"The Roots of Good and Evil"

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nyanaponika, Wheel 251/253 (BPS.lk)

Two sides to every one (Amber/Seven/WQ)

The Buddha has taught that there are three roots of "evil" [unwholesome, unskillful, unprofitable conduct of body, speech, or mind]: greed, hatred (which includes fear), and delusion.

• NOTE: These are merely approximate English translations of the Pali/Sanskrit Buddhist terms lobha, dosa (including bhava), and moha. One might argue that "greed is good" in some instances or that hate is necessary for survival, but this happens due to delusion and is not said with a proper understanding of lobha (poorly translated as "greed" in our impoverished and relatively young language). Ancient Greek or Latin might provide closer terms.

These three states comprise the entire range of evil, whether of lesser or greater intensity, from a faint mental tendency to the coarsest manifestations in action and speech.

In whatever way they appear, these are the basic causes of suffering.

 

These roots have their opposites and antidotes: non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion.

 

These are the three roots of good: of all acts of unselfishness, liberality, and renunciation; of all expressions of loving-kindness and compassion; of all achievements in knowledge and understanding.

 

These six mental states are the roots from which everything [karmically] harmful and beneficial sprouts. They are the roots of the Tree of Life with its sweet and bitter fruits.

 

Ven. Nyanaponika Thera (zealby.com)

Greed and hatred, fed and maintained by delusion, are the universal impelling forces of all animate life, individually and socially. Fortunately, the roots of good also reach into our world and keep the forces of evil in check, but the balance is a precarious one needing to be preserved by constant watchfulness and effort.

On the level of inanimate nature, too, we find counterparts to greed and hatred in the forces of attraction and repulsion, kept in their purposeless reactive movement by inherent nescience (ignornace), which cannot provide a motive for a cessation of the process.

 

So through an unfathomable past, the macrocosm of nature and the microcosm of mind have continued their contest between attraction and repulsion, greed and hatred. And unless stopped by voluntary effort and insight, they will so continue for aeons to come.

 

This cosmic conflict of opposing energies, unsolvable on its own level, is one aspect of dukkha (unsatisfactoriness): the ill of restless, senseless movement as felt by a sensitive being.

 

On the human level, too, we see that humans, who proudly believe themselves to be “free agents” -- the masters of their lives and even of nature -- are in a spiritually undeveloped state actually a passive

patient driven about by inner forces we do not recognize.

 

Pulled by our greed and pushed by our hatred [drawn by attraction and repulsed by aversion], in our blindness we do not see that the brakes for stopping these frantic movements are within reach, within our own hearts.

 

The brakes are the roots of "good" [kusala, the health/wholesome, profitable, and beneficial] themselves, which can be cultivated to such a degree that greed, hatred, and delusion are utterly uprooted and eradicated.

 

Though we have spoken of the six roots as being “roots of good and evil,” our use of the English terms “good” and “evil” is provisional, a simplification chosen to introduce this teaching by familiar terms.

Shakyamuni the Buddha, Dordemna, Thimphu, Bhutan (Jokertrekker/flickr.com)

 

TERMS

In the Buddhist texts they are called the roots of the wholesome (kusala-múla) and the roots of the unwholesome (akusala-múla). And thus we, too, shall generally call them.

 

This differentiation of terms marks an important distinction. For the “spread” of the mental states called roots is much wider and deeper than the moral realm to which the words “good” and “evil” refer. The distinction may be defined as follows.

 

An intentional (willed) action performed by body or speech is immoral -- unwholesome, harmful, regrettable when it eventually comes to fruition -- when it is motivated by the unwholesome roots. 

• When we are motivated to benefit ourselves at the expense of others or to hurt and/or harm them, or to benefit both ourselves and them and harm neither, an act or body speech or mind becomes karma, that is, a trace with the power to bear its results even in the very distant future just as soon as it meets with the appropriate conditions.

This constitutes socially significant immorality, for which it is the criterion. Such actions are termed unwholesome bodily or verbal karma. Thoughts associated with these unwholesome roots, such as wishing the harm of others or wallowing in remorse for having done so, constitute individually significant immorality, for which they are the criterion.

• Guilt is NOT a virtue. Our virtue may inspire guilt when we recognize a lapse in our conduct, but the guilt itself is neither laudable, appropriate, wise, or beneficial to anyone; it should, therefore, for the sake of everyone's benefit, be replaced with or transformed into something useful and not reactivated again and again, as seems to be the current Judeo-Christian/Western custom). They include thoughts such as those of injury,

murder, theft, fraud and rape, and also false ideologies leading to the harm of others or condoning such harm. Whether or not these thoughts are followed by deeds or words, they constitute and accrue as unwholesome mental karma. (Another term, unpopular in the West, is demerit).

 

When greed, hatred, and delusion -- in any degree -- do not cause intentional harm to others, they are not evil or immoral in the strict sense of our definition. However, they are still karmically unwholesome in that they maintain bondage and lead to unpleasant results.

 

Similarly, the term “wholesome” extends beyond socially significant morality to comprise also what is individually beneficial, such as acts of [internal] renunciation and attempts to understand the nature of reality.

 

The recent crisis of theistic, or God-centered, faith which has taken hold in the West has brought in its trail a moral crisis as well.

For many, belief in God has been shattered, and often those who lose their belief in God fail to see any convincing reason for morality without a divine sanction coming down from above. Left without a sound foundation for ethics, they either accept materialistic political ideologies or allow their conduct to be guided by self-interest and hedonism. Or worse, they are racked with doubt and uncertainty about the world.

 

Yet we also find today a growing number of people seeking better alternatives. To them the Buddha’s teaching on the wholesome and unwholesome roots provides a criterion of good and evil that is neither theological nor authoritarian but experiential.

