Abstract of Nirvana Sutra - Chapter 43

"Oh good man! Ignorance is the root of all defilements. Why? All beings, due to the causal relations of ignorance, call forth all imaginings and forms in the fields of the five skandhas, the 12 spheres, and the 18 realms [of senses]. These are inverted notions as regards image, mind, and worldview. From these, all the defilements arise. Therefore, I state in the 12 types of sutras: 'Ignorance is the cause of greed, the cause of ill-will, and the cause of (own) ignorance'. "

Read more in Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 43 - On the Bodhisattva Kasyapa 4.
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The Defilements of Ignorance

"Defilements (of ignorance) are all those mental evil sensations in the worlds of form and formlessness, and the causal relations that operate from outside, except for all the causal relations that operate from outside and the mental sensations of the world of desire (as described above - all three are the worlds of form, formlessness, and desire). We call these defilements. Let's talk about the defilements of illusion. When someone does not know himself and what belongs to him, and when it fails to see the difference between things inside and out, we say that there are the defilements of ignorance.

Oh good man! Ignorance is the root of all defilements. Why? All beings, due to the causal relations of ignorance, call forth all imaginings and forms in the field of the five skandhas, the 12 spheres, and the 18 realms [of senses]. These are inverted notions as regards image, mind, and world-view. From these, all the defilements arise. Therefore, I state in the 12 types of sutras: 'Ignorance is the cause of greed, the cause of ill-will (laziness), and the cause of (own) ignorance'."

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 43 - On Bodhisattva Kasyapa 4.

the defilements of ignorance.mp3

The Defilement of Desire - the Prejudice

The Buddha said: "Oh good man! We speak about the defilement of desire, which is due to evil’s internal sensation that rises to the head, caused by external causal relations. That is why, in times past, at Rajagriha, I said to Ananda: ‘Accept now the gatha [verse] which the woman speaks. This gatha is what the Buddhas of the past have spoken'. For this reason, I say that the evil’s internal sensation and the causal relations that operate from outside are desire. This is the defilement of desire."

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 43 - On Bodhisattva Kasyapa 4.

the defilement of desire.mp3

The defilement which arises from external causal relations - Photo by Marcos Ubirajara.