Lobha Dosa Moha

Hmm, the Anagamis have eliminated Dosa forever, but they still have Moha (ignorance, mana, agitation) and Lobha (attachment to the Brahma worlds Rupa and Arupa). It is the complete elimination of Moha which eradicates the other two. The cause of our suffering is the total ignorance of the reality of this world. This is why it is at the arahant stage that all ignorance is eradicated.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Yash RS

It can be analyzed in the following way.

1. All our thoughts, speech, and actions are based on sensory inputs (arammana.)

• Based on those sensory inputs, we engage in unwise actions that accumulate kamma leading to future vipaka, including rebirths in this “suffering-filled world.”

2. We are born human because we like specific sensory inputs (sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and bodily pleasures). Some of them are shared with other realms, especially in kama loka. For example, animals and Devas also crave sex.

3. As explained in Abhidhamma, all sensory contacts (except bodily contacts like injuries) are “neutral,” i.e., sights, sounds, etc, cannot lead to sukha/dukkha vedana.

• However, that initial sensory contact comes with a “built-in distorted sanna” like the sweetness of sugar or the beauty of a woman. That is how a human body is made by kamma vipaka. Thus, an Arahant gets the same “distorted sanna.“ That is the beginning of our attachments to sensory inputs. Of course, there are more details. Being unaware of this mechanism is ignorance (moha/avijja.)
• Let us focus on the “beauty of a woman” for a man. As long as one has “kama raga anusaya/samyojana,” one will attach to that sanna depending on one’s preferences. That is the root cause of greed.

4. Now, suppose man X falls in love with that woman. The more he meets the woman, the desire to “have her” gets stronger with the cultivation of mano and vaci abhisankhara.

• But she falls for another man (Y), and X gets angry and decides to kill Y. The root cause for that anger (dosa) was the desire for the woman (greed). Thus, greed and anger go together. Dosa is a more robust version of patigha. In general, kama raga and patigha go together. 

5. Both lobha and dosa arise (as we saw above) because X has not heard (janato) and understood (passato) the above explanation by the Buddha. That is ignorance (moha or avijja.) 

• Regarding janato/passato, see “Jānato Passato” and Ājāniya – Critical Words to Remember.“

6. Thus, the order is: moha/avijja, lobha/raga, dosa/patigha. Ignorance of Buddha’s teachings is the root cause.

• The mechanism of the arising of “distorted sanna” (and how that leads to “samphassa-ja-vedana” or “mind-made vedana” which in turn leads to attachment/craving) was addressed in “Sotapanna Stage via Understanding Perception (Saññā).”
• I will explain it further in upcoming posts.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Yash RS

I didn’t know that Devas also crave sex. I believe they are born via opapatika births, right?

“Sex” is not explicitly mentioned in the Tipitaka regarding Devas. However, there are accounts of male Devas with many female Devas. For example, the king of one Deva realm, Sakka, has many female Devas.  

• Kama raga includes craving all five types of sensory pleasures. All beings in the 11 realms of kama loka have kama raga.

Yes. Deva births are opapatika births. Female Devas don’t get pregnant and deliver babies.