These are the three things which, when they arise within a person, arise for his harm, suffering, and discomfort. “Greed, hatred, and delusion, Arisen from within oneself, Injure the person of evil mind. As its own fruit destroys the reed.”
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“Vaccha, greed is unwholesome , non-greed is wholesome; hate is unwholesome, non-hate is wholesome; delusion is unwholesome, non-delusion is wholesome. In this way three things are unwholesome and the other three things are wholesome.
“Killing living beings is unwholesome , abstention from killing living beings is wholesome; taking what is not given is unwholesome, abstention from taking what is not given is wholesome; misconduct in sensual pleasures is unwholesome , abstention from misconduct in sensual pleasures is wholesome; false speech is unwholesome, abstention from false speech is wholesome; malicious speech is unwholesome, abstention from malicious speech is wholesome; harsh speech is unwholesome, abstention from harsh speech is wholesome; gossip is unwholesome, abstention from gossip is wholesome; covetousness is unwholesome, uncovetousness is wholesome; ill will is unwholesome, non-ill will is wholesome; wrong view is unwholesome, right view is wholesome. In this way ten things are unwholesome and the other ten things are wholesome. M 73
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Bhikkhus, there are these three causes for the origination of action. What three? Greed is a cause for the origination of action, hatred is a cause for the origination of action; delusion is a cause for the origination of action. AN 48
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“Bhikkhus, wanderers of other sects may ask you: ‘Friends, there are these three things. What three? Greed, hatred, and delusion. These are the three. What, friends, is the distinction, the disparity, the difference between them?’ If you are asked this, how would you answer?” “Bhante, our teachings are rooted in the Blessed One, guided by the Blessed One, take recourse in the Blessed One. It would be good if the Blessed One would clear up the meaning of this statement. Having heard it from him, the bhikkhus will retain it in mind.” “Then listen, bhikkhus, and attend closely. I will speak.” “Yes, Bhante,” those bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this: “Bhikkhus, if wanderers of other sects should ask you such a question, you should answer them as follows:
“Bhikkhus, wanderers of other sects may ask you: ‘Friends, there are these three things. What three? Greed, hatred, and delusion. These are the three. What, friends, is the distinction, the disparity, the difference between them?’ If you are asked this, how would you answer?” “Bhante, our teachings are rooted in the Blessed One, guided by the Blessed One, take recourse in the Blessed One. It would be good if the Blessed One would clear up the meaning of this statement. Having heard it from him, the bhikkhus will retain it in mind.” “Then listen, bhikkhus, and attend closely. I will speak.” “Yes, Bhante,” those bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this: “Bhikkhus, if wanderers of other sects should ask you such a question, you should answer them as follows:
‘Lust, friends, is slightly blameworthy but slow to fade away; hatred is very blameworthy but quick to fade away; delusion is very blameworthy and slow to fade away.’
“[Suppose they ask:] ‘But, friends, what is the reason unarisen lust arises and arisen lust increases and expands?’ You should answer: ‘An attractive object. For one who attends carelessly to an attractive object, unarisen lust arises and arisen lust increases and expands. This, friends, is the reason unarisen lust arises and arisen lust increases and expands.’
“[Suppose they ask:] ‘But what, friends, is the reason unarisen hatred arises and arisen hatred increases and expands?’ You should answer: ‘A repulsive object. For one who attends carelessly to a repulsive object, unarisen hatred arises and arisen hatred increases and expands. This, friends, is the reason unarisen hatred arises and arisen hatred increases and expands.’
“[Suppose they ask:] ‘But what, friends, is the reason unarisen delusion arises and arisen delusion increases and expands?’ You should answer: ‘Careless attention. For one who attends carelessly, unarisen delusion arises and arisen delusion increases and expands. This, friends, is the reason unarisen delusion arises and arisen delusion increases and expands.’
“[Suppose they ask:] ‘But what, friends, is the reason unarisen lust does not arise and arisen lust is abandoned?’ You should answer: ‘An unattractive object. For one who attends carefully to an unattractive object, unarisen lust does not arise and arisen lust is abandoned. This, friends, is the reason unarisen lust does not arise and arisen lust is abandoned.’
“[Suppose they ask:] ‘But what, friends, is the reason unarisen hatred does not arise and arisen hatred is abandoned?’ You should answer: ‘The liberation of the mind by loving-kindness. For one who attends carefully to the liberation of the mind by loving-kindness, unarisen hatred does not arise and arisen hatred is abandoned. This, friends, is the reason unarisen hatred does not arise and arisen hatred is abandoned.’
