Did the Buddha have unpleasant or negative emotions after his enlightenment? For some time I believed the Buddha only had what you would call pleasant or peaceful emotions. But as I learned that Buddha was still visited by Mara after enlightenment, I began to question this notion. Furthermore, I read an Ajah Chah book in which he said the Buddha did have defilements, it is just that he was ‘far’ from them. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Opening_Dhamma_Eye1.php What are your thoughts on this? I think if we cling too tightly to some ideal in which we never experience any sort of emotional discomfort, then this can actually be the cause of suffering as it causes aversion in us. Because if we wish to be free from these feelings we can prolong them by giving them too much attention instead of letting them simply pass. May all beings be well.

I, as most addicts do, have a deeply embedded and exaggerated difficulty with desire/aversion. I am only coming to understand the nature of my own ignorance experientially now. It is frightening for me, because the fear of relapse, that aversion, is usually the primary culprit as the potential cause of my relapse. And I always feel on the verge of it. Yet other past factors play in as egoic reference experiences from the past. When I began to observe the inner workings of mind and experience, I began to see that much of my desire/aversion and egoic attachments are automatic. My current short-tempered anger at the smallest things, moods and striving seem programmed. Mindfulness keeps transitioning into a task and an objective, as does meditation. Being and letting be collapses into a means to an end. To avert the life that was and safeguard a desirable future. I have a lot to lose, when my mind is hijacked by craving (in the broader buddhist context.) For someone who came from a life, where the world was continually and habitually deemed good/bad, I should/shouldn't, they should/shouldn't, want/don't want, like/don't like, I wanted to ask for guidance around Beginner's Mind and cultivating equanimity and understanding. To see things as they are, I as I am **now**, and the same in relationship with others. I recognise I am living my life, seeing things as they were, pitted against the purity of what is, on replay in my thoughts, beliefs. Ego overlayed onto a now I feel blinded and jaded to. It has present moments simply feel burdensome to me. Anything that could assist a practice of beginner's mind meditation/mindfulness, cultivating non-judgmental awareness and understanding to 'unknot' a confused mind would mean the world to me. Anything to note/notice on this journey in bringing purity and clarity to my present reality would help me. Thanks so much.

This answer stated that: > Even if you sit in the dark and do nothing, you can still be creating > bad Kamma. It depends on whether you have Samma Sati or not. Whatever > you do can create bad Karma as long as your thoughts are defiled with > craving, aversion and ignorance. So ALL thoughts that are defiled with craving, aversion and ignorance (lobha, dosa, moha) create bad karma? So does it mean when we want something (for example, I want to go to X country for my next vacation), does that thought creates bad karma because such thought is rooted in lobha (craving)?

I am writing an essay on Buddhist nonattachment, in which I argue that nonattachment is compatible with a wide range of affective states and intimate relationships (contra some popular philosophical conceptions, which are greatly influenced by Stoicism). The account of Buddhist nonattachment I offer stresses an attitude of open-minded acceptance of whatever mental state arises, without attraction or aversion -- without indulging or suppressing it. In more than one place I have heard mention of a sutta in which the Buddha describes his mental states and attitudes when he teaches the Dhamma, and his audience either understands or fails to understand. From what I've heard, he says something along the lines that he is pleased when people understand the Dhamma and displeased when they do not; however, his is not overcome by those mental states. This is not a direct quote, only the impression left in my memory. Does this sound familiar? Can anyone help me find this sutta?

I have run into a mental trap about desire on the Buddhist path. I know desire is good if it is wholesome, ie say desire for enlightenment and etc. Yet what about a desire for the mastery of a skill such as being a musician or artist, and what about wanting in part that mastery for something as a career? The desire to make a enjoyable living seems ok but is it at odds especially if you want it because there is an aversion to other work that one finds disheartening and unfulfilling? Thank you.

