Ajahn Maha Boowa via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew; BDict; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Without Dharma, there can be no genuine progress in the world or in Buddhism [the Buddha's path-of-practice]. When there is Dharma, there will be peace and happiness because Dharma is selflessness.
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| Everything may seem fine, but it isn't. |
- [Dharma = "Truth, natural law, what the Buddha taught, regularity on a cosmic scale, true nature of things/existence; that which bears its own nature (as opposed to a conditional thing); the opposite of the defilements."]
With Dharma, we’ll see that all human beings are the same, and we’ll have loving-kindness, compassion, and unselfish concern for the welfare of others.
Without Dharma, we’ll put ourselves above others. Although we’re bad, we’ll be deluded into thinking that we’re good. That’s why Dharma is indispensable.
When a person, a society, or a country has Dharma, there’ll be peace. When there is no Dharma, there’ll be strife. When our hearts are ruled by the defilements (kilesas), it will be engulfed by fire.
The Buddha and all the sages of the present and past never praised the defilements, craving (attachment), and the taints (kilesas, tanha, and asavas) — greed, hatred, and delusion — because they agitate and torment the heart.
Who can be wiser than a buddha, a perfectly-enlightened teacher? All buddhas realize and make known the same essential teaching. They praise the things that are worthy of praise and censure the things that are worthy of censure.
They teach us to let go of the things that should be let go of [if we wish make an end of suffering] and to develop the things that should be developed [if we wish to gain enlightenment] for the sake of establishing peace and happiness within our heart and living a peaceful existence.
If we can let go of some of these things, we’ll be more peaceful and have fewer defilements [manifesting themselves in our lives].
If we can totally let go of everything, we’ll be completely free from the defilements and become a noble [i.e., enlightened] and superior being.
If we can totally let go of everything, we’ll be completely free from the defilements and become a noble [i.e., enlightened] and superior being.
What can afflict the heart if not the defilements that have ignorance (avijja) as their root? Any behavior directed by the defilements can only produce trouble and affliction.
The defilements are troublesome, whereas Dharma is cool, peaceful, and pleasing to the eyes and ears.
What are the "defilements"?
Ven. Nyanatiloka (a.k.a. Anton W. F. Gueth), Buddhist Dictionary: A Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines via the German website palikanon.com, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
The defilements or kilesas are mind/heart-defiling, unwholesome qualities. According to The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XXII, 49, 65):
"There are ten defilements, so called because they are themselves defiled and because they defile the mental factors associated with them. They are:
(1) greed (lobha)
(2) aversion (dosa)
(3) delusion (moha)
(4) conceit (māna)
(5) speculative views (ditthi)
(6) skeptical doubt (vicikicchā)
(7) mental torpor (thīna)
(8) restlessness (uddhacca)
(9) shamelessness (ahirika)
(10) lack of conscience or moral dread (anottappa)."
For 1-3, see "roots" or mūla; for 6-8, see "hindrances" or nīvarana; for 9 and 10, see ahirika-anottappa. These ten are explained in Dhs. 1229f and enumerated in Vibh. XII. No classification of the defilements is found in the sutras ("discourses"), though the term occurs quite often in them. For the related term, upakkilesa ("impurities"), different lists are given. - (Appendix)
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