Troubles, everyone has them. Many times, we think of afflictions and suffering as one, and in Buddhism we think of afflictions as a negative thought or emotion. With troubles comes suffering.

The great Shakyamuni Buddha told us that the biggest obstacle to getting out of samsara is afflictions, and the obstacle of a bodhisattva before becoming a Buddha is called the obstacle of knowledge, and the essence of the two obstacles of affliction and knowledge is the bright nyoraizang. The primitive and pure Nyolaizang, through our main consciousness, through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and other five roots, produces the five senses of external color, sound, fragrance, and touch. In the process of the interaction of consciousness, the five roots, and the external environment, the mind has a state of turbidity, what kind of metaphor is this situation in the Buddhist scriptures? It's like the sea itself is clear and there are no waves, but why do such large turbid waves arise on the surface of the sea? It was the wind that made the sea waves. So, this kind of consciousness that suddenly arises as distinction, and we can't grasp it, and we don't know whether it's positive or negative, and this kind of confusion and confusion is ignorance, and it's also the so-called dust pollution. The primordial nature of the mind is like water at the bottom of the sea, always pure, with a high degree of wisdom and perfect compassion, which is called Buddha-nature.

Afflictions arise because of ignorance and discrimination. Afflictions are a state of mind, not the suffering that arises from them. Suffering is the result of afflictions, and obstacles to liberation from samsara are caused by defilements. So, in order to get rid of the suffering of samsara, one must first understand how the afflictions arise. How to get rid of it? Only then do you know how to deal with it. Nyingmapa's guru Mipom Rinpoche said, "What is affliction? Greed, etc., are called afflictions. In summary, afflictions are greed, hatred, jealousy, arrogance, suspicion, etc., which are called the five poisons.

From the beginningless samsara to the present, we have become very accustomed to negative thoughts and actions, and we need to study hard to show positive thoughts or actions. What we are born with, that we don't need to learn, is our troubles. Therefore, when the mother is pregnant, the fetus may punch and kick the mother's stomach because it is unhappy, and it will smile when she is happy. The joys, sorrows, and sorrows of the fetus in the mother's body all come from the habits that continue in previous lives. After birth, babies will be very happy about the things they like, and they will also cry about things they don't like, which are all innate habits. What's more, as we age, so does our desire and hatred. Since we have been sensible, we have been greedy because to satisfy the hunger needs of the moment, we will be happy to accept positive kind care, and we will resist negative language, which will grow with age.

The greed, hatred, and arrogance we had when we were children are the seeds sown in our previous lives that have matured in this life. However, when you are still young and do not know how to distinguish between many things, this poison is still just a seed, and you can't see how serious the consequences are. Just like poisoning by eating contaminated water or food, you don't feel the poison at first, but over time, the damage becomes more and more serious. Most of the poisons feel comfortable and pleasant when they are first enjoyed; And as the poisoning gets deeper, the pain gets worse. Unless you are born into a family with good morals or correct religious beliefs, you will not continue to deteriorate, and this is also the common karmic maturity of yourself and your family in previous lives, so that you have the opportunity to slowly change your view of things under the education of this life.

Just like a little friend, when others bully him, he will cry and complain to his family. If it is an irrational parent who does not have the right moral concept, most of them will tell the child to fight back in a-for-tat way, but will not tell him the correct way to solve the problem. After that, the child will slowly build up negative patterns of thinking in their minds. This situation tends to occur in families where parents are violent or open-mouthed. Some children, at an age when they first learn to walk, use violence to solve problems. Even more karmic ones, when he loses his temper but is unable to use violence against others, he will bite himself in turn to vent. At this time, if parents have a compassionate heart, teach their children well, it is not good to correctly understand these hatreds, and then slowly guide them to develop in a positive way, the child's anger habits can be changed, because the previous life brought seeds that have not yet matured. If you know that the soil is planted with the seeds of poisonous plants such as poppies, as long as you do not sprinkle water or fertilizer on it, and there is no sunlight, the seeds will naturally rot in the soil; Even if it can sprout, it is very fragile. The child's seeds of trouble (greed, anger, ignorance, slowness, suspicion, etc.) are the same as the seeds of poppies, and the influence is still very small, the key is not to let it continue to grow. If the parents agree with his negative emotions, or if they are silent, it will be an encouragement, and then the negative emotions will slowly expand. If you are born in a Buddhist family, you are taught from an early age that it is very bad to hurt others, to take other people's belongings for yourself, to hurt others, to beat others, etc., and gradually, the child will know how to change himself, because the concept of right and wrong has been sown in his heart. Nowadays, there are many families who spoil more than educate, and let children lose their sense of right and wrong.

Not only that, but adults generally dot on themselves. We all understand that negative emotions and behaviors, including the ten badnesses, are bad because no one likes to be hurt, and no one wants to be hacked to death. Not to mention hurting with a murder weapon, even verbal abuse, sarcasm, and slander can make people feel very uncomfortable, like pricking the heart with a needle. But when we do these things to others, we always have a whole lot of reasons to say to ourselves, "It's not good, and I don't want to, but I have to do it." ”

The Buddha-nature of the human mind is pure, but when ignorance arises due to the contamination of the dust, there is already a coexistence of demonic and Buddha-nature in the mind. On the side of Buddha-nature, of course, people want to be recognized and cared for by others, and everyone speaks to them with gentle and loving language. But on the other hand, can you give this to others? Very difficult. It may be possible to pay for a short time, but it is not easy to pay for a long time.

Killing also arises from afflictions. People kill for greed, the most serious of which is to satisfy their appetite. Many people kill an animal when they see it because they want to eat its meat. In addition, there are people who kill just to play with animals. Many people go fishing and hunting just as a hobby.

People have the ability but do not reflect, they will become blind and blindly obedient because of ignorance, and they do not know whether they should do or not. How many megalomaniacs are waging wars everywhere, and in the end it is innocent civilians who are harmed. Or they are interested in other countries' oil, wealth, and land, so they find a reason to start a war, and there are many such cases.

The most serious reason for killing is not hatred, but arrogance. Because we have the ability, if the other party does not agree with our ideas, we will force the other party to agree, and the ability is weapons, power, and money. And arrogance is accompanied by greed. For example, a good-looking person will despise someone who is not as good-looking as himself, which is called slow color. We can find that most handsome men or beautiful women will have a stronger arrogance than others.

If Buddhists really follow the Buddha's teachings, the afflictions are easily destroyed, and the question is whether we will make good use of them.

We are always caught up in our own troubles and pains, but it doesn't work at all. Only when people are most familiar with and understand their own troubles and sufferings best, can they not only turn their karma into bodhi, but also practice the exchange of self-inflictions with their own afflictions. Then, when we are able to feel the afflictions and suffering, if we use this experience to generate compassion for sentient beings, hoping that the self will be able to eliminate the painful feelings for all sentient beings instead of all sentient beings when we are suffering from the suffering, then we will have merit when we face the suffering and suffering, and then we will not feel how painful we are when we face the suffering and suffering.