Buddhism
208  Do we confuse indifferent feeling with calm?

We can easily mislead ourselves with regard to kusala and akusala. We should remember that all that is taught in the Abhidhamma concerns our daily life; it teaches reality and we have to verify what is taught ourselves. Do we confuse indifferent feeling with calm? Indifferent feeling can accompany kusala citta as well as akusala citta. The citta rooted in attachment can be accompanied by pleasant feeling but also by indifferent feeling, and the citta rooted in ignorance is invariably accompanied by indifferent feeling. Thus, we see that when indifferent feeling arises there is not necessarily calm, although feeling that is neither pleasant nor unpleasant may seem calm to us. When we consider more what has been taught about feeling, we shall realize how difficult it is to know the characteristic of true calm which is wholesome. Calm arises with kusala citta and the feeling can be pleasant or indifferent.

Date 31 Mar 2024

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