Ten Mental Defilements and Four Floods

Learn to surf, to "go with the flow," before the waves, before the flood (Sandra Dee/WQ).

Holy cow, the waves are coming to drown us in a flood of force we can't resist.

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Fat Happy Budai loves to play through danger.

A "flood" (ogha) or taint (asava, lit. "influx") is another kind of defilement, of which there are four.

They are also referred to as "cankers, corruptions, or intoxicating biases" in Buddhism.

A list of four floods (as in DN 16, Pts.M., Vibhanga) exists, namely, the flood of:

1. sense-desire (kāmāsava)
2. [craving for eternal] existence (bhavāsava)
3. [wrong] views (ditthāsava)
4. ignorance (avijjāsava).

If waves are rolling in on us, what should we do? Run from the world or learn to surf?

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Hey, I gotta get back to intensive surf training.

A list of three, omitting the "flood of views," is possibly older and is more frequent in the basket of discourses (Sutta Pitaka, e.g. in MN 2, MN 9, DN 33; A.III.59, 67; A.VI.63.

In the Vibhanga (Section 17, the Khuddakavatthu Vibhanga) both the threefold and fourfold division are mentioned. In addition to taints (asava), the fourfold division also occurs under the name of "floods" (ogha) and "yokes" (yoga).

Japanese Buddhists warned of tsunamis to come

Through the path of stream-entry -- the first stage of enlightenment (or initial phase of awakening) -- the flood of views is overcome.

Through the path of non-returning -- the third stage of enlightenment -- the third stage enlightenment -- flood of sense-desire (craving for sensual pleasures) is overcome.

Through the path of arhatship, the floods of craving for eternal existence and ignorance are overcome.

Cow-a-Bunga, I got this covered!

The "All the Taints Discourse" (Sabbasava Sutta, MN 2) shows how to overcome the floods, namely, through:

• insight,
• sense-control,
• avoidance,
• wise use of the necessities of life,
• and so on.

For a commentarial exposition, see Atthasālini (Tr. I, p. 63f: II, pp. 475ff).

Who's afraid of a flood, a tainted heart/mind?

Another name for a fully enlightened person or Buddhist arhat is khīnāsava, "one whose floods are overcome," "one whose taints are destroyed," or "one who is canker-free." This is a fully awakened individual.

The state of the arahat (Pali arahant) is frequently called āsavakkhaya, "the destruction of the taints."

Sutras concluding with the attainment of full enlightenment by the listeners often end with the words: "During this utterance, the hearts [minds] of the [hearers] were freed from the floods through clinging no more" (anupādāya āsavehi cittāni vimuccimsū'ti).

What are the Ten Defilements (kilesa)?

The great Theravada commentator Buddhaghosa compiles The Path of Purification.

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"Defilements" (kilesa) are heart/mind-defiling, unwholesome qualities. According to The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XXII, 49, 65):

"There are ten defilements, thus called because they are themselves defiled, and because they defile the mental factors associated with them. They are:

• (1) greed (lobha),
• (2) hatred (dosa),
• (3) delusion (moha),
• (4) conceit (māna, the habit of self-reference),
• (5) speculative views (ditthi),
• (6) skeptical doubt (vicikicchā),
• (7) mental torpor (thīna),
• (8) restlessness (uddhacca);
• (9) shamelessness (ahirika),
• (10) lack of moral dread (anottappa)."

For 1-3, see "roots" (mūla); 4, see māna; 5, see ditthi; 6-8, see "Five Hindrances" (nīvarana); 9 and 10, see ahirika-anottappa.

The ten are explained in Dhs. 1229f and enumerated in Vibh. XII. No classification of these Ten Defilements is found in the sutras (Sutta Pitaka), though the term occurs quite often in them. For the related term, "impurities" (upakkilesa) different lists are given (Appendix).

• Ven. Nyanaponika, Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, entry: āsava and kilesa (palikanon.com); edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

How to understand Buddhism (animation)

Alan Watts; Something's Happening (KPFK.org); Wisdom Quarterly; Khmer animation

"The Journey from India, Part II" (Alan Watts audio)

The teaching of Buddhism is a dialogue, according to Alan Watts. It is a dialectic, an expert pedagogy (upaya, a "skillful means" of teaching).

So what we understand as the "teachings of Buddhism" are not the teachings. They are merely the opening gambit of a dialogue between individuals.

