Kleśa

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Key Term	kleśa
Hover Popup Choices	nyon mongs; disturbing emotions; afflictions; afflictive emotions
In Tibetan Script	ཉོན་མོངས་
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	nyon mongs
Devanagari Sanskrit Script	क्लेश
Romanized Sanskrit	kleśa
Sanskrit Phonetic Rendering	klesha
Chinese Pinyin	fannao
Japanese Transliteration	bonnō
Korean Transliteration	pönnoe
Richard Barron's English Term	afflictive emotion; emotionally tainted
Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term	affliction; afflictive emotions
Dan Martin's English Term	afflictive emotion
Ives Waldo's English Term	emotional defilement
Term Type	Noun
Source Language	Sanskrit
Definitions
Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism	See page 438: In Sanskrit, “afflictions,” or “defilements”; mental factors that disturb the mind and incite unwholesome (akuśala) deeds of body, speech, and/or mind. In order to be liberated from rebirth, the kleśa and the actions they incite must be controlled and finally eliminated. A typical Standard list of kleśa includes the so-called three poisons (trjviṣa) of greed or sensuality (rāga or lobha), hatred or aversion (dveṣa), and delusion (moha).
Tshig mdzod Chen mo	(kleshaH) lus sems gdung ba'i dka' las sam ngal dub dang/ mi dge ba'i las bskul bas rang rgyud rab tu ma zhi bar byed pa'i sems byung/

Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind.

Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind.

Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind.

Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind.

Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind.

Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient.

The three poisons are a reference to the afflictive emotions of rāga (Tib. 'dod chags), dveṣa (Tib. zhe sdang), and moha (Tib. gti mug). These three detrimental states or afflictive behavioral patterns are difficult to definitively translate, and thus there are several common English variations of this group of three, such as desire, aggression, and bewilderment, or attachment, aversion, and delusion. It is useful to think of these three as a process that involves our insatiable urge to possess that which we desire and the ensuing aggravation that arises when we don't get what we want or have what we don't want forced upon us. Yet we are oblivious to the futility of these conditioned responses due to our lack of discernment, and thus we mindlessly continue to get caught up in this causal nexus.