Six causes of destructive emotions
According to Asanga’s Bodhisattva Bhumis there are six causes of destructive emotions (Tib. ཉོན་མོངས་པ་སྐྱེ་བའི་རྒྱུ་དྲུག , nyönmongpa kyewé gyu druk, Wyl. nyon mongs pa skye ba’i rgyu drug). They are:
- The basis (Tib. རྟེན་, ten; Wyl. rten) refers to the latent habitual tendencies stored in the all-ground consciousness.
- The object (Tib. དམིགས་པ་, mikpa; Wyl. dmigs pa), refers to the appearance of objects conducive to the arising of a destructive emotion.
- Social context (Tib. འདུ་འཛིན་, du dzin; Wyl. 'du 'dzin), refers to the influence of bad friends and foolish people.
- Explanation (Tib. བཤད་པ་, shepa; Wyl. bshad pa) refers to listening to wrong teachings.
- Habituation (Tib. གོམས་པ་, gompa; Wyl. goms pa) refers to the process of becoming accustomed to past destructive emotions.
- Attention (Tib. ཡིད་ལ་བྱེད་པ་, yi la jepa; Wyl. yid la byed pa) refers to incorrect attention that gives rise to four misapprehensions.]