I'm getting aversion when someone do things that I don't like. This happens when a person do and not on natural things like rain. But It is hard to recorgnise it as aversion because that aversion is not towards a person. I just don't like certain actions that affect me (Only the things that affects me in someway). I don't want to hit someone or to hurt someone. So I always try to avoid such situations. But It is not always possible and that avoiding proccess makes suffering, makes doubts. So, How can I stop avoiding things ? How can I practise more acceptance ? How can I face anything without getting aversion?

Before I started studying Buddhism I had desire for life and desires for more in life. That eventually led me to inevitable and immense suffering and eventually to Buddhism. Now as I practise Buddhism and as I study sutta and all I understand that rebirth is something we need to avoid by practising dhamma. We have to end this cycle of Life and Death and eventually suffering. Buddhism is a soteriological practise and philosophy which guides us out of samsara. Also lot of Buddhist suttas mention suffering as inherent and innate. Now this has led me to other end of thought spectrum of **aversion** towards life. As I learnt and understood '**craving for non existance'** is also a craving and should be avoided. But how can one think otherwise. Its either I want life or I dont want life and undertake an arduous journey towards Nirvana. How can one not feel aversion towards life if one desires and practises towards Nirvana. My question is how do I think or train mind to not have either desire or aversion towards life?

There’s one issue that seems to be very divisive in my conversations. And I realize that it is because of me and my own aversion & anxiety. I have done drugs. But one drug that always bothered me since I was young was cocaine. My father abandoned my mother when I was young and was very much involved with it as an abuser and a seller. For this reason I was always sure to not use it. I’ve been around it a few times & each time I get extremely uncomfortable. Not only that, but when somebody close to me talks about it in a nonchalant way, it tends to make me so uncomfortable that I can’t help but get defensive & agitated. I feel very hypocritical because I have done other drugs like acid and mushrooms and feel no aversion to that. And I feel like I am being very judgemental in my reactionary ways when it is discussed. Is there any Buddhist guidance when it comes to how to deal with our aversions & judgements? I’m mostly sober now & plan to stay that way, but just because I’m on my own path, I feel that I shouldn’t judge others on theirs.

Should we care about what others think? If so, to what level? (Most of the time, those thoughts creates suffering).

How should I watch sensations in Vipassana? Should I watch from head to toe and then toe to head? Please explain things step by step as I'm new to Vipassana. Thanks in advance!

I was reading this answer, in which an essay is cited. In this essay, *Freedom From Fear*, an example is given of a hunted deer which experiences anger, and thus aversion. In contrast, the desire to escape isn't aversion, but considered potentially skillful. I have always thought aversion involves aversive states such as avoidance from painful experiences. **Is aversion strictly about anger, and irritation? Does it have nothing to do with avoidance (though the English term somewhat suggests this)?** In sum, I wonder what the nature of aversion actually entails and encompasses.

Is there a fate worse than *oblivion* ? To forget, to be forgotten is there … Chant for anti-*nothingless* ?

I think Andrei might have commented once that the suttas are mostly about (liberation from) *lobha* (including craving and attachment) as a problem, and Mahayana is about *dosa*. That's probably an approximation but, even so, what is to be learned about that from Mahayana? I can think of two possible examples ... - Teacher tells you to do things you don't want to do - Breaking "taboos" in some real though perhaps harmless way, e.g. dipping the top of your finger in alcohol and licking it ... but anything else, in general or in particular? Some related question might include: - I'm especially interested in the type of aversion that would cause you to avoid what might be good for you-and-others, rather than a type of aversion that manifests as anger or hatred. - If *nibbida* is meant as an antidote to *lobha* then is there a corresponding antidote to *dosa*? Or should *nibbida* be an antidote to both? --- I'm aware of this topic -- https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/4057/254 However that seems to be quite "descriptive" (of what's happening) -- rather than "practical", "actionable", or "prescriptive". Can an answer to this question address more of the latter? Ven. Yuttadhammo wrote ... > If you want an *abhidhamma* answer, you have to speak in *abhidhamma* terms. "Wishing for pain to go away" is a *sutta* statement. It involves a wisher, and describes a *sutta* action. ... so perhaps in asking this question I was hoping for more of a *sutta* answer.