What the Buddha says to someone depends on what he knows that person's capacity to understand is. As we listen in we may be confused.

The Buddha is not speaking in absolutes so much as he is administering exactly the medicine this person needs to be cured of delusion and the suffering that comes with it.

"Buddhism," rather than teaching dogma, is a path of practice to directly realize the liberating-truth the Buddha himself had found. What he knew, we can know. Less useful is belief or faith when insight-knowledge and wisdom are what set us free.

The Buddha's message is consistent, but that only emerges over time. He taught for 45 years. In any specific instance, what he is teaching may sound like a paradox or, worse, a tautology (some self-evident piece of circular logic).

However, when we recognize the dialectic pattern, it suddenly makes sense. It is perfect just as it is -- so long as it is grasped properly.

Buddhism has developed and become something different, the growth of a seed the Buddha planted. Some later schools may have gone too far afield, but they tend to return. Nagarjuna's "Middle Way" (Madyamika) philosophy brought this method of dialogue to an extreme in an attempt to counter clinging to views.

Theravada, the earliest existing Buddhist school, has a threefold division of the Dharma. Beginning as a living oral tradition, it was eventually written down. Then commentaries also had to be written down to explain what was missing in the absence of a living dialectic.

Many sutras may seem unbearably monotonous. This is because what was written down was for chanting to be listened to, not read the way we read books. The written parts were lists, formulas, rote memorization and mnemonic devices for oral teaching.

The real reason the Buddha singles out desire (tanha, craving) is not merely dialectical, as Watts suggests. Desire is NOT the ultimate cause of suffering, ignorance is. And enlightenment is the ultimate solution. Craving is one of the proximate causes. But it is the weak link in the chain of Dependent Origination. The Buddha saw it. He recognized it as an escape from suffering, because wisdom can uproot craving when what we crave is seen as it truly is. We can see it and uproot it with insight (vipassana). Willpower, rationalizing, and psychological suppression do not work. Serenity and insight do work.

The unbroken oral tradition remains, but it is rare and usually available only in monastic and meditative settings, which are open to non-monastic and temporarily ordained practitioners. The instructions are not secret, but they are also not printed all over books, which would place them out of context.

However, most monastics or "professional clergy" as Alan Watts refers to them, seem to be involved in chanting and formalities. They do not seem to be involved in the living teaching or practice for the goal the Buddha set out and created monasticism to support. They see their function as preserving the Dharma, sadly, without reaching the goal or being able to effectively guide others to that knowledge-and-vision of nirvana.

The Buddha's words were organized into chants and written in so formal a way that no person would have ever spoken. What was said was converted to this form. And if we cling to the form, we will miss the meaning.

But when we understand, we will be grateful for the form that serves as an excellent device to both learn and skillfully teach what the Buddha taught.

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Easy Buddhist Lists (chart)

Text by Tanya Erlichman and Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; chart by Dr. Art Rosengarten

Imagine sitting on a mountaintop trying to remember the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment without a list. Here are a dozen other sets.

What is "Buddhism"? 1. It is a path to complete freedom, full liberation, nirvana.

2. It is the teaching of disappointment (dukkha) and the end of disappointment (nirvana).

3. It is the fourfold realization that there is a problem (suffering or dukkha), a cause (dependently originated ignorant craving), a solution (nirvana), and a way leading to the solution.

4. The Buddha called that middle way the Noble Eightfold Path. It is ennobling and leads out of here, samsara, to nirvana. "Noble Ones" is a name for enlightened persons.

Ancient Buddhaghosa, compiler of the Path of Purification and Path of Freedom

So Buddhism is is either one, two, four, or eight things depending on how one unpacks it. One explanation implies the others. All of these answers are snapshots of the same thing -- but at different levels of resolution, zooming in for greater detail or panning out to be more general.

Lists are the same way. They are cheat sheets, crib notes, shortcuts to remember important points. Like outlines, one might never use lists. But lists are implicit in many sutras. Making those lists explicit guards the Dharma. The Buddha's teaching remains effective if we do not inadvertently leave elements out.

Lists are handy if well grasped and utilized as memory aids for Dharma hearers who have become readers without the benefit of amazing memories or repetitive sutras (Art).

1. THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH
These are optimal understanding (view), intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration (absorption).

2. THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
Unhappiness exists; it has an origin (causes and conditions); it has an end; and there is a path that leads to the end of unhappiness.

3. THE SEVEN POINTS OF POSTURE
Legs, arms, spine, eyes, jaw, tongue, head and shoulders, all of which should be relaxed during seated meditation for optimal posture which can be held for maximum stillness, stability, and comfort over time.

4. THE SIX ROOTS OF MIND
The mind is always under the influence of either these three skillful or following three unskillful root motivations: selflessness (generosity, unselfishness, renunciation), love, wisdom; greed, hatred, or delusion.

5. THE SIX SENSE DOORS AND THREE FEELINGS
The sensitive matter in the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are the sense doors; the three kinds of sensation they receive are pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral (neither pleasant nor unpleasant).

6. THE FOUR LOVING-KINDNESS PHRASES
May I (and everyone else) be free from danger; may I be happy; may I be healthy; may I love with ease. Traditionally, one might also practice setting intentions to be free from suffering (psychological), pain (physical), fear, and may I (and everyone else) look after myself (themselves) with joy and ease.

7. THE EIGHT VICISSITUDES OF LIFE
By living we are all subjected to pleasure, pain, gain, loss, praise, blame, fame, and disrepute.

8. THE FIVE PRECEPTS
To abstain from taking life, taking what is not freely given, sexual misconduct, false speech (perjury, divisiveness, harshness, useless prattle), and intoxicants that lead to negligence.

9. THE FOUR SUPREME ABIDINGS
Four states of mind are called "supreme" (brahma) states because they are the abodes (abidings) of the divine (Brahma), having grown boundless by being extended universally: loving-kindness (friendliness), compassion, appreciative joy (happiness in others' happiness), and equanimity (non-bias).

10. THE THREE KINDS OF SUFFERING
Dukkha is disappointment due to unsatisfactoriness, which is to say that things are not capable of providing lasting satisfaction. Dukkha is disappointment due to impermanence (constant change and instability). Dukkha is disappointment due to the conditional nature of things, which is to say they are fundamentally impersonal (empty, utterly depending on components for their existence) but regarded as otherwise.

11. THE FIVE HINDRANCES
These hinder the heart/mind impeding serenity and insight: sensual desire, ill-will, drowsiness (mental sloth and physical torpor), restlessness and remorse (physical excess of energy and mental worry), and pernicious skeptical (crippling doubt and uncertainty). These hindrances ruin meditation and must be overcome to gain tranquility, absorption (zen or jhana), or liberating insight (wisdom).

12. THE SIX OBJECTS OF LOVING-KINDNESS PRACTICE
One sends thoughts and feelings of altruistic love, kindness, and friendliness towards these six in this order: oneself, a benefactor, a virtuous friend, an indifferent stranger, an enemy (one opposed to our progress), all beings everywhere without distinction.

• The Complete Book of Buddha's Lists - Explained
  
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Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to liberating insight into the true nature of life. Buddhist practices such as meditation are means of changing oneself in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom. The experience developed within the Buddhist tradition over thousands of years has created an incomparable resource for all those who wish to follow a path that ultimately culminates in enlightenment or even buddhahood. Because Buddhism is not about worshiping a creator God, some do not see it as a "religion" in the usual, Western sense. The basic tenets of Buddhist teaching are straightforward and practical: Nothing is fixed or permanent; actions have consequences; change for the better is possible. Thus Buddhism addresses itself to all people irrespective of race, nationality, gender, or even religion. It teaches practical methods that enables all people to utilize and realize its teachings to transform. It helps people be fully responsible for their lives and to develop wisdom and compassion. There are at least 350 million Buddhists (not counting the 1 billion in officially atheist/communist China) and a growing number of them are Westerners. They follow many different forms of Buddhism, but all traditions are characterized by nonviolence, lack of dogma, tolerance of differences, and (usually) a meditation practice. At present this directory only lists Buddhist organizations operating in the northeast: NYC, NY State, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Vermont. Add to the listing: Submit a Buddhist organization.

Numerical Dharmas (doctrinal lists)

U Maung (Nibbana.com)

Lists are integral to the enormous body of Buddhist Teachings (Dharma)

Buddhism was originally memorized and recited verbatim without being written down. To facilitate this oral tradition, many "lists" were developed. They are compact statements that are then unfolded and expounded on. Of course, for some it became dogmatic: there are this many; this is what the Buddha taught; this is the only right view, and all other views are wrong. In fact, the lists are flexible and only a device. The Buddha himself listed sets of things in different ways according to what he was emphasizing.

