Delusion Series, Part 2 –The Trap of Feelings
Hello, everyone! Welcome to this episode of the podcast, brought to you by the Australia Buddhas’ Practice Incorporated.
Today, we continue our “Delusion” series, focusing on the role of feelings within delusion. Delusion is like a cunning weaver, crafting seemingly real stories that trap us in a cage of suffering. Its core features—feelings, impulses, and confidence—interweave to lead us into cycles of good and evil, ruining positive connections and accumulating painful consequences.
1. The Weaving of Delusion: Feelings, Impulses, and Confidence
Delusion is not just a fleeting thought; it’s a complex weaving process, always accompanied by feelings, impulses, and confidence. These elements make delusions feel vividly real, yet they are invariably false. The stories delusion weaves seem logical but are divorced from truth, guiding us toward suffering.
Consider a simple example: Two friends share a close bond. One, out of affection, gifts a precious piece of clothing to the other, feeling joyful, acting impulsively, and brimming with confidence. But when the giver urgently needs that clothing and can’t find it, their mood flips. Realizing it was taken, they feel anger, believing the friend has caused them harm. This feeling fuels an impulse, making them increasingly furious, even seeing the friend as “completely wrong”—their nose, eyes, everything seems off. A single act of giving, originally virtuous, becomes the seed of a negative connection due to delusion’s weaving.
This is the terror of delusion: it splits one event into extremes of good and evil. A single kind thought is overshadowed by countless negative ones, destroying positive relationships. Delusion drives us to amplify negative feelings and ignore positive ones, resulting in far more harmful consequences than beneficial ones.
2. The Trap of Feelings: Weaving Greed, Anger, Ignorance, Arrogance, and Doubt
Delusion’s weaving relies heavily on feelings, which are rooted in greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt. These afflictions fuel delusion, causing us to lose ourselves in illusory sensations.
- Feelings Shift with Mood
When you give the clothing, you feel joy because you’re not attached, acting impulsively with confidence. But when you need it and it’s gone, greed arises, followed by anger: “She took my clothing and ruined my chance to shine!” This anger sparks arrogance: “I needed that clothing to stand out!” It may even lead to doubt: “She doesn’t even value it—what an ingrate!” These feelings intertwine, magnifying the friend’s flaws and weaving a story far removed from reality. - The Illusory Nature of Feelings
Feelings are not the truth of things; they are illusions formed through conditioning. You think a piece of clothing is “good” because you’ve been conditioned to like it; you deem someone “bad” because your mood sours. These fleeting, illusory feelings plunge us into suffering. At their root, all these pains stem from delusion.
3. The Consequences of Delusion: Ruining Connections, Amassing Pain
Delusion’s weaving doesn’t just amplify negative thoughts; it systematically destroys our positive connections, bringing profound suffering.
- Imbalance of Good and Evil
A single kind act, like giving clothing, happens once, but negative thoughts arise repeatedly. Each time you recall the friend’s “wrongdoing,” you create negative karma, far outweighing the initial kindness. Eventually, positive connections are eroded, relationships fracture, and you may even lament, “Why was I so kind in the first place?” - Digging Up Blessings
Delusion is like a gravedigger, unearthing the blessings we’ve worked hard to build. A kind act may amass blessings as vast as Mount Sumeru, but subsequent greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt dig away at them daily, leaving nothing. Reputation, wisdom, blessings, even the ability to speak well—all are reduced to nothing, or worse, become negative. - Broken Relationships
Delusion’s weaving causes relationships to deteriorate rapidly. Couples go from initial bliss to mutual resentment, often enduring only for the sake of children or appearances, suffering in silence. This is the truth of our world: everyone trusts delusion, follows fleeting feelings, acts on impulses, and confidently weaves stories that turn positive connections into negative ones.
4. The Path to Breaking Delusion
- Don’t Follow Feelings or Act on Impulses
When delusion arises, don’t immediately trust it or let impulses take over. Like ignoring street thugs you know are trouble, don’t engage with delusion—neither heed nor feel it, and it will fade naturally. - Awaken and Depart in the Moment
Delusion’s harm lies in our attachment to it. When you see its falsity and realize that following it is like “buying a ticket to hell,” you’ll choose to let go.
5. The Light of Awareness: Piercing Delusion
Delusion uses feelings, impulses, and confidence to weave false stories, leading us from positive connections to negative ones, from blessings to pain. Yet, it is a self-imposed shackle we can break. By igniting the light of awareness and seeing through delusion’s illusions, refusing to follow its weave, we can escape the sea of suffering.
Thank you for listening! See you next episode！
