กิเลสที่ล็อกแต่ละกายไม่เหมือนกัน กายมนุษย์ถูกล็อกด้วยอภิชฌา พยาบาท มิจฉาทิฏฐิ กายทิพย์ด้วยโลภะ โทสะ โมหะ กายรูปพรหมด้วยราคะ โทสะ โมหะ และกายอรูปพรหมด้วยกามราคานุสัย ปฏิฆานุสัย อวิชชานุสัย การจะปลดล็อกแต่ละชั้นต้องอาศัยธรรมจักขุของกายธรรมในแต่ละระดับมรรคผลตามลำดับEach level of body is locked by a different set of defilements: the human body by covetousness, ill will, and wrong view; the celestial body by greed, hatred, and delusion; the form-Brahma body by the same three in subtler form; and the formless-Brahma body by the deepest latent tendencies of sensual desire, resistance, and ignorance. Unlocking each layer requires the Dhamma-eye of the corresponding stage of awakening.
Asked to explain the defilements found in each body of a human being, the teacher answered as follows.
Defilements Differ by Body
The Buddha's release from defilements happened layer by layer, following the sequence of bodies — starting with the defilements of the human body, then the celestial body, the form-Brahma body, and the formless-Brahma body. The human body's defilements are (abhijjhā), ill will (byāpāda), and wrong view (micchā-diṭṭhi); the celestial body's are , hatred, and delusion; the form-Brahma body's are the same three in their subtler form — lust, aversion, delusion; and the formless-Brahma body's are the latent tendencies of sensual desire, resistance, and . They run from coarse to increasingly subtle.
The Human Body: Covetousness, Ill Will, Wrong View
Human defilements are the coarsest. Covetousness feeds on delight in sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches, and swells into greed. Ill will grows from irritation that curdles into a wish to harm. Both exist to cause suffering — to ourselves and to others. Wrong view is a distorted way of seeing shaped by , which uses our likes and dislikes as its lever: once we accept its framing, it locks us in and molds us further, toward greed or grudge-bearing that can follow us across lifetimes. Seeing through this layer clearly requires the -eye of the stream-enterer's path.
The Celestial and Form-Brahma Bodies
The celestial body's defilements — greed, hatred, delusion — appear only as flickers of unwholesome mind-state, not yet acted out through harm to others the way human defilements are. The form-Brahma body carries the same three, but lighter still, held down by the power of absorption. Even so, they remain enough to keep one bound. Seeing through the celestial body's defilements needs the once-returner's Dhamma-eye; seeing through the form-Brahma body's needs the non-returner's.
The Formless-Brahma Body: The Subtlest Latent Tendencies
The formless-Brahma body's defilements — the latent tendencies of sensual desire, resistance, and ignorance — are the subtlest of all, lying dormant deep in the mental continuum, beyond what ordinary can register. Only the Dhamma-eye of the arahant path can see and release them; once all three are released, the arahant fruit is reached.
The Tools for Seeing and Releasing
The teacher compared this to viewing bacteria under a microscope: you need enough light — the Dhamma-eye — together with insight- and clear understanding to actually make sense of what you see, and that combination is what becomes wisdom. Once the danger is seen clearly, the wish to be free naturally follows. For those of us still in the human body, the starting point is simply to keep learning to recognize covetousness, ill will, and wrong view as they arise, stay even-minded rather than swept by liking and disliking, and develop so we can catch the thoughts and feelings the unwholesome slips in — without mistaking them for our own.