JUNQUE

If all I thought, said, and did could be summed up in words and put here that'd be pretty pathetic. I am a human being with a myriad of values, emotions, and perceptions of the world: both inner and outer. A few labels that describe my beliefs to some extent are: Absurdist, Buddhist, Pacifist, Anarchist, a Lover, avid Reader, Horror Film Buff, and Free-Thinker. Otherwise, look around, if you like then follow me; I try to make my page as eclectic as my personality and interests. Have a good life.

The Three Poisons (part IX on Buddhism)

The three poisons are as follows: greed, hatred, and ignorance. In the Buddhist view, they are considered to be toxins in our lives. They are considered to be the root of most, if not all, suffering. A Buddhist works on eliminating these from her life. 

I am going to quote a website here because the person succinctly explained these three:

“Greed’s companions are desire and lust, and these passions and attachments cause us to want to “get hold of” things, and to have more and more of them.  Anger’s friends are hatred, animosity and aversion, which cause us to reject what displeases us or infringes upon our ego.  Ignorance, which is “not knowing,” especially not knowing our true nature, paves the way for delusion or in our believing something that is false.”

So I am going to shortly explore each one now. 

GREED

We must come to the realization that we cannot truly own anything, but rather greed consumes us. Everything is impermanent, and because of this we should not become over attached to anything of this world because what happens when two people want the same thing? Conflict. A person who is driven by greed is stingy, self-indulgent, and lacks compassion for others. They become locked up in their own little world of “ownership.” 

Do not get me wrong here, I am not saying sell all worldly possessions and live in a grass hut. Just keep in mind that often that which we own, ends up owning us. A Buddhist resists this. Obsession with possessions, both owning and the desire to possess more, should be held in check by generosity and compassion. 

HATRED

It’s probably a waste of my time to even write this section because I believe nearly everyone believes hatred is something which is bad for a person. However, people need to look deeply at their assumptions, principles, values, and beliefs about life to see if hatred as perverted their view. For instance, capital punishment, no matter how heinous the crime, is not acceptable. It is an act committed out of the delusion that hatred gives to people that they are entitled to take a life because another life was irreversibly damaged or destroyed. 

A person dominated by this poison is attached to their suffering and often becomes self-righteous. They are vengeful and hold grudges. To combat this a person should cultivate loving-kindness, grace, mercy, selflessness, and forgiveness. 

I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. This is not saying you cannot be angry and express it. However, there are healthy ways of dealing with and expressing anger. If it sits and festers it becomes hatred, but that should be avoided. Again, I strongly reiterate, it is NOT wrong or unnatural to feel anger when one is wronged or what-have-you, BUT it should not consume you. There are healthy ways of dealing with anger. 

IGNORANCE

The final poison is ignorance. This is my favorite because I feel that we live in a time of vast information and yet, people still turn from knowledge or are invested in misinformation. Ignorance here is simply not knowing, but it’s implications are greater than not knowing the answer to last night’s final jeopardy; in the Buddhist view, we are ignorant of the true nature of reality. To again quote from the same site:

When we are ignorant, we are not realizing our potential for true happiness, which is our true nature, our Buddha nature.  Ignorance causes insecurity and a feeling of weakness, powerlessness and apathy.

People are ignorant of so very much. If there is one of the poisons that every person is guilty of beyond all else it is this one. For instance, let’s take another Buddhist principle, impermanence, and apply it to the nature of reality. This world and all it contains, including people, are often seen as having some lasting nature. In previous posts we’ve examined anatman and come to see though the impermanence of the self. The idea of a permanent “ego” or “self” is a delusion we all too easily take for granted as true. Upon a closer inspection, we find that all the five aggregates are constantly changing and shifting and there is nothing outside of the five aggregates to call the self; therefore, we’ve concluded (though I encourage you to read the post on anatman and the five aggregates because this is a too short version) there is not permanent self. Everything in the world is like this. Rocks today, are the sand and dirt of tomorrow. The seed of a tree is a seed today, tomorrow a sapling, and later a tree, and even later on it will die of old age ,or become wood chips, paper, or toothpaste. Nothing stays the same. If we stop experiencing things as having permanence however, and begin to see the impermanence, we will experience true reality without clinging to it. 

This is a hard topic to cover and I’ll apologize now if I was not thorough or clear enough. As always, I love comments and questions. Just keep them constructive. :)

(Source: buddhismteacher.com)

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