Wisdom and Klesha

Before going into the second noble truth, the origins of suffering, where we’ll be learning about klesha, or afflictive emotions, and how they play out into cycles of karma, or actions, which keep us spinning in samsara, I’d like to describe the Noble Truth Zero or buddha nature quality of emotionality, which we call wisdom. 

Otherwise, if the very first thing we hear about emotional energy is it’s afflicted form as klesha, it can come off the wrong way, as if Buddhism is saying all emotions are the problem---which is NOT the case and can lead to all kinds of unhealthy repressive or escapist dynamics that only lead us further away from freedom.   

The wisdom innate in our buddha nature expresses itself in limitless forms.  It’s non-dualistic, not conceptual, and not bound up in karmic patterns in any way.  Rather, it’s totally free flowing, intuitive, not at all “stuck”, and spontaneous.  Wisdom is not the product of karmic conditioning.  It just is.  It’s innate. 

This wisdom, like the sky, accommodates everything, like water, reflects clearly, like earth, is equanimous, like fire, is warm and passionately discerning, and like wind, can move and accomplish whatever is needed.  It’s embodied in those five elements as the five mother buddhas, and to the extent we’re one with our environment, we too experience life as free flowing wisdom, compassionately doing whatever needs to be done. 

Said another way, to the extent we’re aligned with buddha nature, we’re open and spacious, see clearly and without bias, discern precisely how things work and what will be helpful or not, and do what needs to be done.  All of this happens compassionately, for the benefit of everyone, and without any planning or concept.  It’s more like intuition set free. 

Wisdom does not cause suffering at all, and is actually constantly alleviating suffering as it’s one with compassion.  It is not within the second noble truth, or origins of suffering, but rather would be more like the Noble Truth Zero of buddha nature, which is set free along our paths (4th noble truth) and fully at the enlightenment (3rd noble truth).  We’ll revisit it more at those times. 

Klesha is like temporarily frozen and entangled wisdom, contorted and stuck emotional energy, which is neurotic and causes suffering.  This is what we mean when we define klesha as “afflictive emotion”.  It’s afflicted, confused. 

Unlike wisdom, klesha is definitely conceptual, involves fixed narrative and stories, and is heavily intertwined with karmic conditioning and habitual patterns.

Klesha can be defined as “that which disturbs the peace and well-being of our mind and body, and supports negative actions”. 

I’ll continue to describe klesha in more depth in the next article.

And as you may inuit, and as we’ll discuss when we get to the 4th noble truth of the path: the more we meditate, the more access we have to wisdom, and the more that temporarily tangled up kleshas can melt and release.