Page 29 - Because I know, I can let go

our fear, our suspicion, our lack of certainty lead us into clinging, into placing our faith in
anything which we think might help us. We’re too childish, not possessing satipaññā,
mindfulness and real knowledge, we go along teaching our children to cling to anything

that will chase away their fears, that will give them some certainty. But we should put
that sort of thing away, we should become smarter, wiser, which, however, doesn’t seem
to happen. There’s delusion and fear of spirits from childhood onwards until there’s belief
that supernatural beings inhabit the world, even dwelling inside ant hills, trees, amulets,

and so on. This sort of thing exists even today. Yet more of a problem is taking the genuine
Buddhist teaching and turning it into something sacred, as when it’s believed that Buddha
images have something in them which is holy and which has to be propitiated. This sort
of thing is for the childish, for those without real knowkedge. In truth Buddha images are

meant to remind one of and to lead one to the true Buddha. But we, believing that the
image somehow contains a spirit, make oblations, offerings, we puja these images in a
materialistic way to get protection, and that blind belief, instead of disappearing as time
goes by, remains, and gets even stronger. This is silabattaparamāsa, habitual blind belief,

of which there’s a great deal in this world.

4) Kāmarāga (rāga/lobha) – sensual desire; finding satisfaction in sensual pleasures,
in those delightful things which form the base from which sensual desire by way of the eyes,

ears, nose, tongue, and body arises. Sensual desire, a firmly established and continually
augmented habit, most especially where sex is concerned.

5) Patigha (dosa/koda) - habitual irritability, that is, often feeling irritation without

any obvious reason, which will mean that this particular defilement has become an habit
with us. If we’ve had a bad upbringing we may develop into an irritable individual, into one
who’s easily angered, and by nothing in particular. We’ll be angry without knowing what
it is we’re angry about. We’ll have developed an inclination towards irritability, towards

conflict.

6) Rūparāga (rāga/lobha) - this is more elevated than kāmarāga, which is concerned
with gross sensuality. Rūparāga is above that, in that what satisfies and delights the mind

in this instance isn’t gross sensuality, but pure form, pure material forms, which represents

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