Affliction

affliction: Sanskrit: klesha; Tibetan: nyon mong. Any emotion or conception that disturbs and distorts Consciousness. The six root Afflictions are Attachment, Anger, self-importance, Ignorance, wrong views and emotional Doubt.

affliction (kleśa, 煩惱). Something that agitates one’s mind, resulting in evil karmas done with one’s body and/or voice. The three root afflictions, called the three poisons, are (1) greed, (2) anger, and (3) delusion. Derived from these three are (4) arrogance, (5) doubt, and (6) wrong views. The list can be extended to ten by distinguishing five kinds of wrong views: (6) the self-view that an embodied self exists in a person composed of the five aggregates and that this self owns the five aggregates and things perceived as external; (7) the diametric view of perpetuity or cessation; (8) the evil view of no causality; (9) the preceding three wrong views, plus certain inferior views; (10) observance of useless precepts, such as staying naked, covering oneself with ashes, imitating cows or dogs, and self-harm, futilely hoping to achieve a better rebirth. These ten afflictions drive sentient beings. The first five are called the chronic drivers (鈍使), which can be removed gradually; they are also called thinking confusions (思惑) because they arise from one’s thinking of self, others, or both. The last five are called the acute drivers (利使), which can be removed quickly; they are also called view confusions (見惑). Ignorance of the truth is the root of all afflictions.