“[Suppose they ask:] ‘But what, friends, is the reason unarisen delusion does not arise and arisen delusion is abandoned?’ You should answer: ‘Careful attention. For one who attends carefully, unarisen delusion does not arise and arisen delusion is abandoned. This, friends, is the reason unarisen delusion does not arise and arisen delusion is abandoned.’” AN 68
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Desire & lust
“There are, friends, wise khattiyas, wise brahmins, wise householders, and wise ascetics who question a bhikkhu when he has gone abroad—for wise people, friends, are inquisitive: ‘What does your teacher say, what does he teach?’ Being asked thus, friends, you should answer: ‘Our teacher, friends, teaches the removal of desire and lust.’ →
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“I teach the Dhamma to disciples from direct knowledge, Uttiya, for the purification of beings, for surmounting sorrow and lamentation, for ending pain and grief, for attainment of the true goal, for realizing Nibbāna.”
“Master Gotama, does that Dhamma provide an outlet from suffering for all the world, or for half, or for a third?”
When this was said, the Blessed One remained silent.
Then the Venerable Ānanda thought: “The wanderer Uttiya must not conceive any such pernicious view as ’When the monk Gotama is asked a question peculiar to me and to no one else and he founders and does not answer, is it because he is unable?’ That would be long for his harm and suffering.” So he said to him: “Friend Uttiya, I shall give you a simile; for some wise men here get to know through a simile the meaning of what is said.
“Suppose a king had a city with strong ditches, ramparts and bastions, and a single gate, and he had a wise, clever, sagacious gate-keeper there who stopped those whom he did not know and admitted only those whom he knew; and since he had himself gone round the path encircling the city and had seen no gaps in the ramparts or any hole even big enough for a cat to pass through, he might conclude that living beings above a certain size must go in and out through the gate—so too, friend Uttiya, a Perfect One’s concern is not that ’All the world shall find an outlet by this, or a half, or a third,’ but rather that ’Whoever has found or finds or will find an outlet from the world of suffering, that is always done by abandoning the five hindrances (of desire for sensuality, ill will, lethargy-and-drowsiness, agitation-and-worry, and uncertainty), defilements that weaken understanding, and by maintaining in being the seven factors of enlightenment with minds well established on the four foundations of mindfulness.’
“Your question which you put to the Blessed One was framed in the wrong way; that was why the Blessed One did not answer it.” [AN 10:95]
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ENVY
Envy is a drive which lies at the core of man’s life as a social being, and, which occurs as soon as two individuals become capable of mutual comparison.
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GREED
TULIPOMANIA—THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY botanical folly we know—was an episode inscribed on the margin of Great History. We have chosen it not without reason. It should be honestly confessed: we have a strange liking for presenting follies in the sanctuaries of reason, and we also like to study catastrophes against a gentle landscape. There are reasons more important than frivolous personal or aesthetic inclinations, however. For doesn’t the affair we have described remind us of other, more dangerous follies of humanity that consist in the irrational attachment to a single idea, a single symbol, or a single formula for happiness?
This is why we cannot put a large period after the date 1637 and consider the matter definitively closed. It is not reasonable to erase it from memory, or count it among the inconceivable fads of the past. If tulipomania was a kind of psychological epidemic, and this is what we believe, the probability exists—bordering on certainty—that one day it will afflict us again in this or another form.
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ANGER
Formerly, bhikkhus, in this same Sāvatthī there was a housewife named Vedehikā. And a good report about Mistress Vedehikā had spread thus: ‘MistressVedehikā is gentle, Mistress Vedehikā is meek, Mistress Vedehikā is peaceful.’ Now Mistress Vedehikā had a maid named Kālī, who was clever, nimble, and neat in her work. The maid Kālī thought: ‘A good report about my lady has spread thus: “Mistress Vedehikā is gentle, Mistress Vedehikā is meek, Mistress Vedehikā is peaceful.” How is it now, while she does not show anger, is it nevertheless actually present in her or is it absent? Or else is it just because my work is neat that my lady shows no anger though it is actually present in her? Suppose I test my lady.’“
Now, when we have had experience with the vice of anger, not as arising within ourselves, but attacking us from without, like a sudden tempest, then, especially, do we perceive the excellence of the divine precept. If we have ever yielded before such anger, as if giving passage to a strongly flowing stream, and have studied calmly the shameful paroxysms which commonly afflict persons who are in the grip of this passion, we have also recognized in actual fact the validity of the saying: 'A wrathful man is not seemly.'
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