For example, in one sutra (Satipatthana) the Four Noble Truths are left out, and in another version they are included (Mahasatipatthana). No one doubts that these central teachings are crucial. But according to circumstances they are not mentioned in one context yet mentioned in another. The Noble Eightfold Path can easily be expanded to ten without changing anything but the way things are labelled. (This happens with the Ten Precepts becoming Eight Precepts by reshuffling; see sikkhapada).

All of this is taken to the extreme in lists and lists of Buddhist lists. The point is not to become attached to lists or to the belief that there's something magical in the number of things enumerated. Any list is simply a handy way of teaching and remembering the Dharma, which is a vast body of information. With that in mind, here are some traditional formulations:

UNIQUE

There is only one unique situation where suffering (dukkha) is eliminated. It is nirvana, which is without geographical location. It is there that the four primary elements find no footing whatsoever.

TWOFOLD

• Two chief male disciples: Thera Sariputta and Thera Moggallana
• Two chief female disciples: Theri Khema and Theri Uppalavanna
• Two seven-year-old arhats (enlightened ones) were the novices (samaneras) Sumana and Pandita (Dhammapada V. 382 & V.80)
• Two kinds of happiness (sukha) are bodily (kaya) and mental (citta).
• Two foremost teachers are mother and father.
• Two kinds of personality-view (sakkaya-ditthi) are (1) taking delight in individuality (sakkaya-bhirata) and (2) striving towards cessation of mental and material phenomena (nirvana- bhirata).
• Two kinds of individuals (bhirata) with distorted perception are those who hold either to eternalism (sassata) or annihilationism (uccheda).
• Two persons whom one can never pay back the debt of gratitude in full are mother and father who raised one.
• Two principles guarding the world (lokapala dhamma) are conscience (hiri) about harming and dread (ottapa) of consequences about doing harm.

THREEFOLD

• Tipitaka (Three Baskets) of Buddhism: Discourses (sutras), Disciplinary Code (Vinaya), and Higher Teachings (Abhidharma)
• Three kinds of bodhisattva (those destined to become a buddha): (1) Intellectual, those fulfilling the Ten Perfections (parami) for four incalculable periods (asankheyyas) and 1,000 aeons (pannadhika-bodhisatta); (2) Devotional, fufilling the perfections with conviction (saddha) for eight incalculable periods and 100,000 aeons (saddhadhika-bodhisatta; (3) Energetic, fulfilling the perfections with endeavour predominating for 16 incalculable periods 100,000 aeons (viriyadhika-bodhisatta).
• Three kinds of Dispensation (sasana): (1) learning the Buddha's Teaching (Pariyatti Sasana); (2) practical application of the Buddha's Teaching (Patipatti Sasana); (3) the realization of the Buddha's Teaching (i.e., attainment of jhanas, paths, fruitions, and nirvana (Pativedha Sasana).
• Three types of Essence: generosity (dana), virtue (sila), and insight (vipassana).
• Three characteristic marks or signs inherent in all sentient existence: impermanence (anicca), unsatisfactoriness (dukkha), and impersonal [uncontrollable] nature (anatta) of things.
• Three kinds of attachment to existence (raga): in the sensuous sphere; in the fine-material sphere, and in the immaterial sphere.
• Three categories of monastics: Elders (thera), those who have spent ten or more years in the Order; those of middle standing (majjhima), who have been in the Order from five to nine years; newly ordained ones (nava), who have been in the Order for less than five years.
• Three kinds of craving (tanha): attachment to sense pleasures (kama-tanha); attachment to continued existence (bhava-tanha); attachment to views that karma entails neither rebirth nor future existence (vibhava-tanha).
• Three Disasters (kappas): by famine, weapons, or epidemic.
• Three Worlds (lokas): conditioned world (sankhara-loka), corporeal world (satta-loka), inanimate world (okasa-loka).
• Three Supermundane Dharmas: paths (magga) and fruitions (phala) [entering the path to the four stages of enlightenment -- stream-winning, once-returning, non-returning, and arhatship -- and attaining each stage]; nirvana (nibbana) [the ninth supermundane Dharma or Ultimate Truth as distinct from mundane states of consciousness].
• Three kinds of Training (sikkha): in virtue or morality (sila), concentration or collectedness (samadhi), wisdom or understanding (panna).