It is a teaching with a sound psychological basis offering an autonomous pragmatic motivation for avoiding evil (profitless) and choosing the good (profitable).

 

The social and political motivations for moral conduct proposed to modern groups may not openly contradict the basic sentiments of morality, but as their structures are bound to specific historical conditions and reflect the varying self-interests and prejudices of the dominant social group, the values they propose are highly relative, lacking universal validity. 

In contrast, Buddhist ethics, being based on psychological fact and not on external contingencies, provides a core of moral principles inherently free from relativistic limitations, valid for all time and under all circumstances.

 

By introspection and observation, we can understand that the unwholesome roots are undesirable mental states, productive of suffering for ourselves and others. And since it is our common nature to avoid suffering and to desire happiness, we can understand that it serves our own long-term interest as well as the good of others to restrain actions born of these roots and to act in ways motivated by their wholesome opposites. A brief survey of the evil roots will make this clear.

 

Greed is a state of lack, need, and want. It is always seeking fulfilment and lasting satisfaction, but its drive is inherently insatiable. So as long as it endures, it maintains the sense of lack.

 

Hatred, in all its degrees, is also a state of dissatisfaction. Though apparently objective and arising in response to undesired people or circumstances, its true origins are subjective and internal, chiefly frustrated desire and wounded pride.

 

Buddhist psychology extends the range of hatred beyond simple anger and enmity to include a variety of negative emotions -- such as disappointment, dejection, anxiety, and despair -- representing misguided reactions to the impermanence, insecurity, and imperfection inherent in all conditioned existence.

Delusion, taking the form of ignorance, is a state of confusion, bewilderment, and helplessness. In its aspect of false views, delusion issues in dogmatism; it takes on a fanatical, even obsessive character, and it makes the mind/heart rigid and encapsulated.

 

All three unwholesome roots lead to inner disharmony and social conflict. In Tibetan paintings they are depicted at the very hub of the Wheel of Life, symbolically represented by a cock, a pig, and a snake, turning round and round, catching each other’s tails. The three unwholesome roots, indeed, produce and support each other.

• (See The Wheel of Birth and Death by Bhikkhu Khantipālo, Wheel 147/149), p.16).

The root of greed gives rise to resentment, anger, and hatred against those who obstruct the gratification of desire or compete in the chase to gain the desired objects -- whether sensual enjoyment, power, dominance, or fame. In this way greed leads to conflict and quarrels. When frustrated, instead of producing enmity and aversion, greed may bring about grief, sadness, despair, envy, and jealousy -- states which also come under the heading of hatred.

 

The pain of deprivation and frustration again sharpens the keenness of desire, which then seeks an escape from pain by the only means most of us know -- indulging in other kinds of enjoyment.

 

Both greed and hatred are always linked with delusion. They are grounded upon delusion and, on their part, produce still more delusion as we pursue the objects we desire or flee from those we dislike.

 

Both love and hate blind us to the dangers besetting our pursuits; they lead us away from our true advantage. It is the delusion beneath our love and hate that really blinds us, delusion that leads us astray.

The basic delusion, from which all its other forms spring, is the idea of an abiding self: the belief in an ego. For the sake of this illusory ego men lust and hate; upon this they build their imagination and pride. This ego-belief must first be clearly comprehended as a delusive viewpoint.

 

One must pierce through the illusion of self by cultivating right understanding through penetrative thought and meditative insight.

 

Though the wholesome and unwholesome roots are individual mental states, their manifestations and repercussions have the greatest social significance. Each individual in society rises up at once to protect oneself, one's loved ones, property, security, and freedom from the greed, hatred, and delusions of others. One's own greed, hatred, and ignorance may in turn arouse others to anxious concern and resentment, though we may not be aware of this or care about it.

 

From all this there results an intricate interlocking of suffering -- suffering caused to others and suffering experienced oneself. Hence the Buddha repeatedly said that the unwholesome roots cause harm both to oneself and to others, while the wholesome roots are sources of benefit for both the individual and society. (See Texts 18-22).

 

The wholesome and unwholesome roots are of paramount human concern on all levels. As the originating causes of karma, our life-affirming and rebirth-producing intentional actions, they are the motive powers and driving forces of our deeds, words, and thoughts. They mold our character and our destiny and hence determine the nature of our rebirth.

 

Being dominant features in the structure of the mind, the unwholesome roots are used in the Abhidharma (Higher Teaching) collection of works for the classification of unwholesome consciousness and also for a typology of temperaments.

All of the stages of the path to deliverance are closely concerned with the wholesome and unwholesome roots. At the very beginning, the coarsest forms of greed, hatred, and irresponsible ignorance have to be abandoned through virtue (sīla), while in the advanced stages the aids of meditation (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā, prajna) have to be applied to a deeper-reaching removal of the unwholesome roots and to the cultivation of the wholesome ones.

Even enlightenment and nirvana -- the consummation of the great quest -- are both explained in terms of the roots: as the extinction of greed, hatred, and delusion.

 

This wide-ranging significance of the Buddha’s teaching on the roots places it at the very core of the Dharma. Showing the distinct marks of a fully enlightened mind, it is a teaching simple as well as profound, and hence accessible on many levels.

The fact that greed, hatred, and delusion, in their extreme forms, are the root causes of much misery and evil should be painfully obvious to every sensitive person. Such an initial understanding, open to commonsense, may well grow into full comprehension. It may then become the insight that moves one to enter the path to deliverance -- the eradication of greed, hatred, and delusion.

 

Within the framework of the Buddha’s teaching, the Roots of Good and Evil have found their place in a great variety of contexts. To illustrate this by an ample selection of Buddhist texts -- almost entirely taken from the sutras of the Buddha -- is the intention of the following pages.

