An Analytical Study of the Dhamma Process of Kilesa Vatta in The Paticcasamuppāda: Avijjā Tanhā Upādāna

Abstract

In this research article, three objectives were purposely made: (1) to study the cycle of defilements (kilesa-vaṭṭa) in Buddhist scriptures, (2) to examine the cycle of defilements in Dependent Origination (Paṭiccasamuppāda), and (3) to analyze the doctrinal process of the cycle of defilements in Dependent Origination, namely ignorance (avijjã), craving (taṇhã), and clinging (upãdãna). This study employs documentary research and qualitative methods based on an examination of the Pali Canon (Tipiṭaka), its commentaries (Aṭṭhakathã), and related documents.

The research findings indicate that kilesa (defilements) are defined as mental phenomena that defile or corrupt the mind. The defilements identified in the Suttas include the sixteen minor defilements (upakkilesa 16), the three unwholesome roots (akusala-mūla 3), the three attachments (kiñcana 3), the three fires (aggi 3), the five hindrances (nīvaraṇa 5), and the three forms of conceptual proliferation (papañca-dhamma 3). The enumeration of defilements varies depending on the context and the intended audience. In the Abhidhamma, defilements are systematically classified into ten categories: greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), delusion (moha), conceit (māna), wrong view (diṭṭhi), doubt (vicikicchā), sloth (thīna), restlessness (uddhacca), shamelessness (ahirika), and moral recklessness (anottappa). Although the number of defilements differs between the Suttas and the Abhidhamma, their essential nature is consistently explained across both traditions.

The cycle of defilements consists of three principal factors: ignorance, craving, and clinging. Delusion, desire, and attachment arising within the human mind drive human behavior through body, speech, and mind. Whenever craving and clinging arise, ignorance arises simultaneously with them. When aging and the approach of death occur, individuals tend to develop a desire to remain young, to live longer, and a reluctance to die. Ignorance and craving may be compared to the head of the cycle, functioning as a driving force that sometimes leads beings toward unfortunate destinations and sometimes toward fortunate ones.

With respect to the doctrinal process of ignorance, craving, and clinging, when unwholesome consciousness rooted in greed arises, the process proceeds as follows: ignorance, formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, clinging, becoming, birth, aging, and death. When unwholesome consciousness rooted in hatred arises, the process proceeds as follows: ignorance, formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, aversion, determination, becoming, birth, aging, and death. When wholesome consciousness arises, the process proceeds as follows: wholesome roots, formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, clarity (pasãda), determination, becoming, birth, aging, and death. To cut off the process of ignorance, craving, and clinging, one should practice the Bodhipakkhiya-dhammas in order to progressively attain enlightenment through the stages of Stream-enterer (Sotãpanna), Once-returner (Sakadãgãmĩ), Non-returner (Anãgãmĩ), and Arahant.