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Namo tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammâ Sambuddhassa!
Delusion
By Rasika Wijayaratne
How can we identify a delusional
thought? A though that tell us that it is alright to react with greed (lôbha) in a certain situation is
a delusional thought. Greed is an unwholesome root, because any action that springs
from greed, whether it be mental, verbal or physical, can cause harm to both oneself
as well as others. Anyone who acts with greed is said to be acting unskilfully.
Any thought that tells us that its alright to act unskilfully is a delusional (môha) thought.
A though that tells us that
it is alright to react with anger (dôsa) in a certain situation is a delusional thought. Anger
is an unwholesome root, because any action that springs from anger, whether it be
mental, verbal or physical, can cause harm to both oneself as well as others. Anyone
who acts with anger is said to be acting unskilfully. Any thought that tells us
that its alright to act unskilfully is a delusional (môha) thought.
A though that tells us that
it is alright to react with delusion (môha) as the root in a certain situation is a delusional
thought (môha). Delusion is an unwholesome
root, because any action that springs from delusion as the root, whether it be mental,
verbal or physical, causes harm to both oneself as well as others. Anyone who acts
with delusion is said to be acting unskilfully. Any thought that tells us that its
alright to act unskilfully is a delusional (môha) thought.
Any thought that recognises
a delusional thought as such and is not swayed by it but thinks to act with non-anger
(adôsa) instead is a thought based
on wisdom (pañña), the opposite of delusion.
Non-anger (adôsa) is a wholesome root, because
any action that springs from non-anger, whether it be mental, verbal or physical,
causes no harm to either oneself or others. Anyone who acts with non-anger is said
to be acting skilfully. Any thought that tells us to act skilfully is a wise (pañña) thought.
Any thought that recognises
a delusional thought as such and is not swayed by it but thinks to act with non-greed
(alôbha) instead is a thought based
on wisdom (pañña), the opposite of delusion.
Non-greed (alôbha)
is a wholesome root, because any action that springs from non-greed, whether it
be mental, verbal or physical, causes no harm to either oneself or others. Anyone
who acts with non-greed is said to be acting skilfully. Any thought that tells us
to act skilfully is a wise (pañña)
thought.
Any thought that recognises
a delusional thought as such and is not swayed by it but thinks to act with non-delusion
(amôha, same as pañña) instead is a thought based
on wisdom (pañña), the opposite of delusion.
Non-delusion (amôha) is a wholesome root, because
any action that springs from non-delusion as the root, whether it be mental, verbal
or physical, causes no harm to either oneself or others. Anyone who acts with non-delusion
is said to be acting skilfully. Any thought that tells us to act skilfully is a
wise (pañña) thought.
Without delusion (môha) as the root, there can be
no greed (lôbha), anger (dôsa) or delusion (môha). Delusion is the root
of all unwholesome states. The destruction of delusion destroys all unwholesome
states and its destruction is achieved only with the attainment of Nibbâna. Until
then we are told to develop as much wisdom (pañña) as possible, for youth by practicing
dâna (giving
with generosity), sîla
(protecting the
5 precepts) and bhâvana (meditation, especially
Metta meditation).
Related Youth Articles
1.
Daily Dâna by Rasika Wijayaratne (on generosity)
[ http://vihara.org.au/go?to=dailydana
]
2.
Five Precepts by Rasika Wijayaratne (on morality)
[ http://vihara.org.au/go?to=pansil
]
3.
Metta Meditation by Rasika Wijayaratne (basic instructions on the meditation
on loving-kindness)
[
http://vihara.org.au/go?to=mettamed ]
4.
Mental Purity by Rasika Wijayaratne (on subduing anger, etc) [
http://vihara.org.au/go?to=vitakkasantana ]
Related Suttas
1. MN 20, Vitakkasanthana Sutta,
The Relaxation
of Thoughts, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
[
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.020.than.html ]
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