 

May progress on that Path prevail and may there be a steady growth of the Roots of Good. More

• Life is certain on other planets
• The Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise Show
• African Spirituality: KRST Unity Center
• The Daily Love Extravaganza! (Aware Show)

Ethno-Mycology: Anthropology of Mushrooms

Note mushrooms in stained glass beneath Christ figure.

TOPIC: esoteric Eastern philosophy -- the mysteries of Soma and Amrita, the magical, sacramental, transformational foods and drinks of Hinduism and Buddhism. The hidden keys to enlightenment.

Many religions have used this mushroom in their sacraments, initiations, and rituals. Revealing this knowledge could perhaps achieve what many throughout the world have desired, a common ground that all religions share at their very roots, a common denominator which might bring them together.

Amanita muscaria: the mushrooms that shaped mankind. The Mushroom itself has very interesting features that resemble or relate to gold, flesh, blood (and blood vessels), phallus, vulva, fire, saucer, cup, as well as a disc or orb. The mushroom has been, anthropomorphically, personified as a man, a god, something of extraterrestrial origin, and a plant god (in Buddhist lore a bhumi-deva), soma, who was mediator between man and the demigods (devas), in the ancient Hindu religious texts known as the Vedas.


Mycological roots of Christianity

R. Gordon Wasson's insightful and inspired work identifying the ancient Vedic and Hindu plant god, Soma, as the Amanita muscaria mushroom was the pioneering work in a field that would be come to be known as ethnomycology....

In Angkor, Cambodia, holy temples mix Hindu and Buddhist theology. Note the appearance of this beautiful structure, a pine forest created in stone. [See David Wilcock, the reborn "Edgar Cayce," for the significance of the pine symbol throughout the world]. The pine (coniferous) tree is the host for the mushroom mycellium, as we have seen, this intricate relationship with the trees and the mushrooms was obviously understood, and revered in ancient times all over the world. This structure is a monument to the trees and the fruit that grows underneath them. The most sacred of all things is the elixir of immortality, which is Soma/Amrita, produced from the mushroom, also sacred are the host trees themselves.

This is why this incredible structure must have been created in the image of a great stone Pine forest, fortified by walls covered with Bas reliefs, depicting the stories of the sacred acts pertaining to enlightenment. The temple holds the history of great learning, the culmination of which is the knowledge of the elixir and its consumption. At the base of the pine tree towers, inside the courtyard, is where the testing of the aspirants would occur, as in nature, where at the base of the pines the Soma can be found. Mix the discovery with the understanding, and the testing begins. The knowledge of astronomy/astro-theology was of great importance to many ancient cultures, and may remain so, especially if one is to travel out of body, or multidimensionally into the heavens. The alignemets and positioning of the stars, holding such deep importance, demands that we search out all possible explanation....

The demons pull the Naga serpent in one direction turning the tide of humanity towards evil. Hindu and Buddhist myths take on great form in Bas reliefs, Statues, and Architecture. The Angkor Wat temple holds one of the most profound and important of Hindu mysteries. The manifestation of the "Elixir of Immortality." The churning-of-the-milky-ocean is a myth which allegorically depicts the spiraling (churning) of our milky way galaxy, and the precession of the equinoxes. The ocean is that on which the entire universe was thought to rest. This churning is the act which produces the Amrita (elixir of immortality). A high knowledge of mathematics involved in the calculation on the precession of the equinoxes and the understanding of the spiraling of our galaxy, encoded within the structure of the temple, defies the idea that these were primitive peoples.

The universe is called the "milky ocean." It is the churning of this ocean in a ageless battle between the forces of good and evil, which produces the Amrita (Soma). Vasouki, a giant naga serpent, is wrapped around the great holy mountain, Mandera, and is pulled back and forth to churn the ocean. Vishnu attempts to steady the mountan by holding the serpent at the middle, gyrating with the tides of battle, the mountain is steadied to a slight wobble (which represents the earthe rotation through precession). The mountain rests upon a great tortoise, which is another incarnation of Vishnu. The serpent is stretched around the mountain in a great tug-of-war in which two teams (fifty-four devas, and fifty-four nagas) pull the serpent back and forth. This great pulling between the forces of good and evil, turns the mountain like the rotor in a washing machine. This is the great battle between in which good and evil actually work together to produce the elixir of immortality, Soma, Amrita.

Text by James Arthur (ethnomycologist, lecturer)

Further reading: http://www.homelandproductions.org/mushroom3.html

Is there Evil in the World?

Wisdom Quarterly

The banality of "evil" -- What would possess a human to such conduct? The influence of otherworldly entities or our psychological makeup?

There are unseen beings -- yakkhas, petas, narakas, bhummmi-devas, nagas, kumbandhas, and so on -- in Buddhist lore. They correspond to those of European legend: ogres and "demons," spirits of the dead, hellions, mischievous faeries, reptilians, dwarfs, trolls, gnomes, and poltergeists in general. Like humans, they have personalities and tendencies. They are not strictly malevolent, but are subject to anger, jealousy, territoriality, and delusion.

• Corpse of a Kumbandha?
• Scary creatures, fact or fiction

They may communicate with humans, some of whom due to past karma are able to see them, offer advice, mislead, or even haunt. They frequently inhabit the wilderness and old homes but are, as in the case of pretas ("hungry ghosts" who linger after they have passed from the human world due to strong attachment).