FOURFOLD

• Four Netherworlds (apayas): the realms of intense continuous suffering (hells, niraya); animal realms (tiracchana); hungry ghost realms (peta); realm of miserable beings (asurakaya).
• Four Analytical Insights (patisambhidas): insight into the true meaning and consequence of things (atthapati-sambhida); insight into the nature of the Dharma (dhamma-patisambhida); insight into the meaning, grammar, and syntax of the language (nirutti-patisambhida); insight into the nature of these three knowledges (patibhana-patisambhida).
• Four Intoxicants (stains, cankers, corruptions, or asavas): (1) attachment to sensual pleasures (kamasava); (2) attachment to material and immaterial meditative states and their corresponding states of existence (bhavasava); (3) holding [62 kinds of] false views (ditthasava); (4) ignorance with regard to the Four Noble Truths, past and future lives, and the Law of Dependent Orignation (avijjasava).
• Four Attributes of Nirvana: it is expounded by a fully enlightened buddha (sammasambuddha desitam); free of sorrow (asokam), free of corruptions (virajam); peaceful (khemam).
• Four Sublime Abidings (Brahma Viharas): loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity. More>>

Buddhism by Numbers

Mapping the Dharma: A Concise Guide

By Nancy Haught

Twenty-five centuries ago, the Buddha taught with lists. The Four Noble Truths. The Five Precepts. The Noble Eightfold Path. These numbered lists helped followers memorize and pass along his teachings orally for about 500 years before they were written down.

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For the curious observer, a beginning Buddhist, or even an experienced one such as Paul Gerhards of Vancouver, Washington, the myriad lists often are confusing. Gerhards has practiced Buddhism for 12 years but still struggles to remember every concept on most of the lists and how one relates to another.He began to chart and list key parts of the Buddha's teachings, called the Dharma -- the Three Characteristics of Existence, the Seven Factors for Awakening, and so on. He kept his lists on a computer file he called "Buddhism by the Numbers."

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Eventually, he printed them out and drew arrows to show related teachings. He says it helped. Now Gerhards, 57, wants to help others follow the Buddha's path. He's printed his chart as a thin paperback titled Mapping the Dharma: A Concise Guide to the Middle Way of the Buddha. Here's the story of his book, told in lists:

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Six ways the book sheds light

1. Opens with a brief introduction to Buddhism.
2. Eases the sluggish mind that can't recall all Ten Perfections.
3. Shows how The Three Fires (greed, hatred, and delusion) connect to the Four Noble Truths (suffering, its cause, the end of it, and how to achieve that).
4. Uses terms from both of Buddhism's first languages, Sanskrit and Pali. What's called wisdom in one language may be called discernment in another, Gerhards says. A glossary defines key Buddhist terms.
5. Borrows from a popular book of street maps, with related page numbers printed at the top and bottom of each page. Go to those pages to see more of the big picture.
6. Fills in the gaps in an individual's practice. Buddhist teachings may read like step-by-step directions to enlightenment, but for most people they don't unfold that way.
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Four qualifications of the author
1. An encounter with the concept of karma, the law of cause and effect, started him on the Buddhist path in 1996. He's since practiced with several groups.
2. He studies Theravada Buddhism, with its roots in Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka. But the book focuses on Buddhist fundamentals that apply to all traditions.
3. He's written six woodworking books, specializing in the design and building of furniture, so diagrams are second nature to him.
4. He's lives and breathes connections. He teaches anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology at the Oregon School of Massage.
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Three incarnations of the book
1. A lush, illuminated coffee table book. Gerhards dismissed that idea as too expensive to print.
2. A large, fold-out map that might fit in a pocket. That's a possibility if there's a second edition.
3. Published by Parami Press, $15.95, 114 pages. Parami is Pali for "perfection," a goal to strive for, says Gerhards, who owns the press.
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Two stages of the book
1. Gerhards spent a year compiling the content.
2. He spent a year reviewing and revising it with Buddhist teachers. One thing to keep in mind is, "The Buddha said that a map is not the territory," Gerhards says. "It's merely a tool of discovery."
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Original review appeared in The Oregonian (June 28, 2008) under the title Searching for Buddha by Blueprint.