This vow is where things get complicated, and apparently, a lot depends on the translation.
Here are a couple you can choose from:
Our defilements are inexhaustible, I vow to quench them all.
Or:
Blind passions are endless, I vow to uproot them.
Or:
Delusions are infinite, I vow to end them.
I had a lot of trouble thinking about this particular vow, in large part because of my Christian upbringing.
The first translation, the one about "inexhaustble defilements" kind of reminded me of the idea of "original sin" that I was raised with. You know...the whole "you're a sinner" thing. And once I admit that I'm a sinner, then I have to quench my original sin by getting saved, and then not thinking sexy thoughts. Then I have to sit up straight in church school and raise my hand every time I want to speak...and on and on and on to a grey horizon of dull, juiceless, droning salvation. Blech. I don't want to take a vow like that, not ever again, if I can help it.
Thankfully, though, that's not the best transation of the word "klesha", which appears in this vow. "Klesha" (or the thing I am vowing to rid myself of) actually translates as "knots". That's an interesting perspective. Knots. Getting all tied up. So, maybe the best way of looking at this vow for me, would be to say:
I get wrapped up in all kinds of knots. I vow to untie myself.
Maybe somebody here who's a better-read Buddhist than I am can comment on how accurate a perspective that translation is.
We had a very iinteresting discussion of this vow at the Gathering. Everybody had their own perspective, and everybody had their own analogy. One person, who works in the computer field, compared the individual Buddhist to a computer circuit, and the "klesha" to dust that gets in the circuit and muddies up the program. What's an analogy or image that works for you? Enquiring minds want to know.
Essentially, I think this vow is a vow to continue working on ourselves. It's an acknowledgment that we can't help others clean out their stuff if we're not cleaning out our own. So, day by day, we untie our knots, and day by day we blow the dust out of our circuits.
And the knots really are inexhaustible, endless and infinite. Every time you untie one, here comes another. Who was it that said "life is just one damned thing after another"?
At the end of the day, I think this vow is really a way of saying that we won't give up and get satisfied with our work on ourselves. That's a good vow - one worth taking.
I'm interested in your points of view on this Vow. Thanks,
Byrd in LA
Posted by wahzoh at February 26, 2008 12:14 PM
Hi Byrd,
I have endless problems with the way these vows are translated. I actually have pushed for the "defilements" translation that you give first because it is the way most Buddhist translators and Buddhist dictionaries translate the term (with "afflictions" a close second). But I have to say that I really like your version:
"I get wrapped up in all kinds of knots, I vow to untie myself."
It is not only based on a legitimate translation, but it has a kind of colloquial power to it, and it doesn't make the mistake other misleading translations make which is to use a word that only focuses on one aspect or element of kleshas.
You see, the lists of kleshas found in Abhidharma are not restricted to just the passions. They also refer to more cognitive or conceptual snarls or knots. Also they are not restricted to just the worldly or earthly sphere but also apply to getting stuck in the heavenly realms (the glass ceiling of the dhyanas or zen states of absorption). Also they are not at all necessarily evil. So the following translations are just wrong or misleading:
"earthly desires" wrong on two counts - they are not just desires and don't just pertain to the earthly.
blind passions - a little better but emphasizes the passions and deemphasizes the wrong views that are included.
delusions - the opposite problem, overemphasizes wrong views and ignorance at the expense of the passions that are part of the kleshas
evil desires - very problematic
Defilements and afflictions are accurate and more balanced but of course still sound perhaps more perjorative or judgemental than klehas are meant to be.
What exactly is the standard list of kleshas composed of? According to one Abhidharma list they are 10:
1. Greed (and this can include clinging to existence in the heavenly realms of desire, form, and formlessness so they are not necessarily even "earthly" desires or greed).
2. Anger
3. Pride
4. Debilitating doubt or cynicism
5. Ignorance
6. Holding the wrong view that there is a substantial independent fixed self.
7. Holding either the extreme view that things exist eternally or the extreme view that things don't exist at all. This view obscures the Middle Way.
8. Holding the wrong view that there is no law of cause and effect.
9. Holding the wrong view that tries to claim that denies that there is such a thing as right and wrong or that even tries to say that what is right is wrong and/or that what is wrong is right.
10. Holding the wrong view that one can eradicate karma or even attain liberation through asceticism, and/or rites and rituals alone.
Those, then are the kleshas, and as can be seen they encompass both passions and wrong views and pertain to those things that defile, or afflict, or get us all knotted up and prevent us from going beyond the six lower worlds (which are both worldly and heavenly).
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
Interesting topic. I tried to compile a list of kleshas from various sources, and seduce them all to the three roots or poisons.
I like the translation as knots because it is literal, and the same metaphor works in English. Anything that ties us in knots blocks insight and is a klesha.
That is so different from the idea of sin. Even clinging to morality can make us judgmntal, thus tying our mind up in knots.
Attachment to fixed views can make us dismissive, thus tying our mind up in knots, and strangling our thoughts.
On what Kleshas cover, I think knotted, negative unhealthy, unwholesome, unskillful, and afflicted thoughts; emotions/passions; and desires cover it.
On the three roots, I have seen these given several ways:
1. Lobha {avarice / materialistic or acquisitional greed} Raga {Passion, passionate or emotional desire]; Kama {Lust, sensual desire like hunger & thirst}
2. Dosa / Devesa {Hatred}; Pratigha {anger, displeasure}; Arati {aversion}; or Vyapada / Byapada {Antipathy, Enmity, Ill-will}
3. Moha {confusion, delusion}; Aviija/ Avidja {ignorance, to be misinformed}; Mudhi {stupidity, foolishness}; ajnana {unawareness?}, Asamprajanya {non-discernment}.
One irritating thing is that so many terms are translated by giving an example. I try to find the
pali / sanskrit root meaning. Is being irritated a knot?
My mind is tied up in many knots; i vow to unravel them all?
Knots!
Wow that's great. You can untie yourself without the idea of avoidance the of the binding and thus the binding can now change it's function when it's unraveled. The binding can be positive or negative depending on how it's used without a moral bias. It's the knot that is the issue, and it's effects, not what made the knot.