The Foolishness of Conceit and Its Cure

“Soṇa, when any ascetics and brahmins, on the basis of materiality—which is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change—regard themselves thus: ‘I am superior,’ or ‘I am equal,’ or ‘I am inferior,’ what is that due to apart from not seeing things as they really are?

“When any ascetics and brahmins, on the basis of feeling … on the basis of perception … on the basis of volitional formations … on the basis of consciousness—which is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change—regard themselves thus: ‘I am superior,’ or ‘I am equal,’ or ‘I am inferior,’ what is that due to apart from not seeing things as they really are?” 

~ Saṃyutta Nikāya, Khandhasaṃyutta, Sutta 49

Measuring oneself against others whether as superior, equal, or inferior to them, is conceit or māṇa. The three kinds of conceit are shown in this Sutta: superiority, equality, and inferiority conceit. In this Sutta also the Buddha shows us that the basis of conceit are the five aggregates which are “impermanent, suffering, and subject to change.” Whenever and however we measure ourselves against others we do so on the basis of these five aggregates or one among them. Apart from these aggregates there are no other basis for measurement or comparison with others. So for example, on the basis of feeling one measures thus 'My sofa feels more comfortable than yours,' or 'My sofa feels just as comfortable/hard as yours,' or 'My sofa does not feel as good as yours; What to do, I am not as rich as you, I cannot afford a luxurious sofa such as yours.'

The Luminous Mind

“Luminous, bhikkhus, is this mind, but it is defiled by visiting defilements.” (AN 1:49)

“Luminous, bhikkhus, is this mind, and it is freed from visiting defilements.” (AN 1:50)

These two related suttas and their terse and almost cryptic description of the mind have fascinated, intrigued, and confounded many teachers and students of Buddha-Dhamma for a long time. The Commentary identified this luminous mind with the bhavaṅga-citta, the life-continuum consciousness. But, probably because of the suttas' laconic, cryptic, riddle-like, and almost poetic description of the mind, many have simply refused to accept the Commentary’s assertion that this luminous mind is something as simple, unimaginative, and uninspiring as the unassuming bhavaṅga-citta. After all, bhavaṅga-citta is often associated with the state of mind when one is asleep. So how can it be described as luminous? And so many have worked to come up with what they think or feel would be a more satisfying and inspiring explanation as to what this luminous mind is.

To begin with, some take the expression āgantukehi upakkilesehi (which we rendered “visiting defilements”) literally to mean that these defilements are adventitious to the mind, something coming from the outside, an alien, a stranger that are not intrinsic to the nature of the mind and are therefore not an integral part of the mind. They are something which the mind can do without, and which can be put away by means of the practice of Dhamma, leaving the mind in an unadulterated luminous form. While we agree that the practice of the Dhamma can help to restrain the defilements and purify the mind from them, but to say that these defilements, when they arise in the mind, are not intrinsic to the nature of the mind and do not form an integral part of the mind, ignores the fact that the mind or consciousness (citta) always arise with their associated mental-factors (cetasikas) as an integral and inseparable part of every moment of conscious experience. And the defilements are some of these mental-factors that may arise in conjunction with consciousness.

For any particular moment of conscious experience, the consciousness present and mental-factors that arise in association with it are determined by the particular conditions surrounding that moment of experience. So if the conditions present (both external conditions, e.g. the object, the people present, the environment, etc., and internal conditions, e.g. perception of the object, presence or absence of mindfulness, one’s general mood, etc.) are conducive to bringing about wholesome response to the object arising in that moment, then wholesome consciousness associated with beautiful (sobhaṇa) mental-factors arise. On the other hand if they are conducive to arousing unwholesome response, then unwholesome consciousness associated with unwholesome mental-factors – the defilements – arise. Regardless of the response, the consciousness and mental-factors, beautiful or unwholesome, that arise as a result of those conditions, are all integral to that experience in that moment. For they each plays a part in contributing to the overall experience of the object in that moment. It also cannot be said that for dhammas (natural phenomena or realities, including consciousness and their associated mental-factors) involved in one moment of experience of an object, dhammas that are brought about by the same set of conditions, some are integral to that experience while others are not-integral. If one is integral the others must also necessarily be integral. If one is not integral then the others must also necessarily be not integral. Otherwise it would be like saying that for children born of the same parent, some of these children are integral to the family while others are not. Therefore both consciousness and its associated mental-factors, being brought about by the same set of conditions in one moment of experience, must necessarily be integral to the experience in that moment.

In truth defilements do not come into the mind from outside. Nor are they a stranger or alien to the mind – they are something very familiar to the mind of a puthujjana (an ordinary worldling). Rather the defilements are latent (anusaya) in the stream of mental continuity (i.e. the stream of consciousness with their associated mental-factors, arising and passing away together in moment after moment of sense-experience in a continuous flow), existing as a tendency or potential which, when suitable conditions are present, will seize upon that opportunity and cause the defilements to appear concretely in the mind.