Living Dhamma > Living Dhamma – Fundamentals > How Are Gati and Kilesa Incorporated into Thoughts?

September 22, 2016

In this post, we will discuss why mano saṅkhāra are different from kāya and vacī saṅkhāra. Understanding this will help one to realize how our gati can AUTOMATICALLY give rise to immoral thoughts.

▪It will also help one understand how such initial immoral thoughts can be overcome by purposefully generating moral thoughts. This is actually the basis of the Satipaṭṭhāna and Ānāpānasati bhāvanā.

▪Furthermore, we will discuss the issue of where our gati, kilesa, or cetasika are “stored.”

This is the seventh post in this section: “Living Dhamma.” To get full benefits, one should start from the first post. I am using a combination of text and audio files to convey a lot of information in this section.

Here are the audio files :

WebLink: Audio Desanā: Episode 4 - How Are Gati and Kilesa Incorporated into Thoughts?

WebLink: Audio Desanā: Episode 4 - How Are Gati and Kilesa Incorporated into Thoughts? (Original - Larger file size)

October 22, 2017: I just listened to the above audio after one year. They are good and provide solid basis for understanding gati and how they can be changed by controlling vacī and kāya saṅkhāra that we have control over.

▪It is important to realize that many citta vīthi flow in a second. But each subsequent citta vīthi is influenced by the previous one. So, they can take one on a downward path very quickly unless we intervene by being mindful.

▪It is very important to realize that: mano saṅkhāra are generated AUTOMATICALLY based on our gati. Vacī saṅkhāra are generated when we “talk to ourselves, without getting the words out.” Both such “internal speech” and actual speech are associated with vacī saṅkhāra; bodily actions are kāya saṅkhāra.

▪July 26, 2019: Reader Siebe just pointed out that at 14.30 mins I had defined speech as ‘kāya saṅkhāra’. That is not correct, as explained in more detail in “Correct Meaning of Vacī saṅkhāra.”

▪We become CONSCIOUS about both vacī and kāya saṅkhāra quickly and thus have control over them; see, “Correct Meaning of Vacī saṅkhāra.”

Posts mentioned in the desanā

1. Suicide statistics: WebLink: Suicide and Depression

▪I know that most readers of this site do not have suicidal tendencies. But the point is that we underestimate the severity of mental suffering compared to our physical suffering.

2. If one has a hard time comprehending the Tilakkhaṇa, starting with anicca, one needs to first follow the mundane Eightfold Path, remove the first type of suffering, and experience the nirāmisa sukha as explained in the previous posts in this section.

▪This is also pointed out in the “Mahā Cattārīsaka Sutta (Discourse on the Great Forty)” and “Buddha Dhamma – In a Chart.”

3. More details on how our minds control our physical bodies are in the sections: “Mind and Consciousness” and “Gandhabba (Manomaya Kāya).”

▪In particular, the following post illustrates how we perceive our external world: “Citta and Cetasika – How Viññāṇa (Consciousness) Arises.”

▪Citta Vīthi are discussed in “Citta Vīthi – Processing of Sense Inputs.”

4. How thoughts can affect other people: “Transfer of Merits (Pattidana) – How Does it Happen?.”

5. The brain architecture of humans and animals: “Truine Brain: How the Mind Rewires the Brain via Meditation/Habits.”

6. The post mentioned in the discussion on the question “Where are these gati or kilesa or cetasika are maintained or stored?”: “Our Two Worlds: Material and Immaterial.”

Next in the series, “Noble Eightfold Path – Role of Sobhana Cetasika.”