Nyanatiloka Buddhist Dictionary

exertion; and not at his wish as regards place, object and duration, does he enter them or arise from them.Thus it is well possible that in case of such a person, through negligence, the attainments will becomeperturbed. This person is liable to perturbation."kusala: 'karmically wholesome' or 'profitable', salutary, morally good, (skillful) Connotations of the term,according to Com. (Atthasálini), are: of good health, blameless, productive of favourable karma-result,skillful. It should be noted that Com. excludes the meaning 'skillful', when the term is applied to states ofconsciousness.It is defined in M. 9 as the 10 wholesome courses of action (s. kammapatha). In psychological terms,'karmically wholesome' are all those karmical volitions (kamma-cetaná) and the consciousness and mentalfactors associated therewith, which are accompanied by 2 or 3 wholesome roots (s. múla), i.e. bygreedlessness (alobha) and hatelessness (adosa), and in some cases also by non-delusion (amoha: wisdom,understanding). Such states of consciousness are regarded as 'karmically wholesome' as they are causes offavourable karma results and contain the seeds of a happy destiny or rebirth. From this explanation, two factsshould be noted: (1) it is volition that makes a state of consciousness, or an act, 'good' or 'bad'; (2) the moralcriterion in Buddhism is the presence or absence of the 3 wholesome or moral roots (s. múla).The above explanations refer to mundane (lokiya, q.v.) wholesome consciousness. Supermundanewholesome (lokuttara-kusala) states, i.e. the four paths of sanctity (s. ariyapuggala), have as results only thecorresponding four fruitions; they do not constitute karma, nor do they lead to rebirth, and this applies also tothe good actions of an Arahat (Tab. I, 73-80) and his meditative states (Tab. 1, 81-89), which are allkarmically inoperative (functional; s. kiriya).Kusala belongs to a threefold division of all consciousness, as found in the Abhidhamma (Dhs.), intowholesome (kusala), unwholesome (akusala) and karmically neutral (avyákata), which is the first of thetriads (tika) in the Abhidhamma schedule (mátiká); s. Guide, pp. 4ff., 12ff; Vis.M. XIV, 83ff.kusala-kammapatha: 'wholesome course of action'; s. kammapatha.kusala-múla: the 'wholesome roots' or 'roots of wholesome action', are greedlessness (alobha), hatelessness(adosa), and non-delusion (amoha; s. múla). They are identical with kusala-hetu (s . paccaya, 1).kusala-vipáka: the (mental) 'karma-result of wholesome karma' (s. karma).A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z