What is "Evil"?
Evil is an interesting concept. We must separate it from Judeo-Christian connotations. There is Mara, a tempter figure in Buddhism who sounds like Lucifer but is more akin to the ancient Greek Cupid. He is not a devil. The Buddha often referred to him as Namuci ("the Evil One") because of his misguided tendency to obstruct enlightenment and liberation from the sensual realm. Mara's "evil" is human evil. That is to say, the roots of good and evil are present in all of us at birth to a greater or lesser degree. These are known as the Three Poisons:

1. Greed (lobha)
2. Hate (dosa)
3. Delusion (moha)

They are best understood as categories. Under "greed" falls: selfishness, lust, envy, jealousy, lack of consideration. Under "hate" falls: fear (bhava, which is so serious that it is sometimes categorized separately as a fourth poison of the heart) annoyance, irritation, anger, vengeance, ill-will, spite, begrudging, blaming, and unfriendliness. Under "delusion" falls: wrong-views, misperception, distortion of reality, ignorance, sophistry, and foolishness.

There are said to be many maras (obstructors). They can, and often are in the commentaries, viewed as mental defilements and hindrances to virtue, concentration, and wisdom rather than as independent entities.

The ogres (yakkhas) who support Mara are called "demons," but this is misleading. They are from an external point of view beings reborn on the basis of anger. Their good karma has led to a less unfortunate state than might have been, for they can be powerful, clever, and influential. That a mara could wield influence over them is only because of that being's own good karma having come to fruition placing it in possession of great powers, now misused in the service of lust, anger, and delusion. But Mara's goal, unlike the Christian conception of Satan, is not that beings end up in the hells. Even Yama, the mythological "king" or "judge" of the dead, does not want that. Mara, like Cupid, is instead an obstacle to liberation, wishing everyone to remain within his sphere of influence, which is the Sense Sphere (kama-loka).

• Protective Buddhist Chants (parittas)

The tormented narakas, denizens of various unfortunate destinations commonly referred to as hells, none of which are eternal but do last a miserably long time, might appear in the world only to warn someone or to grab a moment of respite, their karma allowing.

Pretas -- who are often confused, lacking direction and motivation, and are terribly sad and hungry in their pathetic state -- likewise do not mean to harm. They stand at the edges around houses wishing to come in, it is said in the Petavatthu. They are the ill-born departed. Something can be done for them, by way of offering and merit in their name. This helps them move on IF, looking on, they approve of such actions. (It is their own mental karma, that of rejoicing in well done deeds, that liberates them, not some magical transference of merit). But malcontent or disturbed pretas -- the "ungrateful dead" -- can sometimes become poltergeists. Modern parapsychological research reveals that this tends to happen in the presence of pre-adolescents, whose vital energies can be misdirected.

As for the others, nagas (powerful beings, particularly reptilians) and devas (demigods, whose lives are like that of the gods of the Greek pantheon) and so on, they are "evil" to a degree -- just as humans are evil to a degree. Even celestial devas (radiant light beings inhabiting space) have not, generally speaking, overcome and eradicated greed, hatred, and delusion. Having suppressed these hindrances and contaminants of the heart, having undergone a fortunate rebirth based on some skillful karma (any deed, word, or thought rooted in nongreed, nonhatred, or nondelusion), they are beautiful, long lived, and enjoy many delights. Their lives, too, are temporary. They are reborn in the future according to their karma, their "just desserts." Only the arahants, the enlightened ones, have overcome all that can upset. Only the Arya have even set foot on that route to freedom from all suffering.

Is there evil in the world? Yes, when defined as the Three Poisons. Is there good? Absolutely, when defined as the converse of those poisoned states of mind. Good can be summarized into three categories:

1. Nongreed: generosity, beneficence, love for oneself as one loves others and vice versa (metta), compassion (karuna), happiness in others' happiness (mudita), impartiality (upekkha). [These four are called Divine Abidings, Brahma Viharas, here and now.]
2. Nonhatred: forbearance, forgiveness, fearlessness, friendliness, loving-kindness, tolerance.
3. Nondelusion: wisdom, right-view (samma-ditthi), insight, understanding in accordance with the truth, knowledge, clear comprehension, mindfulness of what is in this very moment.

Is There "Evil" in the World? (video)

Wisdom Quarterly (revisiting a question)

The banality of "evil" -- What would possess humans to such conduct? Otherworldly entities or our own psychological makeup?

There are unseen beings -- yakkhas, petas, narakas, bhummmi-devas, nagas, kumbandhas, and so on -- in Buddhist lore. They correspond to those of European legend: ogres and "demons," spirits of the dead, hellions, mischievous faeries, reptilians, dwarfs, trolls, gnomes, and poltergeists in general.

Like humans, they have personalities and tendencies. They are not strictly malevolent, but are subject to anger, jealousy, territoriality, and delusion.

They may communicate with humans, some of whom due to past karma are able to see them, offer advice, mislead, or even haunt. They frequently inhabit the wilderness and old homes but are, as in the case of pretas ("hungry ghosts" who linger after they have passed from the human world due to strong attachment).

What is "Evil"?
Evil is an interesting concept. We must separate it from Judeo-Christian connotations. There is Mara, a tempter figure in Buddhism who sounds like Lucifer but is more akin to the ancient Greek Cupid. He is not the devil. The Buddha often referred to him as Namuci ("the Evil One") because of his misguided tendency to obstruct attempts at enlightenment and liberation from the sensual realm.

Mara's "evil" is human-evil. That is to say, the roots of good and evil are present in all of us at birth to a greater or lesser degree. These are known as the Three Poisons:

1. Greed (lobha)
2. Hate (dosa)
3. Delusion (moha)

They are best understood as categories. Under "greed" falls: selfishness, lust, envy, jealousy, lack of consideration. Under "hate" falls: fear (bhava, which is so serious that it is sometimes categorized separately as a fourth poison of the heart) annoyance, irritation, anger, vengeance, ill-will, spite, begrudging, blaming, and unfriendliness. Under "delusion" falls: wrong-views, misperception, distortion of reality, ignorance, sophistry, and foolishness.

