Feelings. . .
In Buddhism, feelings are considered part of a person’s mental processes, and are understood in terms of their long-term effects. The goal is to accept all feelings, and to learn to sit with them without reacting to them.
Primary feelings – Every experience has a primary feeling tone, which is either pleasant, painful, or neutral
- Examples: Sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, and thought all have a primary feeling tone
- Significance: Working with primary feelings is a direct route to enlightenment
Secondary feelings – Secondary feelings are emotions that arise from the primary feeling tone
- Examples: Joy, anger, fear, delight, and more
Kleshas- The five principal kleshas are attachment, aversion, ignorance, pride, and jealousy
- Significance
These are sometimes called “poisons” because they can harm a person’s happiness and relationships
Virtuous and nonvirtuous emotions – Virtuous emotions are positive, constructive, and wholesome, while nonvirtuous emotions are negative, destructive, and unwholesome
- Significance
Virtuous emotions lead to happiness in the long term, while nonvirtuous emotions lead to suffering
Making some examples of these from your own experience is useful. Such an exercise helps us to value our ethical integrity more than the fleeting happiness of getting what we want at the moment.
Since our self-esteem and feelings of self-worth depend more on our ethical integrity than on emotional pleasure, it is worthwhile to take the time to remind ourselves of these values before an impulse arises, so that when the time comes we will make wise decisions.
Peace and Love, Jim
#feelings #thedailybuddha
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