Page 30 - Because I know, I can let go

a higher level of experience and refers to the happiness born from the development of
samādhi - develop good samādhi and the happiness resulting from that will bind the

mind to it in much the same way that sensuality binds the minds of people everywhere.

7) Arūparāga (rāga/lobha) - is similar to the sixth fetter, however here it’s concerned

with finding satisfaction and happiness in things that don’t have form, like the concepts of
goodness, of wealth, of fame, things of that sort, or, as with Yogis and Rishis who develop
samādhi of the kind which doesn’t take any material thing as its focus, like ‘voidness,’
‘space,’ ‘consciousness,’ or whatever, which then become the nimittas, the objects, on
which their samādhi depends, and which, if successfully developed, bring a higher form

of happiness, a more profound kind than that derived from any meditation on form. If we
compare this with something more down-to-earth, then it’s like someone being infatuated
with remaining a life-long object of adulation, for instance, which is something without

obvious form but which brings great satisfaction just the same. This fetter is very subtle,
even involving infatuation with the making of merit, the doing of good deeds, which can
also act as its supports.

8) Māna (moha) - manifests as an inability to accept anyone as our equal or our

superior, and also forces us into making comparisons, into vanity, into self esteem which
we usually confuse with self-respect - which in truth isn’t a defilement, but which we
misunderstand so that our self-respect can become arrogance, pride. The tendency

towards self-esteem, towards being reserved, keeping one’s distance, preserving one’s
honour, even towards preserving one’s credit as a practitioner of Dhamma, which shouldn’t
involve defilement but nonetheless does. Māna is a fetter, a tendency we’ve carried around
from childhood.

30 Because I Know...