There are said to be many maras (obstructors). They can, and often are in the commentaries, viewed as mental defilements and hindrances to virtue, concentration, and wisdom rather than as independent entities.

The ogres (yakkhas) who support Mara are called "demons," but this is misleading. They are from an external point of view beings reborn on the basis of anger. Their good karma has led to a less unfortunate state than might have been, for they can be powerful, clever, and influential.

That a mara could wield influence over them is only because of that being's own good karma having come to fruition placing it in possession of great powers, now misused in the service of lust, anger, and delusion. But Mara's goal, unlike the Christian conception of Satan, is not that beings end up in the hells.

Even Yama, the mythological "king" or "judge" of the dead, does not want that. Mara, like Cupid, is instead an obstacle to liberation, wishing everyone to remain within his sphere of influence, which is the Sense Sphere (kama-loka).

• Protective Buddhist Chants (parittas)

The tormented narakas, denizens of various unfortunate destinations commonly referred to as hells, none of which are eternal but do last a miserably long time, might appear in the world only to warn someone or to grab a moment of respite, their karma allowing.

Pretas -- who are often confused, lacking direction and motivation, and are terribly sad and hungry in their pathetic state -- likewise do not mean to harm. They stand at the edges around houses wishing to come in, it is said in the Petavatthu. They are the ill-born departed.

Something can be done for them, by way of offering and merit in their name. This helps them move on IF, looking on, they approve of such actions. (It is their own mental karma, that of rejoicing in well done deeds, that liberates them, not some magical transference of merit).

But malcontent or disturbed pretas -- the "ungrateful dead" -- can sometimes become poltergeists. Modern parapsychological research reveals that this tends to happen in the presence of pre-adolescents, whose vital energies can be misdirected.

As for the others, nagas (powerful beings, particularly reptilians) and devas (demigods, whose lives are like that of the gods of the Greek pantheon) and so on, they are "evil" to a degree -- just as humans are evil to a degree.

Even celestial devas (radiant light beings inhabiting space) have not, generally speaking, overcome and eradicated greed, hatred, and delusion. Having suppressed these hindrances and contaminants of the heart, having undergone a fortunate rebirth based on some skillful karma (any deed, word, or thought rooted in nongreed, nonhatred, or nondelusion), they are beautiful, long lived, and enjoy many delights.

Their lives, too, are temporary. They are reborn in the future according to their karma, their "just desserts." Only the arahants, the enlightened ones, have overcome all that can upset. Only the Arya have even set foot on that route to freedom from all suffering.

Is there evil in the world? Yes, when defined as the Three Poisons. Is there good? Absolutely, when defined as the converse of those poisoned states of mind. Good can be summarized into three categories:

1. Nongreed: generosity, beneficence, love for oneself as one loves others and vice versa (metta), compassion (karuna), happiness in others' happiness (mudita), impartiality (upekkha). [These four are called Divine Abidings, Brahma Viharas, here and now.]
2. Nonhatred: forbearance, forgiveness, fearlessness, friendliness, loving-kindness, tolerance.
3. Nondelusion: wisdom, right-view (samma-ditthi), insight, understanding in accordance with the truth, knowledge, clear comprehension, mindfulness of what is in this very moment.

• Corpse of a Kumbandha?
• Scary creatures, fact or fiction

Why ME? The 'Law' of Karma

(Buddhist Audio books) Invisible Law Controls Our Life: Kamma (Karma) in Buddhist Abhidhamma

First of all, what is Abhidhamma? It is the systematic treatment of the Dharma, the Buddha's Teachings, in ultimate terms.

Second, what is karma in Buddhism? It is a deed, willed action, which the Buddha divided as either physical, verbal, or mental, singling out intention or motivation (cetana) as the key to determining what it is and what it will produce.

If I do something, why I do it matters. A Manhattanite is walking down the boulevard on a dark and rainy night. She looks down an alley as see me over someone, lifting a blade that glints in the light of a dingy streetlamp about to bring down a blade on the body.

There's always a solution, a fix it.

What's happening? Can we judge? What's the karma (deed, action, doing)? She screams, "bloody murder!" and I look up and show her my scalpel. She looks down and sees a woman on the ground unable to breathe. And I explain that I was about to stab her in the throat, draw blood, and let air into her windpipe because she has something jammed into her mouth and is about to go unconscious and die if I do not intervene. "Oh, are you a doctor?" she asks me. "No, of course not, but I do watch lots of reruns of MacGyver," I answer.

Now that we know all this, what's the karma? The horrible act of attempted murder or the exact opposite, the precious act of preserving life?

It's hard to say, so we should reserve judgment at least a little, until we can discern my MOTIVE, my INTENTION, my VOLITION, my cetanā or underlying impulse to act.

The Roots of Good and Evil: Buddhist Texts

That mental motive is the real "karma," the real determinant of the deed, and it doesn't matter what others think, approve of, or condemn. She may hate me, she may get a beat cop to shoot me to prevent what she thinks is going on, a judge may imprison me based on her testimony, but all of that is HER karma, not mine. I will be "judged" impersonally by myself or the universe for what I was actually doing when that ACT matures and comes to fruition.

Importantly, there are only six root motives for an action, a deed, any kind of karma. See The Roots of Good and Evil: Buddhist Texts translated from the Pali (Buddhist Publication Society, Wheel Series 251-253) by Western monk Ven. Nyanaponika Thera.

