WHAT PROPELS THIS LIFE PROCESS : AS BUDDHISM SEES IT

The process of grasping or upâdâna as the life generative force results both from the wanting to possess as well as from the insistence to reject things of the world. This is on account of our inborn greed or lobha and hatred or dosa which are therefore rightly referred to as roots of evil or akusala-mûla. This is what happens regularly in our thinking process every day. It is also referred to as acquiese [anunaya M.N.I.191] and resist  [patigha M.N. I.109]. This in effect is the unguarded gratification of sense desires. Buddhism advocates restraint and discipline with regard to this. Guarded, controlled and regulated sense organs, referred to as indriya-samvara or indriyesu gutta-dvâratâ, is held in high esteem in the culture of the Buddhists.

This combustive process of the mind in our very living process also goes under the name anurodha-virodham âpanno [M.N. I.266]. This is based on the primary and fundamental law of likes and dislikes which is characteristc of humans [ piyarûpe rûpe sârajjati appiyarûpe rûpe virajjati. Ibid. = One gets attracted to objects which are delightful and gets repelled by those which are loathsome.]. This process of grasping is done or takes place on account of a self-crystalized notion of  I and mine which is held by every being. The human mind is  said to spin around  this [ahamkâra-mamimkâra-mânânusayâ  M.N. I. 486].

Buddhism calls this the mistaken notion of a personal self or sakkâya-ditthi [Also atta-vâda or atta-vâda-upâdâna M.N. I.137]. A continuous set of psycho-physical processes which are at work in the life of the humans is mistaken and held as an independently functioning and enduring finished product. For many people, the idea of a soul or âtman as something unchanging and something untarnishable is a convenient peg on which to hang these volitional processes of living, as thinker and doer. Acoording to Buddhism, this notion of self  fouls the very process of living this life because of its productive evils of greed and hate, and contributes to the cumulative life-generating substratum. This is what we call ego or self-hood encumbrances [= ahamkâra-maminkâra-mânânusaya]. Until his final liberation in Nirvana man is obsessed with this notion. In the total destruction of  this ego, one terminates the very process of  life production [M.N.I.486].

007. A roof with a defective thatch lets in rain into the house. Likewise, lustful thoughts pierce through into an uncultivated and uncultured mind. While a perfectly thatched roof  likewise lets in no rain into the house, a fully cultured and developed mind admits no intrusion by lustful thoughts. [ Dhammapada vv. 13 & 14 ].