Cugetari din Dharma

[florin.oltean75]

"In the Sutras, Buddha says:
The fully ripened effects of actions ripen not on soil or stones, but only on consciousness.

This is because only consciousness has feelings, and only with feelings can we experience the ripened effects of actions.

Virtuous actions result in pleasant feelings,
non-virtuous actions in unpleasant feelings, and
neutral actions in neutral feelings."

[florin.oltean75]

"The function of contaminated feelings is to act as the basis for the three poisons - attachment, hatred, and ignorance.

Contaminated pleasant feelings induce attachment,
contaminated unpleasant feelings induce hatred, and
contaminated neutral feelings induce ignorance.

In Guide to the Bodhisnttva's Way of Life Shantideva says:
Because of feeling, craving develops.


When ordinary beings develop pleasant feelings they develop craving, or attachment.

Similarly, their unpleasant feelings induce anger, and their neutral feelings induce ignorance.

By closely watching our mind we can observe these automatic reactions occurring almost continuously."

[florin.oltean75]

"Contaminated feelings are like moisture germinating the seeds of delusion that we have carried from previous lives.

Uncontaminated feelings
Foe Destroyers have eradicated the seeds of delusion from their mental continuum and so even when they develop intensely pleasant feelings they do not develop desirous attachment.

Being free from self-grasping, their feelings are uncontaminated and so they cannot be the cause of delusions.


All contaminated feelings are objects to be abandoned."

[florin.oltean75]

"Buddhas have only pleasant feelings." (uncontaminated)

[florin.oltean75]

"There is a twofold division of feelings from the point of view of their uncommon dominant condition:
1.Bodily feelings
2.Mental feelings

Bodily feelings are feelings associated with the five sense consciousnesses.

They are generated in dependence upon a sense power possessing form.

Mental feelings are feelings associated with mental consciousness, which arise in dependence upon a mental power."

[florin.oltean75]

"There is a twofold division of feelings from the point of view of their nature:
1.Contaminated feelings
2.Uncontaminated feelings

Contaminated feelings are feelings conjoined with self-grasp*ing, and uncontaminated feelings are feelings conjoined with wisdom directly realizing emptiness.

Until we attain the path of seeing, most of our feelings are contaminated feelings."

[florin.oltean75]

"It is easy to generate a wish to abandon unpleasant feelings, but to generate a wish to abandon contaminated pleasant and neutral feelings we need a very good understanding of the nature of samsara.

Both contaminated feelings and contaminated discriminations are key links in the chain that binds us to samsara.

Contaminated discriminations identify objects as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral; and contaminated feelings experience them in these ways.

Contaminated feelings then give rise to the three poisons, which in turn lead us to perform contaminated actions, the principal causes of rebirth in samsara.

As mentioned earlier, it is because feelings and discriminations are so import*ant that when Buddha explained the five aggregates he selected them from among the 51 mental factors and designated them each as a separate aggregate."