..续本文上一页nsight can be especially helpful.

　　When we realize that we like our kleshas, we begin to understand why they have such power over us. Hatred, for example, can make us feel strong and in charge. Rage makes us feel even more powerful and invulnerable. Craving and wanting can feel soothing, romantic, and nostalgic: we weep over lost loves or unfulfilled dreams. It”s painfully and deliciously bittersweet. Therefore, we don”t even consider interrupting the flow. Ignorance is oddly comforting: we don”t have to do anything; we just lay back and don”t relate to what”s happening around us.

　　Each of us has our own personal way of welcoming and encouraging the kleshas. Being attentive to this is the first and crucial step. We can”t be naïve. If we like our kleshas, we will never be motivated to interrupt their seductiveness; we”ll always be too complacent and accommodating.

　　A good analogy for the kleshas is a drug pusher. When we want drugs, the pusher is our friend. We welcome him because our addiction is so strong. But when we want to get clean, we associate the pusher with misery, and he becomes someone to avoid. Shantideva”s advice is to treat our crippling emotions like drug pushers. If we don”t want to stay addicted for life, we have to see that our negative emotions weaken us and cause us harm.

　　It is just as difficult to detox from emotions as it is to recover from heavy drugs or alcohol. However, when we see that this addiction is clearly ruining our life, we become highly motivated. Even if we find ourselves saying, “I don”t want to give up my kleshas,” at least we”re being honest, and this stubborn declaration might begin to haunt us.

　　But I”ll tell you this about klesha addiction: without the intelligence to see that it harms us and the clear intention to turn it around, that familiar urge will be very hard to interrupt before it”s going strong.

　　Do not, however, underestimate the healing power of self-reflection. For example, when you”re about to say a mean word or indulge in self-righteousness or criticism, just reflect on the spot: “If I strengthen this habit, will it bring suffering or relief

　　”

　　Of course, you need to be completely honest with yourself and not blindly buy into what the Buddha and Shantideva have to say. Maybe your habits give you pleasure as well as pain; maybe you”ll conclude that they really don”t cause you to suffer, even though the teachings say they should. Based on your own personal experience and wisdom, you have to answer these questions for yourself.

　　Verses 30 and 31 say more about the futility of habitual responses to kleshas, and the danger of welcoming that which causes suffering.

　　4.30

　　If all the gods and demigods besides

　　Together came against me as my foes,

　　Their mighty strength—all this would not avail

　　To fling me in the fires of deepest hell.

　　4.31

　　And yet, the mighty fiend of my afflictions,

　　Flings me in an instant headlong down

　　To where the mighty lord of mountains

　　Would be burned, its very ashes all consumed.

　　Here he reflects that getting emotionally worked up has consequences so painful and intense they could reduce the mightiest of mountains to dust. But, again, the Buddhist teachings encourage us to reflect on our own experience to see if what”s being taught rings true.

　　In verse 32, we have the third fault of the kleshas: if we”re not attentive, the kleshas will continue harming us for a very long time.

　　4.32

　　No other enemy indeed

　　Has lived so long as my defiled emotions—

　　O my enemy, afflictive passion,

　　Endless and beginningless companion!

　　Long after those we despise have moved away or died, the hatred habit remains with us. The more we run our habitual patterns, the stronger they become—and, of course, the stronger they get, the more we run them. As this chain reaction bec…

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