There are other divisions, such as the Ten COURSES (kamma-patha) of Unwholesome Action and, of course, Ten Courses of Wholesome Action. There are probably millions of deeds, but getting to the root (radix, radical) of the matter, we have only six roots:

1. greed (lobha, lust, craving, clinging, desire, wanting)
2. hatred (dosa, aversion, fear, anger, annoyance, ill-will)
3. delusion (moha, ignorance, wrong views, confusion)
4. nongreed (alobha, letting go, selflessness, sharing, giving, generosity, dispassion, detachment)
5. nonhatred (adosa, loving kindness, compassion, mudita or joy in others' joy, unbiased onlooking)
6. nondelusion (amoha, wisdom, knowledge, knowing-and-seeing, understanding, penetration).

• See the Discourse on Right View or Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta.

We can divide karma (acts) into ten kinds:

• Three of body

1. destroying life

2. stealing

3. sexual misconduct

• Four of speech

4. false speech

5. divisive speech

6. offensive speech

7. senseless speech

• Three of mind

8. covetousness

9. malice

10. wrong view.

Ah, what does the Buddha know anyway?

What is there to notice here? Most karma is produced by the mouth or other means of VERBAL expression. The body may do things, but when does it do them that it is not being motivated (directed, willed) by the mind? Not acting out, not speaking out, it is still possible to produce karma (deeds with the power of producing a subsequent result) JUST BY THINKING. There really is mental karma. The RESULTS of karma are not karma, even though we in an offhand, shorthand way often refer to results as karma when we say, "It is my karma," referring to something that happened to us. That is never our karma, technically, but we all understand that what we think we're saying is, "This is a result of my deeds," and that may well be. Not everything that happens is due to karma. There are other causes. But most of the important things that happen to us that we notice and think are unfair, that's likely due to our bright and dark karma. This is a world of mixed results. To live in a world of predominantly bright results, there are karmas (acts) for that. Similarly, to live in a world of darkness and even worse suffering than we have here on the human plane (which is regarded as the lowest of the worlds one can be reborn in that is still considered "good"), there are deeds for that. Unless we get real with ourselves, privately, and recognize our motives, our intentions, what is impelling us to act, we cannot be surprised what we get as a result.

Remember, what we experience is not what we are doing now. We have a massive cache of past karma (from this and countless past lives even if we disbelieve those former lives and rebirths ever happened) that is trying to mature and come to fruition, to ripen and produce results.

The two names for karmic results are vipaka (resultants) and phala (fruits). The distinction seems to be, although we cannot prove it but remember Ven. Nyanatiloka (the Western translator of the Buddhist Dictionary) always making the distinction being mental-resultants and outward-circumstances. If we act, we immediately feel some way about it -- regret, remorse, anxiety about being found out or caught or punished, and so on, or rejoicing, approving, carefree or proud to be found out or recognized or rewarded, and so on, depending on the kind of action.

There is a terrible kind of karma, one that is possibly the worst of all karmas, and what is strange about it is that most of us most of the time would not even think there's anything wrong with in our Western society. What is it?

• What is the worst thing in the karmic world, the producer of the most amount of bad (unskillfulness, demerit, evil, misery)?

Wrong view (micchā ditthi), sometimes manifesting as the perversions or distortions (vipallassa). This is the one to be most wary of, for we will be held responsible for what we think, what views we cling to and act on. If we believe something is good because that's what people around us told us or it's the way we were raised, that DOES NOT make it good or okay. It is what it is, in accordance with the six roots mentioned above, and will produce corresponding results that are either welcomed and wished for or unwelcome and unwished for. Proceed cautiously before acting. A little or a lot of introspection helps.

• Outline of Buddhism

If there were just ONE primer to understand the complexity of karma in Buddhism, Wisdom Quarterly would say it is American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi's treatment of the subject here:

Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Buddha's Teaching: As It Is, Talk 5, "Rebirth and Kamma"

• Buddhist Audio Books (video), June 8, 2025; Bhikkhu Bodhi, "Rebirth and Kamma"; TEXT: Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Desire can be "good" in Buddhism?

Don't look at my bikini butt, okay, you perverts? It's just flesh for sitting on toilet seats.*

.

Good (beneficial) "desire"

I want to meditate now to make progress.

Chanda: "intention," "desire," "will." 1. As an ethically neutral psychological term, in the sense of "intention," it is one of those general mental concomitants or factors (cetasika, Table II) taught in the Abhidhamma (the "Dhamma in Ultimate Terms"), the moral quality of which is determined by the character of the volition (cetanā) associated with it.

The Commentary explains it as "a wish to do" (kattu-kamyatā-chanda). If intensified, it acts also as a "predominance condition" (see paccaya 3).

• 

  OK, now shut up, Nerd (iStock)

  Definition of terms: "GOOD": wholesome, skillful, beneficial. "BAD": unwholesome, unskillful, leading to an increase in suffering when karma (deed) eventually ripens and fruits into karmic-resultants in spite of the fact that a deed performed now may seem to bring about an immediate increase in pleasant feeling.

2. As an evil quality it has the meaning of "desire," and is frequently coupled with terms for "sensuality," "greed," and so on, for instance: kāma-cchanda, "sensuous desire," one of the Five Hindrances (nīvarana); chanda-rāga, "lustful desire" (kāma). It is one of the Four Wrong Paths (agati, motivated by greed/chanda, hate/dosa, delusion/moha, or fear/bhaya).

Simplistic, wrong: Buddhism explained in 1 minute?

3. As a good quality, it is a wholesome (kusala) will, motive, or zeal (dhamma-chanda) and occurs, for example, in the formula of the Four Right Efforts (padhāna): "The meditator rouses will (chandam janeti)..." If intensified, it becomes one of the Four Roads to Power (iddhipāda).

Bad (harmful) "desire"

Oh, hells yeah, look at that butt!

Tanhā (lit. "thirst"): "craving," the chief root of suffering [behind ignorance], and of the ever-continuing cycle of rebirths [known as samsara].

