Before we explore the remaining forms of subtle deception in the mind, let’s briefly recall what we covered in Part 1. There we looked at how unwholesome states can masquerade  as wholesome qualities: how attachment to lust might feel  like loving-kindness, how grief can appear  as compassion, how even equanimity can be shadowed by indifference and so on. The Buddha’s teachings point out these deceptions so that we become more aware of how easily the mind can be led astray wh

The Buddha said: “Pāpasmiṃ ramati mano — the minds of people delight in what is unwholesome.” Pāpa does not only mean unwholesome deeds; it can also mean the mind delights in the unwholesome qualities that arise within it.  If you look honestly, you will notice this in yourself. The mind delights in lobha, but not in alobha. It delights in dosa, but not in adosa. It delights in moha, but not in amoha. These are all unwholesome qualities. And when māna (conceit), issā (envy) a

Māna (conceit) is a stubborn and deeply rooted fetter (saṃyojana) that can only be fully uprooted at the fourth and final Path Knowledge: Arahatta‑magga. Until then, it can hide beneath the surface, arise actively, or lie latent within the continuum of beings. It always arrives with lobha — grabbing onto an idea, thought, memory, object, sensation or experience. Why is this so? Because it is through clinging that a sense of “I”, “me”, or “mine” is formed: all of which are exp

Here in Part 3, we turn to the remaining blessings, starting with ... Being easy to admonish This blessing is explained in the commentary as the quality of being easy to address, speak to, and advise: in short, a person who can be corrected and is also receptive to correction. Implied within this quality are tolerance of constructive criticism or feedback directed at oneself, courtesy towards the one giving advice, and gratitude for being corrected. However, an important poin

In the Maṅgala Sutta, the Buddha presents a profound and practical guide to the true causes of well-being and genuine blessing. In Part 1 of this series, we examined the introduction to the Sutta and explained the first sixteen blessings. If you reflect them, you can find that these qualities are relatively accessible: they are practices that a diligent person, and anyone aspiring to grow in wisdom, can begin to cultivate in everyday life. In this second part, we turn to the

The story begins during a time when everyone, devas, brahmas and humans alike, were obsessed with figuring out what counts as a maṅgala — blessing . They wanted to know the signs, conditions, or qualities that genuinely bring welfare, happiness and good fortune. Not the superstitious kind, but the real blessing. For twelve long years, perhaps even longer, the beings of both the deva world and the human world turned the question of maṅgala over and over in their minds. They wa