistic faiths. It
is chiefly because of this belief that Lord Buddha calls the third impediment to Sainthood the canker
of false beliefs, upon which clings the eternity belief (sassata dihi) and the belief in annihilation
(uccheda-dihi). In the Mra Sayutta, of the Sayutta Nikya at IV, 2, 6, the Blessed One says:
The bodys shape,9 all that we feel,10 perceive,11
And know by sense,12 and whatso will hath planned13
This congerieswhoso doth know it well;
Thats is not I, that is not Minehe thus
Breaks from its charm. Him thus dispassionate,
The self at peace, all fetters left behind,
6

Rga, dosa, moha, the extinction of which is Nibbna.

The savas: sensuality, lust for continued life, false views and ignorance.
8 Craving (tah), it is compared to the interwoven foliage of ferns and bamboos. Craving entwines one from
within and without.
9 form (rpa).
10 feelings (vedan).,
11 perceptions (sa).
12 consciousness (via).
13 mental formations (sakhr) These are the five aggregates (khandhas) or congeries that make up the
psychophysical combination called a being.
7

Him, though they hunting seek in every sphere

Of life, the hosts of Mra neer will find.14
Of all these dihis the most vicious, the most pernicious and the most inimical to spiritual progress is
moral nihilism (natthika-vda). One holder of this retrograde doctrine was a prince called Pysi (DN
23) who propounded the following: 1. There is no life after death, i.e. no rebirth, 2. All beings are born
through parents alone, there is no other source of birth, 3. There is no result ( vipka) of good or evil
acts, in other words Kamma is a myth. Then there is another form of dihi known as confirmed or
absolute scepticism (niyata-micchdihi) which is the denial of all that is good, noble and pure in life
the heresy par excellence.

4. The Cankers of Ignorance

The Dhammapada at verses 242 and 243 illustrates very eloquently the taint of ignorance:
Misconduct is the taint of a woman.
Stinginess is the taint of a donor.
Taints, indeed, are all evil things
both in this world and in the next.
A worse taint than these is ignorance, the greatest taint.
Abandoning this taint, be taintless, O Bhikkhus.
(Transl. Nrada Thera)
The conspicuous characteristic of a taint is to corrupt or to infect or to eat into an object, be it physical
or mental. In this sense the canker of ignorance eats into mans moral fibre and debilitates his mind to
such an extent as to make him consider evil as good; the unpleasant as pleasant; the impermanent as
permanent; the unreal as real; soullessness as the soul and so forth, and thereby he succumbs to acts
of cruelty, killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying etc., which, at death, condition a woeful
existence in one of the four hells.
Deep and sober thinking on the quotation above, particularly verse 243 will convince you that the
entirety of the Buddha-Dhamma is devoted to the task of eliminating ignorance (avijj) or darkness
and enthroning knowledge (vijj) or light. You will agree with me that you and I have been and are
being chained to the Wheel of Life (sasra) in a long running-on and faring-on both for me and for
you because of ignorance or darkness; until that glorious awakening when we, in the full glow of
knowledge or light, shall penetrate the Four Noble Truths: this is Suffering; this is the Origin of
Suffering; this is the Cessation of Suffering; this is the Path leading to the Cessation of Suffering, and
thus put an end for ever to this sorrow-fraught process of being born, decaying and dying (sasradukkha). Then and only then shall we make our final bow, our final farewell to sasric existence or
becoming
It is not my intention here to dilate on the causal nexus (paicca-samuppda) or the wheel of life, in
which ignorance (avijj) is a basic condition for the coming into being of this mind-form flux. It is also
by the total eradication of ignorance that the mind-form flux ceases to flow. I take it that every
genuine Buddhist, who is interested in putting an end to this mind-form flux with its inherent
suffering, has made it a daily routine practice to meditate on the causal nexus along with its twelve
dependent conditions, for who sees uprising by way of cause sees dhamma, who sees dhamma sees
uprising by way of cause (yo paiccasamuppda passati so dhamma passati, yo dhamma passati so
paiccasamuppda passati).
Ignorance (avijj) and delusion (moha) are taken as synonyms. To my mind, it appears that there is
a subtle distinction between the two. The Pali word avijj literally means not-knowing and moha
literally means delusion. The former is the inability to know or see things as they really are, while the
latter clouds an object and obscures mental vision. It is a mental state (cetasika) and is the parent of
greed (lobha) and ill will (dosa). In the Sayutta Nikya, Nibbna is defined as the extinction of greed,
ill will and delusion (rgakkhayo dosakkhayo mohakkhayo ida vuccati Nibbna). Wisdom is the very
opposite of ignorance. It is wisdom (transcendental wisdom) that eliminates ignorance and leads to
14

He has attained Nibbna.

the realisation of the Four Noble Truths. In the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (Vinaya Mahvagga
and Sayutta Nikya), Lord Buddha concludes His inaugural address to the five Bhikkhus of
Isipatana with these words pregnant with the joy of Deliverance: and there arose in me the
knowledge (a) and insight (dassana)unshakable is the deliverance of mind, this is my last birth,
and now there is no existence again. It is crystal clear that these two attainments, knowledge and
insight dispelled ignorance (avijj). Here ignorance stands as a mighty impediment all through
sasra, obstructing spiritual progress on the one hand, and on the other hand generating fuel for
fresh rebirth and storing it in the accumulator of volitional activities (sakhras). Of course, all these
four cankers taken as mental states (cetasikas) come under lobha, dosa and moha. Of these cankers
(savas), the canker of sensuality is eradicated at the stage of Angmi; the canker of false views is
eradicated at the stage of Sotpanna, while the cankers of existence and ignorance are eradicated at the
stage of arahathood.
Nibbna can be attained only through the total eradication of these four cankers by extra-sensory
Wisdom which stands as the apex of the Buddhas Noble Eightfold Path in its triple division of
Morality (sla), Concentration (samdhi) and Wisdom (pa). Let us step into the Chariot and take
the Straight Road that will bring us to Nibbnas presence. I shall conclude this Essay with an
appropriate quotation from the Devat Sayutta of the Sayutta Nikya (SN 1:5, 6):
Straight is the name that Road is called, and Free
From Fear the Quarter whither thou art bound.
Thy Chariot15 is the Silent Runner named,16
With Wheels of Righteous Effort17 fitted well.
Conscience the Leaning Board18; the Drapery19
Is Heedfulness; the Driver is the Law,
I say, and Right Views, they that run before.20
And be it woman, be it man for whom,
Such chariot doth wait, by that same car.
Into Nibbnas presence shall they come.

15

The Noble Eightfold Path.

Literally the Uncreaking, unlike a chariot where the axle fits badly into naves, or which squeaks when
mounted. Comy.
17 The Dhamma-cakka, says the Ven. Buddhaghosa.
18 Lest the warriors fall out. Comy. Conscience is consciousness.
19 Such as. a lion's skin etc. Comy.
20 To prepare the way.
16

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