A while ago I noticed that dispassion (viraga) toward arising thoughts can give great peace. It wasn't really a artificial dispassion, rather, it came naturally after contemplation. Now I'm wondering if it makes sense to actively nurture such dispassion toward not just thoughts but also emotions - like anxiety due to worries of personal outcome. Is this something that actually exists in buddhism? I only know of advice to just observe and be with emotion as they come and go, and never heard of the idea of having a certain view or stance or attitude toward emotion.

I am currently doing some emotional work, and in the process, I am recognizing that I have low self-worth and self-esteem. So, I am wondering, what are the roots of this? I mean, this clearly exists as a phenomena but not necessarily as an elementary phenomena or ground truth. So, from a Buddhist perspective, what is this phenomena ultimately made up of? It immediately comes to my mind that it is related to things feeling dualities like inferiority-superiority, hatred-love, aversion-craving, and somehow it is also related to confidence. So, what are your views on it and how to improve it for a person who has low self-worth?

I often find that in real life people I know are doing things in a "wrong" way. By this I not only mean profound things related to Dhamma, but also small everyday things. Because of these small things, which are most often due to a small gap in their understanding, they keep suffering in a worldly manner. Example clip I feel compassion for them and I feel that only if they could simply know the right thing their particular problem would go away and they will get some peace of mind. With this in mind (mostly) I try to gently tell them what the cause of the problem is... but I have found it unfortunately that 99% of them not only not act, but even not think about my words. It has caused me suffering, I'm not sure how... maybe because I'm not being taken seriously even though I'm telling something very important to them... anyways so I wanted to ask if what I am doing is incorrect, or maybe it is correct but it is impractical, or I'm doing something wrong somewhere? I feel like I should stop helping but then I think even if it makes me lesser in others' eyes, it is worth it if it helps them. Do you experience this situation in people surrounding you? How do you find a middle ground... like have you stopped helping thinking that they cannot comprehend at once deep insights? Any responses are appreciated. PS: Sorry, if my english is bad.

So have few family members, including my mom, who are base in general and particularly nagging. For example my mom (she's uneducated) keeps nagging me on not eating out that I may get sick when she clearly doesn't understand, or at best misunderstands, health and nutrition. Or for example, when I am driving she will nag me on not taking this turn because the car will travel 100 feet more and this will burn more fuel. This is when my family is not at all poor : in fact we are rich from my country's standards. This kind of nagging happens repeatedly even after I explain the correct things, and she does this for almost everything to the point that my dad get super mad at her. I think her mind might be too base to understand simple things. Most of the time I say OK and ignore her, but sometimes I get pretty annoyed. So I was wondering today what would Buddha do with such people ? Would he simply ignore or would you try to teach them? Any advice on such people from the Suttas or personal experience? Thank you.

I've been recently observing that I am surrounded by a lot of narcissistic people which include all kinds of relationships friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances. Having been surrounded by these people I believe I have developed a relatively weak ego/low self-esteem over time -which of course translates to suffering. I also have been doing some meditation related work which has made me stronger/confident and also I believe it is the reason I've been recently having clashes/fights with these kind of people. Thus I wanted to understand narcissism from a deeper perspective of Dhamma. Modern psychology has it already in the dark triad personality traits, namely, narcissism, machiavellism and psychopathy. I watched and analyzed some videos from Jordan Peterson and some others; but I am shocked to find such a surprising lack of material and insights about this phenomenon from any good spiritual gurus, and even here on forums like stack-exchange, reddit etc. Thus I am making this post! So I would like to plead here - kindly contribute any deep/thorough analysis of this trait both from classical sutras perspective and from your own understanding: giving arguments/analogies/reasonings for any assertions. Possibly include the following topics - deconstructing what narcissism actually is, what kind of mental states and defilements are involved, how to overcome those as a person who has narcissism and how to minimize the bad karma recieved while dealing with such people. It may be a little bit of effort to write up properly, but I believe you sharing such valuable insights will be very helpful - for both people like me who have to deal with narcissistic people and also for others who want to fix their own narcissism and corresponding defilements. If anyone does contribute here, your efforts and insights are greatly appreciated, Thank you!

Here is the movie: [Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring 2003](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1GG6o-hPEA) The plot is that the student having attachment to a woman, leave the temple and marries her. Years fly by, and the student returns because he kills her, after her affair. The master helps him to let the anger out before being caught by the police, and then he immolates himself. After that, he leaves some [śarīra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Aar%C4%ABra) . My question is: why would the master cries before the immolation? (source: [i2.wp.com](https://i2.wp.com/macguff.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Spring-Summer-Fall-Winter-And-Spring-Movie-Still-3.jpg)) My answer is that he disappoints with the student. But isn't that disappointment an attachment?

Firstly, this question is related to this stack because during the mindfulness meditation we are told to be aware of our passing thoughts and emotions. I was going through a video that said that 'thoughts create emotions' but I disagree to this, Many times I am engulfed by emotions first, like fear, anxiety, worry, and insecurity and I scan through my mind and I have not had any particular thought, the emotion is right there without any reason. Then I do some mindfulness meditation to deal with that pure emotion. So, am I right that there can be pure emotions to deal with in meditation without thoughts? Broadening the question I would really like to ask, what's the relation between thoughts and emotions? How, where, and when do they get related to each other and influence each other?

I am a 25 years student who has hard time struggling with emotions of anger and revenge. I am taking therapy but I also have decided to become a Buddhist as it is a rational religion. I just wanted to ask what books in Buddhist philosophy will you suggest for understanding and coping emotions of anger and revenge? Thanks!

Emotional intelligence is an ability to deal with one's emotions. I am wondering how does it affect and get affected by the practice of the Dhamma? Does deeper meditative absorption lead to heightened awareness and control of one's emotions and vice versa or are they completely unrelated? Also, does the 'feeling' skandha include feeling of one's emotions? Are there any wholesome emotions one feels as the practice deepens? Are the Brahmaviharas all there is to wholesome emotions?

So, I meditate every for more than half an hour during the evenings and also five minutes session every one or two hours during my work so I keep myself calm all the time(not every day but I am trying to do in these lockdown days) but what I feel is I easily get exhausted from my work which involves only heavy mental activities. But otherwise if I let myself refresh doing things which excites us like joking with my friends, watching fast beat songs, etc. I can continue my work feeling energetic. But the downside of this is I easily get carried away with the stuffs I do for refreshing or even get stressed with my work. How to balance this?(physically i am weak person due to medical problem)

Some call Buddhism psychology, so maybe it can help -- me. This sense that doing something -- let's take a difficult but generic example, learning sanskrit -- is a wonderful, exciting idea; but one never gets started with it, because there is no tangible psychological or material benefit from it -- for whatever reason [you won't find anyone new to talk with, most texts are in translation, no-one will care, etc.]. What remedy is there for this?

Contemporary psychology and neuroscience keep finding benefits to the emotion of *awe*, which appears as a spiritual emotion given it makes one more prosocial and less attached to material objects. **Does Buddhism talk in any way about this emotion?**