พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าความรัก ความชัง ความกลัว และความหลง ล้วนเป็นเครื่องมือที่ฝ่ายอกุศลใช้บังคับให้เราประพฤติล่วงธรรม ผ่านตัณหาและอุปาทานที่ก่อภพชาติขึ้นในใจ ทางแก้คือมีสิ่งเหล่านี้แต่พอประมาณ ไม่ปล่อยให้ล้นจนอกุศลใช้เป็นเครื่องมือบังคับเราได้The teacher explains that love, hatred, fear, and delusion are all tools the unwholesome nature uses to force us to act against the Dhamma, working through craving and clinging that give rise to entire mental "realms of being" in our heart. The remedy is to hold these feelings in moderation, never letting them grow strong enough for the unwholesome side to use as leverage against us.
A student asked about the four forms of bias (agati) — love, hatred, fear, and delusion — and how to reduce this kind of prejudice.
Love, Hatred, Fear, and Delusion Are Tools of the Unwholesome Nature
The teacher explained, citing the scriptures: whoever strays from the through love, hatred, fear, or delusion sees their standing decline like the waning moon. Whoever does not stray from the Dhamma through these causes sees their standing grow like the waxing moon.
For a person to stray from the Dhamma, some guiding influence must be at work, whether from within or without. The true root cause that governs all beings wants us to stray from the Dhamma, and it uses love, hatred, fear, and delusion — the four biases — as its tools. These are all instruments of nature used to control human beings. It guides us to feel pleased or displeased with a particular person, animal, or object, then "builds up" that emotion further and further, deepening our attachment and delusion, until it reaches a point strong enough to force us to stray from the Dhamma. When someone threatens or causes us to be separated from something we love or cherish, the unwholesome nature guides us to do whatever it takes — even wrong actions — to prevent that separation, even though before we ever had that attachment, we lived perfectly well without it.
Craving and Clinging Give Birth to a "Realm of Being" in Our Heart Every Time We Judge Through Bias
There are three forms of craving: sensual craving (delight and pleasure in objects), craving to become (wanting to have or be something), and craving not to become (not wanting to have or be something). All three give rise to clinging — a firm grasping that produces bias, leading us to judge situations accordingly, whether in politics, sports, or our relationships with others. The moment that clinging settles into judgment, a "realm of being" () arises within the heart. A cloud of dark particles bursts outward instantly, like an atom splitting, spreading as a stain that envelops us — invisible to human eyes, but visible through the Dhamma-eye of the . In that instant, a "realm" appears, supporting an overlaid "body within the body," which may take the form of a hell-being, an asura, or an animal, depending on which unwholesome mind has overlaid itself — and this overlaid body then compels the human body to act according to its own will.
An Everyday Example of a Decision Guided by Bias
The teacher gave the example of a man spending his day off at home with his wife and child, when a friend rides up on a motorcycle to invite him out for drinks. An inner wholesome voice reminds him: didn't you promise your wife and child you'd spend today with them? An opposing unwholesome voice argues: your friend went out of his way to come get you — how could you disappoint him? These two inner voices offer opposing information, and we become like a judge who must decide between them — the outcome depending on the underlying weight of our habitual cravings and tendencies.
If he chooses to go with his friend, the clinging born of that overlaid "body within the body" arises — whether a hell-being, an asura, or an animal residing as the "mind within the mind" — and it takes control of his thoughts and feelings. Wrong concentration (micchā-) establishes itself throughout the entire activity, continuously drawing in tainted, unwholesome energy. Once the activity concludes, that overlaid body "ages" and "dies," and a new one arises to replace it — a continuous cycle. The result is a completed unwholesome program stored within , waiting to bear fruit in the future. Every activity guided by bias unfolds in this same pattern, following the process of dependent origination, and brings suffering upon us.
Those who do not stray from the Dhamma through love, hatred, fear, or delusion are those who abide within the system of wholesome Dhamma, grounded in equanimity. This does not mean having no love, hatred, fear, or delusion at all — an unrealistic standard for the ordinary person — but rather holding these feelings in moderation: loving in moderation, disliking in moderation, fearing in moderation, being deluded in moderation — never letting these emotions grow strong enough to force us into unwholesome action. When we manage this, no decline will ever come to us.