The Buddha Said the “Three Unwholesome,” Namely: “Greed,” “Hatred,” and “Delusion”

Buddhism holds that the sufferings and afflictions of human life, and the inability to attain liberation, have their main root in the “three poisons” (Trini Akusalamulani), also translated as the “three unwholesome,” namely “greed” (Ragah), “hatred” (Dosah), and “delusion” (Mohah).

“Greed” is desire, covetousness, all kinds of material or spiritual wants, loving attachments, the pursuit of fame, profit, and power, and so on;

“Hatred” is a mind of enmity and resentment, the mentality of wishing to strike, damage, injure, or kill others, dislike of others, jealousy, taking pleasure in others’ misfortune, and so on;

“Delusion” is not understanding, mistaken cognition, delusive thinking, hallucination, and erroneous views; it is the “痴” of “白痴” (idiocy), not the “痴” of “痴情” or “痴心” (infatuation / a doting heart).

Buddhists sometimes call “non-Buddhists” “ignorant worldlings,” out of a compassionate mind, regarding them not as “heretics” who ought to be treated as enemies, but merely as people who have not heard the Dharma, do not understand the truth of the Awakened One, and have not grasped the true principles—that is, “delusion.” Chinese scholars often, based on their understanding of the Chinese “痴,” take the “痴” of the three poisons to mean a doting heart or obsession; this is in fact a misunderstanding arising from the Chinese character “痴.” In Buddhism, infatuation, clinging, being unable to forget, and being unable to free oneself—like lovers who love but cannot obtain—belong among the “three poisons” to “greed” and do not count as “delusion.” But when people have a “doting heart” or are “love-struck,” this too is caused by “mistaken cognition” and “not knowing the truth,” so the distinction between the two is not great. In Chinese, “贪” always refers to obtaining what is not one’s due; in Buddhist learning, “贪” includes even legitimate acquisition, such as passing an exam or making a profit in business, equivalent to “the desire to obtain.”

Buddhists hold that among the three poisons, “delusion” is the hardest to eliminate, because if there is no “delusion” in the mind, there can then be “right view” and “right thought,” a true understanding of “suchness”; one can shed dull and middling faculties and enter sharp faculties, and can give rise to the “three wholesome thoughts” (renunciation, non-hatred, and non-harming), and thereby give rise to wisdom and be able to remove greed and hatred. The Buddhist “痴,” in English translations of the sutras, is rendered as delusion, ignorance, false thinking, without the right understanding, without the right thoughts. Removing “hatred” is not difficult; removing “greed” is very difficult; if one can remove “delusion,” that is great thorough awakening, and one has truly seen the Buddha’s path. Therefore “not hearing the Buddha-Dharma” is one of the “eight difficulties” of human life, similar to being born deaf, mute, or blind.