12.1. Defiled Mind and Pure Mind

The distinction between the defiled mind and the undefiled mind are plainly described in the Vatthūpama Sutta, the Simile of the Cloth (Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta number 7):

“Bhikkhus, suppose a cloth were defiled and stained, and a dyer dipped it in some dye or other, whether blue or yellow or red or carmine; it would look poorly dyed and impure in colour. Why is that? Because of the impurity of the cloth. So too, when the mind is defiled, an unhappy destination may be expected. Bhikkhus, suppose a cloth were pure and bright, and a dyer dipped it in some dye or other, whether blue or yellow or red or carmine; it would look well dyed and pure in colour. Why is that? Because of the purity of the cloth. So too, when the mind is undefiled, a happy destination may be expected.

“What, bhikkhus, are the imperfections that defile the mind? Covetousness and unrighteous greed is an imperfection that defiles the mind. Ill will... anger... resentment... contempt... insolence envy... avarice... deceit. … fraud... obstinacy... rivalry... conceit arrogance ... vanity... negligence is an imperfection that defiles the mind.”

(Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta number 7.2-3)

The imperfections (upakkilesa) that defile the mind are described in various ways. In Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta number 14.2, they present just as the three roots of the unwholesome states, namely greed (lobha), hate (dosa), and delusion (moha).

In the Upakkilesa Sutta (Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta number 128), the imperfections of mind are expressed through eleven elements:

1. doubt;
2. inattention;
3. sloth and torpor;
4. fear;
5. elation;
6. inertia;
7. excess of energy;
8. deficiency of energy;
9. longing;
10. perception of diversity; and
11. excessive meditation upon forms.

All these eleven factors are pointed out by the Buddha as the direct obstacles on the concentration (samādhi) and therefore, they all need to be eradicated.

The defilements of mind are also described more specific in sixteen elements (see Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta number 7.3):

1. covetousness and unrighteous greed;
2. ill will;
3. anger;
4. revenge;
5. contempt;
6. a domineering attitude;
7. envy;
8. avarice;
9. deceit;
10. fraud;
11. obstinacy;
12. presumption;
13. conceit;
14. arrogance;
15. vanity; and
16. negligence.

These sixteen defilements are said to be the evil unwholesome states defiled the mind and they can be removed only by the supramundane path. This means that belonging to each stretch of road the practitioner passes these defilements abandoned in part or complete.

The following Sutta shows out the way of purifying the mind:

“One pure in heart has evermore
The Feast of Spring, the Holy Day;
One fair in act, one pure in heart
Brings his virtue to perfection.

It is here, brahmin, that you should bathe,
To make yourself a refuge for all beings.
And if you speak no falsehood
Nor work harm for living beings,

Nor take what is offered not,
With faith and free from avarice,
What need for you to go to Gayā?
For any well will be your Gayā.”

(Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta number 7.20

In the path of stream-entry, for instance, he can abandon only six defiled elements from the fifth to the tenth (that is, contempt, a domineering attitude, envy, avarice, deceit, and fraud). In the path of non-returning, however, he abandons four more defilements from the second to the fourth and the sixteenth (that is, ill will, anger, revenge, and negligence plus). Thus, in this path he abandons ten defilements. And last, in the path of Arahantship, the noble disciple abandons the remaining six elements; it means he fully abandons all those sixteen defilements.