"What, O meditators, is the origin of suffering (disappointment, unsatisfactoriness, off-kilter woe)? It is this craving that gives rise to ever-fresh rebirths and, bound up with [sensual] pleasure and lust, now here, now there, [continues wandering on, trying] to find ever fresh delight.

"It is [threefold:] sensual craving (kāma-tanhā), craving for [eternal] existence (bhava-tanhā), and craving for non-existence (vibhava-tanhā)'' (D.22).

Tanhā is the eighth link in the formula of the Dependent Origination (paticcasamuppāda). Compare also at the kinds of "truth" (sacca).

Corresponding to the six sense-objects, there are six kinds of craving, craving for:

1. visible objects (sights),
2. sounds (auditory experiences),
3. fragrances (aromas),
4. tastes (flavors),
5. tactile impressions (bodily contact),
6. mental impressions (rūpa-, sadda-, gandha-, rasa-, photthabba-, dhamma-tanhā). (M.9; D.15)

Corresponding to the threefold existence, there are three kinds:

1. craving for sensual existence (kāma-tanhā),
2. craving for fine-material existence (rūpa-tanhā) [in the many celestial/dimensional "heavenly" (sagga, deva-lokas) realms],
3. craving for immaterial existence (arūpa-tanhā) [in the four formless worlds] (D.33).

If I can't get butts, I'll scarf dopamine-chocolate

There are 18 "thought-channels of craving" (tanhā-vicarita) induced internally, and 18 induced externally; and as occurring in past, present, and future, which total 108. (See A. IV, 199; Vibh., Ch. 17 Khuddakavatthu-Vibhanga).

According to Dependent Origination, craving is conditioned by feeling; on this see DN 22 (section on the Second Ennobling Truth).

As for "craving for [continued or eternal] existence" (bhava-tanhā), it is said (A.X.62):

"No first beginning of the craving for [continued] existence can be perceived, O, meditators, before which it was not and after which it came to be. But it can he perceived that craving for existence has its specific [cause and] condition. I say, O, meditators, that craving for existence also has its condition that feeds it (sāharam) and is not [subsisting] without it. And what is that condition? It is 'ignorance,' one must reply."

Will robo-toilets or -dogs fix world?

(The Daily Show) Tech Yeah! AI actress film, "robo-toilets"? | Grace K

*Deposit used chocolate here.

Craving for [continued] existence and ignorance are called "the outstanding causes that lead to happy and unhappy destinies (courses of existence)."

(See The Path of Purification, Vis.M. XVII, 36-42).

The most frequent synonyms of tanhā are rāga ("lust," "greed," "passion") and lobha ("greed"). See the "roots" of good and evil, the skillful and the unskillful, at mūla).

• Karma: Ten Courses of Wholesome and Unwholesome Action
• The Roots of Good and Evil (Buddhist Publication Society, Wheel Series 251/252/253)
• Will Tilly Norwood be the new Gal "IDF Zionist" Gadot?
• Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary via palikanon.com (chanda and tanhā); Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddhist concept of Happiness

Bhante G (author of Mindfulness in Plain English, bhavanasociety.org, West Virginia)

Happiness in Pali is called sukha, which is used both as a noun meaning “happiness,” “ease,” “bliss,” and “pleasure,” and as an adjective meaning “blissful” and “pleasant.”

To understand the nature of happiness, a brief discussion of the Buddhist analysis of feeling is necessary. Feeling (vedana or sensation) is a mental factor present in all types of consciousness, a universal concomitant of experience. It has the characteristic of being felt, the function of experiencing, and as manifestation the gratification of the mental factors. It is invariably said to be born of contact (phassa), which is the coming together of a sense object, a sense faculty, and the appropriate type of consciousness.

When these three coalesce, consciousness makes "contact" with the object. It experiences the affective quality of the object. And from this experience a feeling or sensation arises keyed to the object’s affective quality.

Since contact is of six kinds (by way of the six sense faculties), feeling is also of six kinds: It corresponds to the six kinds of contact from which it is born. There is feeling born of eye-contact, feeling born of ear-contact, and so on. Feeling is also divided by way of its affective tone either into three or five classes. On the threefold division there is pleasant feeling (sukha-vedana), painful feeling (dukkha-vedana), and neither pleasant nor painful (i.e., neutral) feeling.

The pleasant feeling may be subdivided into bodily pleasant feeling called “pleasure” (sukha) and mental pleasant feeling (cetasika-sukha) called “joy” (somanassa)....

The five types of feeling: pleasure, joy, pain, displeasure, and equanimity

The Buddha enumerates contrasting types of mental happiness:

• the happiness of the household life and that of monastic life
• the happiness of sense pleasures and that of renunciation
• happiness with attachments and taints and happiness without attachments and taints
• worldly happiness and spiritual happiness
• the happiness of concentration and happiness without concentration
• Aryan happiness
• mental happiness
• happiness without joy
• happiness of equanimity
• happiness not aimed at joy
• happiness aimed at formless object[s]

Happiness associated with the wholesome roots produced by the renunciation of sensual enjoyments is spiritual happiness or the happiness of renunciation. The happiness of meditative absorption (jhana) is a spiritual happiness born of seclusion or withdrawal from sense pleasures and the Five Hindrances. It is also a happiness of concentration (samadhi-sukha).

There are numerous ways of bringing about happiness. “Friends bring happiness when a need has arisen; pleasant is contentment with whatever there might be; [to have accrued] merit is pleasant at life’s ending; and pleasant is the destruction of all suffering. Happy it is, in the world, to be a mother, and happy it is to be a father; happy, in the world, is the life of a recluse and happy is the state of Brahman. Happy is age-long virtue, and happy is confidence well-established; happy is the gaining of wisdom, and happy it is not to do evil [defined as deeds, words, and thoughts rooted in greed, hatred, delusion, and/or fear]. “Happy is the arising of the Awakened Ones; happy is the teaching of the Dharma; happy is the unity of the group, and happy is the ascetic life of the united” [Dh. 194, 331-333].

