Klesha

In Buddhism, the Pali word Kilesa (Sanskrit: klesha) refers to "defilements", "corruptions" or "poisons". These are mental states which temporarily cloud the mind's nature and manifest in various forms as unskillful actions of body, speech, and mind.

Three main kinds of kilesa (Sanskrit: mula klesha; "root obscurations") are:

1. lobha: greed, lust (rāga), attachment.
2. dosa: hatred, aversion.
3. moha: delusion, sloth, ignorance (avijjā).

(These three kilesha are known as The Three Poisons in Mahayana Buddhism.)

These three kilesas specifically refer to the subtle movement of mind (citta) when it initially encounters a mental object (In Buddhist conceptions of the mind, 'mental object' refers to any object which the mind perceives, be it a thought, emotion or object perceived by the physical senses.). If the mind initially reacts by moving towards the mental object, seeking it out, or attaching to it, the experience and results will be tinged by the lobha kilesa. Unpleasant objects or experiences are often met by aversion, or the mind moving away from the object, which is the root for hatred and anger to arise in relation to the object.

All Buddhist schools teach that through Tranquility (Samatha) meditation the kilesas are pacified, though not eradicated, and through Insight (Vipassana) the true nature of the kilesas and the mind itself is understood. When the empty nature of the Self and the Mind is fully understood, there is no longer a root for the disturbing emotions to be attached to, and the disturbing emotions lose their power to distract the mind.

Sin in Buddhism

There is no Buddhist concept of sin per se although there are analogous ideas such as karma (action and its consequence) and demerit. In general, Buddhism does not recognize the idea behind sin because of its "Cause-Effect Theory", known as karma, which postulates that intentions are the cause of either good or bad actions. Thus, Aryadasa Ratnasinghe writes, "There is nothing called 'sin' in Buddhism in which actions are merely termed as meritorious ('kusala') and demeritorious 'akusala')." Vipaka, the result of one's Karma, may create low quality living, hardships, destruction and all means of disharmony in life and it may also create healthy living, easiness, and harmony in life. Good deeds produce good results while bad deeds produce bad results. Karma and Vipaka are your own action and result. Nevertheless, Buddhism does speak of the three root causes of suffering (greed, hatred and anger) and states that they must be rooted out in one's mind in order for one to live at peace.

Appearance in Yoga Sutras

The third śloka of Patañjali's Yogasūtra explicitly identifies the Pañca-kleśa:

अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः पञ्च क्लेशाः॥३॥
Avidyāsmitārāgadveṣābhiniveśāḥ pañca kleśāḥ//3//

This may be rendered in English as:

Ignorance (in the form of a misapprehension about Reality) (ávidyā), egoism (in the form of an erroneous identification of the Self with the intellect) (asmitā), attachment (rāga), aversion (dveṣa) and fear of death (which is derived from clinging ignorantly to life) —abhiniveśa— (abhiniveśāḥ) are the five (pañca) Kleśa-s or Afflictions (kleśāḥ)//3//

External links

• Kilesa māra
• Practicing for the extinction of kilesa
• The ten kilesa
• DHAMMA NET
  • Abhidhamma chapter 2: cetasikas and akusala cetasikas
  • Abhidhamma chapter 5: carita

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Kilesa  ^history
• Sin  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Klesha"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.