14 types of mental impurities; words of Buddha_written by Ko Aye Chan
Naturally, as for a human, it is difficult to remove or avoid various types of mental stresses and bad emotional situations simply because we are inescapably facing both mental and physical challenge, obstruction and many types of social and personal problems in our society. Most physical obstacle and problems, in my opinion, are generally more easier to get over than mental or emotional problems. Particularly when we ineluctably deal with those who are narrowminded, selfish, self-center or ill-will, we might feel disappointed or anxious because of them, and hence, our mind and thought turn into bad and negative responds. By this way, we lead to mental impurity called Kilesa (Pali word). According to Buddha's Abidhama, human can suffer from 14 different types of mental impurity, these are:
1. Lobha (excess greed),
2. dosa (ill will or severe angriness )
3. moha (delusion)
4. ditthi (wrong views)
5. vicikicca (inability to sort out moral from immoral)
6. thina (dullness of mind)
7. middha (trapping of the mind somewhere and losing focus)
8. issa (jealousy)
9. maccariya (tendency to hide wealth)
10. kukkucca (do lowly acts)
11. ahirika (shamelessness in doing immoral)
12. anatoppa (fearlessness in doing immoral)
13. uddacca (tendency to become offended)
14. mana (self-importance).
Normally, when most Myanmar Buddhists hear the Pali words, they mostly suppose that these words are not directly related to them. In truth, these words are useful and valuable not only for Buddhists, but also for every human. When we calm down our mind and analyse in detail, we will clearly understand and recognize the above 14 different type of mental impurities are destroying our peace and happiness. The above factors are not just religious words, it is a part of technique to live without or less emotional destructions. It is undoutable that if we can reduce these mental impurity, we can build more peaceful and productive life. In general, it is more easier to say than practice, however, I highly recommend to follow reducing mental impurity as much as we can even if we absolutely eliminate them. We will at lease achieve absence of mental stress or anxiety. To conclude, in Buddha's philosophy, no one can entirely create someone's advantages, he or she can only help or point out what to do and what should not do. It is so clear and simple, even the parents, no matter how they love their children and want them to become clever and good at something, they can only afford to support what the children actually need, We, therefore, can only help each other, the most important and essential thing is to do or practice by yourself. You will be reacted by the result of what you do. However respond time might be different.
Reference website:
https://puredhamma.net/living-dhamma/what-are-kilesa-mental-impurities-connection-to-cetasika/?fbclid=IwAR1_0HP080yIO9bDkSuqXZ224AsSkqLP9zpqRjr2i7kMKky3H3G_7XTZcJI