In pursuit of happiness many people are engaged in sense pleasures or self-indulgence in the extreme (hedonism). Because of the availability of ample opportunity for people to indulge in sensual pleasure, the human realm is called a plane of sensual pleasure.

As enjoying sensual pleasure is called happiness, to be born as a human being with all the senses complete is a happy occurrence. For one can experience a very high degree of sense pleasure through sensory stimuli. One can be happy thinking that one has plenty of wealth. For even the thought “I have enormous wealth” gives one a secure feeling. This feeling of possessiveness is one's happiness.

One can be happy consuming one's wealth in any manner one deems secure, entertaining one's senses in any manner one wishes, or sharing with relatives, friends, or giving charitably to whomever one pleases, or saving as much as one pleases, using wealth whenever one needs. One can be happy thinking that wealth was earned honestly. One can be happy thinking that one is free from debts [A.ii.p.69].

For these reasons, "happiness" has been defined by some as a "satisfaction of the will." If we obtain what we have been dreaming, we are said to be happy. Pursuing this definition of happiness, we may do countless things to fulfill our wishes so as to be happy. We may spend all our time, money, energy, skill, and opportunities to do our best to make our lives happy, or to bring happiness to the lives of others.

Considering all the possible variables available for the will to desire, this definition is inadequate. If we will to procure something perishable, changeable, impermanent, and subject to slipping from your grasp, procuring that particular object makes us more unhappy than not procuring it. Or if we obtain something and we have to spend our time, energy, peace, skill, even our health to protect it, safeguard it, and secure it, then we will experience more unhappiness than happiness.

Sariputra, echoing the Buddha’s explanation of sense desire, says to his fellow monastics: “There are these five strands of sense desire. What five? There are forms cognized by the eye, longed for, alluring, pleasurable, lovely, bound up with passion and desire. There are sounds cognized by the ear… smells by the nose… tastes by the tongue… contacts cognized by the body, longed for, alluring, pleasurable, lovely, bound up with passion and desire. These are the five strands of sense desire. And the happiness, the well-being arising therefrom is called sensuous happiness.”

Generally, people misconstrue the source of happiness. They think that by pleasing their insatiable desire they can be happy. They do not realize that the means available to them to please their desires are limited by time and space. When we try to obtain happiness by pleasing unlimited and insatiable desires by means limited by time and space, we end up frustrated, losing whatever relative happiness we have.

MONEY
Does wealth really bring happiness? Obviously not. For there are many wealthy people who live miserable, unhealthy lives. Does education bring happiness? Apparently not. For there are many well educated people who are more unhappy than those who are uneducated. Does this mean that the poor and uneducated are happier than the wealthy and educated? No, not at all. [Happiness is not in those things].

Does marrying someone whom we are passionately attached to bring happiness? No. Does divorce make us happy? Apparently not. Does being single bring happiness? No, not at all.

Some people believe that revenge makes them happy. But tit-for-tat actions never bring any happiness to anyone. In reality, an "eye for an eye" makes everybody miserable, not happy. It is not by cultivating, but by destroying hate, that happiness grows in our minds.

“One who with the rod harms the rodless and harmless soon will come to one of these states: One will be subject to acute pain, disaster, bodily injury, or even grievous sickness, or loss of mind, or oppression by the kind, or heavy accusation, or loss of relatives, or destruction of wealth, or ravaging fire that will burn one's house” [Dh. vs. 138 - 140].

“One who, seeking one's own happiness, does not torment with the rod beings that are desirous of happiness obtains happiness in the hereafter” [Dh. v. 132]. All of us without exception have within us the roots of happiness.

However, they are buried under our hatred, jealousy, tension, anxiety, worry, and other negative states of mind. In order to find the roots of happiness, we have to remove the roots of unhappiness and cultivate and nourish the roots of happiness.

Suppose one thinks of making oneself happy by killing, stealing, committing sexual misconduct, lying, or taking intoxicating drinks and drugs that cause infatuation and heedlessness, would that person really be happy?

Certainly one is not happy. Why? One's mind is confused by what one is doing. How can a person who is full of greed, hatred, and delusion be happy? How can a person who kills be happy? The Buddha said:

“To live without anger among the angry is, indeed, happy. To live unafflicted among the afflicted is happy. To live without ambition among the ambitious is happy. To live without possessions is a happy life like that of the radiant gods [devas]. To live without competition among those who compete is happy. For one “who wins creates an enemy, and unhappy does the defeated sleep. The one who is neither victor nor defeated sleeps happily” [Dh. v. 201]. “There is no happiness greater than the perfect calm” [Dh. 203].

“Good is the sight of Noble Ones; happy always is it to live with them; away from the sight of fools, one would always be happy” [Dh. 206]. Living with the wise is very comfortable and happy. “A wise person is pleasant. Living with the wise is very comfortable and happy. “A wise person is pleasant to live with as is the company of kin” [Dh. v. 207].

No matter how long our list of happiness is, we continue to be unhappy, frustrated, suffering without ever being successful in experiencing happiness -- unless we add the essential, absolutely necessary item to our list and execute it with diligence:

That item, number one on our list of priorities, is the purification of mind through the practice of virtue, concentration, and wisdom.

Whatever else we do without these essential and absolutely necessary components, we are not going to experience happiness, but the opposite of it. Happiness is the result of the purification of mind.

We will never find enduring happiness in greedy, hateful, deluded, or fearful states of mind. For these are the very roots of unhappiness, pain, and suffering. More>>