[AniccaSeeker]

I have been practicing mindfulness in daily life by watching my thoughts and emotions.

When I feel angry, jealous, or happy, I can notice it and say, “This is anger” or “This is jealousy.”

Then I look at the reason behind these feelings.

For example, I see that anger often comes when things don’t go the way I expect or want.

I know many causes and conditions are involved, not just my will, and I feel calmer and cling less.

My questions are:

I think just observing emotions is not enough to develop wisdom. Wisdom comes only when we see that these emotions are anicca, dukkha, and anatta.

Also, even though I can notice anger or jealousy when they arise, I don’t want them to keep coming.

What is the right way to reduce these unwholesome emotions without suppressing or fighting them?

I also sometimes feel that I don’t want to stay in this world. It feels like a rush to reach Nirvana.

I know I am clinging even to the path, but at this stage I don’t feel it is wrong.

I would appreciate simple guidance on how to live day-to-day life without fighting my own thoughts.

Theruwan Saranai 🙏🙏🙏

• This topic was modified 1 day ago by Lal.

[Lal]

I am glad that you realized the following: “I think just observing emotions is not enough to develop wisdom.”

• I highlighted that part of your comment above.

1. That is why ancient yogis, before the Buddha (like Ālāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta), could not attain a magga phala. 

• Many people who engage in meditation today are like those two yogis. Of course, they are better than  those who engage in ‘breath meditation’ because there is no ‘meditation’ in ‘breath meditation.’

2. The problem is the following. You are trying to meditate while in the ‘nava kamma‘ stage or at least toward the end of the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage. 

• Those ancient yogis like Ālāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta did not know how a mind becomes defiled in two stages: purāna kamma and nava kamma.
• Before I go any further, are you familiar with those two stages of mind contamination?

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AniccaSeeker

[Christian]

That’s the core problem with “modern Buddhism” = I think just observing emotions is not enough to develop wisdom. Wisdom comes only when we see that these emotions are anicca, dukkha, and anatta.

 

 

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AniccaSeeker

[Lal]

Yes. One needs to understand how and why those emotions arise, and what triggers them. Until the root causes and the triggering mechanism are figured out, we can never stop such emotions from arising.

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AniccaSeeker

[Lal]

@AniccaSeeker: You may not have seen my above comment yet. I will wait to hear from you. I cannot explain things until I know roughly where you are on the Path.

• Until then, the following sutta explains what ‘bhāvanā‘ in Buddha Dhamma is: “Bhāvanā Sutta (AN 7.71).” One must first cultivate Satipaṭṭhāna.
• Essentially, one cannot remove defilements in the mind permanently (with the removal of samyojana) until one grasps the worldview of the Buddha and frees the mind of pañca nīvaraṇa at least for a short time.
• The first time overcoming pañca nīvaraṇa (temporarily) occurs at the Sotapanna phala moment. 
• So, the first step is to understand Buddha’s worldview. It explains how the ‘world’ (the same as pañcupādānakkhandha) arises through two stages of mind contamination: purāna kamma and nava kamma. No one knows about the ‘unconscious part’ of the pañcupādānakkhandha generation (the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage) until a Buddha discovers it.
• Until then, everyone tries to stop mind contamination with the mind already in the nava kamma stage. They can never reach the purāna kamma stage until they clearly understand how it arises automatically.
• That seems like a lot of work, but it can be done. But one must proceed step-by-step. Before starting on Satipaṭṭhāna, one must meditate (contemplate) on the complete ‘mind contamination process’ occurring via two stages. That allows the mind to overcome pañca nīvaraṇa (temporarily) and attain the Sotapanna stage.

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AniccaSeeker

[AniccaSeeker]

Lal wrote:

@AniccaSeeker: You may not have seen my above comment yet. I will wait to hear from you. I cannot explain things until I know roughly where you are on the Path.

• Until then, the following sutta explains what ‘bhāvanā‘ in Buddha Dhamma is: “Bhāvanā Sutta (AN 7.71).” One must first cultivate Satipaṭṭhāna.
• Essentially, one cannot remove defilements in the mind permanently (with the removal of samyojana) until one grasps the worldview of the Buddha and frees the mind of pañca nīvaraṇa at least for a short time.
• The first time overcoming pañca nīvaraṇa (temporarily) occurs at the Sotapanna phala moment. 
• So, the first step is to understand Buddha’s worldview. It explains how the ‘world’ (the same as pañcupādānakkhandha) arises through two stages of mind contamination: purāna kamma and nava kamma. No one knows about the ‘unconscious part’ of the pañcupādānakkhandha generation (the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage) until a Buddha discovers it.
• Until then, everyone tries to stop mind contamination with the mind already in the nava kamma stage. They can never reach the purāna kamma stage until they clearly understand how it arises automatically.
• That seems like a lot of work, but it can be done. But one must proceed step-by-step. Before starting on Satipaṭṭhāna, one must meditate (contemplate) on the complete ‘mind contamination process’ occurring via two stages. That allows the mind to overcome pañca nīvaraṇa (temporarily) and attain the Sotapanna stage.

Dear Mr. Lal,

Thank you for your detailed reply and for the sutta reference 🙏

I’m still a lay practitioner working mainly with daily-life mindfulness — seeing how emotions and thoughts arise from craving and expectations, and trying to reduce clinging and aversion. I don’t really do long sitting meditation for hours yet. Instead, I try to observe my actions and thoughts throughout the day and look at them in terms of anicca, dukkha, and anatta.

I’m not very familiar with the terms purāna kamma and nava kamma. What I currently understand instead are vipāka citta and kamma citta, and that these two processes are operating in the mind. I am not sure whether emotions like anger and jealousy are vipāka citta or kamma citta.

If they are vipāka, I can observe them as anicca, dukkha, and anatta.

But if they are kamma, I wish to understand how to prevent them from arising in the first place.

All I currently understand is that everything is conditioned, a saṅkhata, a paṭicca-samuppanna process. Things do not bend according to our personal will; we can only have a limited, conditional influence. Because of this, I see that grasping and aversion lead to dukkha. By reflecting this way, I see the anatta nature — that there is nothing solid to hold on to.

Could you please explain in simple terms what you mean by “purāna kamma” and “nava kamma,” and how I can apply that practically when anger or jealousy arises in daily life?

Theruwan Saranai 🙏

[Lal]

1. I am glad that I asked you about your understanding of the “purāna kamma” and “nava kamma” stages. I normally respond to comments, thinking that the questioner is familiar with the current posts on the website. 

• I first discussed those two stages over two years ago: “Purāna and Nava Kamma – Sequence of Kamma Generation.”
• However, some background material was covered even before that. You can see the progression in “New / Revised Posts.”

2. However, I recently (January 3, 2026) started a new series of posts to get to the same point with a different approach: “Buddha Dhamma.”

• May be you can start with the new section. Of course, you can first read “Purāna and Nava Kamma – Sequence of Kamma Generation” and try to see whether you can grasp it, by also perusing through posts in “New / Revised Posts” from late 2023.

3. Please spend some time along the above lines. Once you have some idea, you can start asking questions by citing any specific post.

• A key aspect is understanding the concept of saññā. See, for example, “Saññā – What It Really Means.”
• Maybe you can read that post first and ask questions about anything unclear.
• Please don’t be intimidated by the sheer number of posts. Once you make a connection (the ‘ahā moment’ can come at any time!) and get started, things will become clearer. The only way to learn is to spend time and ask questions about anything that’s unclear.

[Author]

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