Emotions, in the context of the 51 mental factors.

Teaching by Lama Lhundrup, Mai-June 1997
#3

D. The six root afflictions (rtsa nyon-mongs drug; mulakleša) (23-28)

• Attachment-desire
• Irritation, aversion
• Pride
• Ignorance
• Doubt
• Erroneous views

Here doubt and erroneous views are mentioned separately, but they could be classified under ignorance, because they arise mainly out of it. Jealousy is not included in this list, it comes later.

1. Desire-attachment ('dod chags; raga)

Based on sensations first arises an inclination towards an object, an initial impulse to go toward it (whereas in aversion the impulse is to go backwards) due to fascination arising, then more and more longing arises, and as you experience the object more you do not want to separate from it anymore. Thus the attachment gets stronger and solidifies into clinging. You really hold on to the object, ready to defend it in order to be able to hold it longer. This is called clinging due to grasping, and all of this is called desire. If this desire is very strong one is dependent, addicted, because one needs that specific object in order to feel happy. This is the opposite of freedom.

If our emotions due to attachment are very strong we develop strong dependencies. We can neither live without our dependencies, nor can we live without our aversions, since both have become our main reference points. Most people think they do not need their aversions, that they are just a nuisance. But if you actually try to take away the object of their anger or attachment from someone who is addicted to it, it is close to impossible! People do not want to let go of their favourite attachments and aversions, since it is a part of their feeling alive, they are identified with it. We either need desire-attachment or anger-aversion to feel alive, to identify as human beings. Due to this everything is pushed to the maximum, either aversion or desire, a maximum state of heavy samsara.

To practise means to cut through early in the process, before a chain reaction starts. We do not have to wait until we have big emotions. When desire or aversion arise, if we are aware, we cut right then and let go of them exactly at the time when they arise. By letting go and cutting through these emotions will be flattened, but this does not mean at all that we are less alive or become like vegetables.

Because these negative states were taking all the space, the positive mental factors did not have much space in our minds. As these negative emotional states are less often present in the mind, the inherent positive mental factors will show themselves. From the AbiDharma point of view the meditator’s work simply consists of changing priorities: eliminating negative states of mind and cultivating positive ones. So, as negativities become less the positive factors become present more and more often. Treating the 51 mental factors (samskaras) in this way is still a dualistic approach, but it is definitely of benefit. It brings happiness which however is still experienced in a dualistic way.

Desire-attachment is classified as two:

• attachment to the world of desire (the objects of the 5 senses plus the 6th mental faculty)

• attachment to the world of existence.

This corresponds to attachment to the samadhis of the form- (1) and formless realms (2).

(1) It is becoming attached to enjoyable, peaceful states of minds. In one’s meditation it is a wanting to reproduce these, which develops into longing, clinging and even dependence to recreate such happy samadhis. But this is of no true value because it does not allow any further insights.

(2) These formless samadhi-experiences are called: limitless space, limitless consciousness, nothing whatsoever, neither differentiation nor non-differentiation.

2. Aversion (anger, irritation, khong-khro; pratigha)

It all starts with the experience of a mental object which is judged as being disagreeable, not the way we like it; we would like something else. We begin to experience this mental representation of an object or person as an enemy in our mind and wish to get rid of this experience. We project this dislike outwards and identify it with the object. The object itself becomes the enemy - whatever person, object, or situation it may be. The mind begins to be agitated, and suffering is present, becoming stronger and stronger the longer this object judged as unpleasant is present. The longer it is present, the more our wish increases to get rid of it, to destroy it, to drive it out of our field of experience, leading to malevolence and anger, hostility, hatred, rage, wishing to go into action, to destroy, to beat. and to kill...

Many people react immediately to their anger by withdrawing inwardly, and might get stuck with it, never allowing themselves to express this anger. They keep it inside, might not show any anger at all, and are completely locked in.

Somebody like this might appear very peaceful from the outside, very nice and smiling, but actually he has so much anger inside. He is locked in the feeling of being aggressed from the outside, he feels constantly aggressed. He experiences situations constantly as a danger for his own existence, and the way he defends himself is to go like a snail into his protection shell. But defence is a state of anger. This defence can take the form of depression and also autism (autistic children for example). It can also simply be the attitude of a person going around smiling, looking very open and happy all the time, but never making any real contact with situations and other people.

The feeling of being aggressed by the world is one’s own aggression and anger projected out. It is our own irritation to be irritated by the way the world and people are. And the world is like this because it is judged by ourselves as being like this. Due to experiences of past lives and of this life we came to the conclusion that the world is a kind of enemy. This resulted in a basic attitude of not wanting to get involved, of keeping to ourselves, always being on defence.

Then there are others who are stuck in the opposite way, always on the destructive or aggressive side. Immediately when they perceive something disagreeable happening, they use whatever they found out to be most effective to defend themselves: crushing down, jumping on, ready to destroy the opponent. There action is very sharp, very precise, the immediate impulse to destroy the object like a hammer. They also experience the world as an aggression, only the reaction is a bit different.

Of course there can be mixtures of these two basic mechanisms of anger. Experiencing the world as being aggressive you might combine your defence with some intelligent way of manipulating the world, building in a lot of safety mechanisms like lies to protect and hide yourself, influencing others by your powers of speech, trickery, and so on.

All these are basically expressions of being irritated by life, and we all know through our practice how we try to get rid of all these different kinds of irritations. First, if someone or something irritates us, we try to change him or it, before we like to change something in ourselves. We try all kinds of manipulations or we look just away, trying to ignore the unpleasant experience as just another way to deal with anger. It is like in scenes of aggression and violence in busy cities – people just turn away, ignoring to see anything because it would arouse too much of there own anger.

These irritations are due to aversion against something, but actually this is a kind of clinging, of wanting a different state. We desire something else, pleasant, and we insist on the way we would like to have it!

3. Pride (nga rgyal; mana)

Pride is a very descriptive word in Tibetan — nga rgyal — "the Ego-King", nga means I, and rgyal po means king. It refers to the sense of self, the basic ignorance of the clinging to a self, and augmenting the sense of self through self-contentment — a feeling of being very important. This feeling of importance, this high ideal of oneself, colours one’s vision of everyone and everything around. It is a negative mental factor because it leads to a lack of respect and therefore not being able to understand and to learn from others. It becomes a source of suffering. Because of falsely elevating oneself the suffering of falling down will surely come.

There are traditionally seven kinds of pride. They can be summarised as three kinds of pride related to people (1) lower than oneself, (2) on the same level as oneself, and (3) higher than oneself.

First is condescension (nga rgyal). This is where one is superior to the other person in the sense of faculties, or the ability to deal with the world, or wealth etc., and on top of this outer difference one assumes a real superior attitude and treats the other with disrespect. This is condescension, the attitude of exaggerating the slight or big difference that might indeed exist.

Then there is arrogance (lhag pa'i nga rgyal) related to people on the same, equal level. Here one estimates oneself as being superior even though one is actually equal to others, having the same understanding, capacities etc. You can see how some people have some of these aspects of pride much more predominant. They might be okay in relation with lower ones, and they might have respect towards their spiritual teacher and higher ones, but among people of the same level — they are unbearable. This is this typical form of pride called arrogance which is directed towards one’s peers.

Presumptuousness (nga rgyal las kyang nga) is estimating oneself as much superior to someone who is actually superior. This is thinking to be greater than the Buddha or one’s teacher. One presumes to have qualities which one has not in comparison to those who are actually superior. This of course is complete blindness. It is a pride which is unable to see or understand anything.