Three Unwholesome Roots (akusala-mūla)
Subsumes: Defilement (kilesa)
Parent topic: Unskillful qualities
Subtopics: Greed, Aversion, Delusion
51 excerpts, 2:56:19 total duration

All excerpts (51) Questions about (26) Answers involving (18) Stories (2) Quotes (10) Readings (1) Texts (1)

Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 28 – Apr. 29, 2001

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3. Story: Kittisaro’s parents visit Wat Pah Pong. Told by Kittisaro. [Kittisaro] [Parents] [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/West] [Learning] [Monastic life] [Renunciation] [Fear] [Cults] [Children] [Ordination] [Compassion]

Quote: “Wanting your parents to understand is suffering.” — Ajahn Sumedho [Ajahn Sumedho] [Family] [Suffering]

Quote: “The Communists you really need to be concerned about, the ones who can really hurt you, are the ones who hide inside your own heart.” [Politics and society] [Unwholesome Roots]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 29 – Apr. 29, 2001

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7. Stories on almsround with Ajahn Chah. Told by Paul Breiter. [Almsround] [Paul Breiter] [Ajahn Chah]

Quote: “Good morning, Mr. Dum.” — Ajahn Chah [Language]

Quote: “I’m going to disrobe. I want you to find me a nice girl.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Sinuan] [Respect for elders] [Wat Pah Pong] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Humor] [Unwholesome Roots]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 32 – Apr. 29, 2001

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5. Quote: “If I’ve developed any wisdom, it’s because I had such gigantic defilements.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Chah] [Discernment] [Unwholesome Roots] // [Restlessness and worry] [Aversion] [Doubt] [Sensual desire]


Tudong Stories at Spirit Rock, Session 2 – Jun. 2, 2011

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4. “Can the practice be used in a punitative or punishing way?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] // [Culture/West] [Habits] [Clear comprehension] [Craving not to become]

Quote: “Having a human mind...it’s amazing how perverse it can be sometimes.” [Human] [Unwholesome Roots]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno can’t translate guilt into Thai. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Translation] [Culture/Thailand] [Suffering]

Quote: “All you need to do is create a cage of mindfulness around [unskillful habits].” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Sense restraint] [Mindfulness] [Unskillful qualities] [Similes]

Follow-up: “What about letting the tiger go instead of keeping it in a cage?” [Unwholesome Roots]

Follow-up: “What about the case when one feels one is the tiger trapped in a metaphorical cage. How to escape?” [Liberation] [Perception] [Self-identity view] [Spiritual friendship]


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10. “For Lent, I practiced metta every day for six weeks for a person who I was very angry at. By the end of Lent, I was even more angry. Could you speak to this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Goodwill] [Aversion] [Christianity] // [Right Effort] [Discernment] [Unwholesome Roots] [Relinquishment] [Self-identity view] [Clinging]

Quote: “If the kilesa (defilements) come at you high, then you duck, and if they come at you low, then you jump over them.” — Ajahn Tongrat [Ajahn Tongrat] [Unwholesome Roots]


Tudong Stories at Spirit Rock, Session 3 – Jun. 2, 2011

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4. Story: Ajahn Chah struggles through lust with patience. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Sensual desire] [Patience] [Tudong] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Human] [Meditation/Techniques] [Impermanence]

Quote: Ajahn Chah to biographer: “If you don’t put that in the book, don’t bother printing it.” [Dhamma books]

Quote: “If you ordain as a monk, your defilements ordain with you.” [Monastic life] [Unwholesome Roots]


Calming the Busy Mind, Session 2 – Aug. 11, 2013

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3. “In the suttas, if you recognize a defilement like ill-will, you need to do something about it. How can we reconcile this with the Ajahn Chah teaching you just read (‘Receiving Visitors’ in In Simple Terms)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sutta] [Right Effort] [Ajahn Chah] [Tranquility] [Proliferation] // [Discernment]

Quote: “Practice is really easy. If the defilements come at you high, you duck, and if they come at you low, you jump over them.” — Ajahn Tongrat [Ajahn Tongrat] [Unwholesome Roots]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 18 – Jan. 29, 2014

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4. “Do you have any advice about how to hold a particularly strong “fighting spirit” teaching, like Ajahn Dtun?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Fierce/direct teaching] [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Dtun] // [Culture/Thailand] [Ardency] [Right Effort] [Restlessness and worry] [Heedfulness] [Discernment] [Goodwill]

Sutta: AN 1.49: The mind is radiant.

Quote: “If you invite visitors into your home [the mind] and they just make a mess, then you want to close the door on them before they come in. You can’t be too polite.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Similes] [Unwholesome Roots]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 31 – Feb. 17, 2014

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13. “Is that where when one isn’t meditating per se but where virtue would come in to inform whether we have slipped or not?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Virtue] // [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Ajahn Chah] [Conscience and prudence] [Similes] [Spiritual friendship]

Quote: “The defilements have their wisdom also.” — Ajahn Chah [Unwholesome Roots] [Discernment] [Delusion]


Abhayagiri Kaṭhina 2021, Session 2 – Nov. 5, 2021

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1. Comment: I listen to the talks and read the books, and everything is so logical and rational, but I’m still stuck in habitual patterns of living. [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Dhamma books] [Everyday life] [Habits]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Association with people of integrity] [Community] [Monasteries] [Lunar observance days] [Online community] [Chanting] [Spiritual friendship] [Impermanence] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Generosity]

Quote: “When you’re living with a group of people, not everybody is depressed and lazy and fed up at the same time.” [Unwholesome Roots]

Sutta: SN 55.5 Sāriputta [Factors for stream entry]