Unwholesome Cetasikas

Unwhole­some cetasikas are the fac­tors that make cit­ta unwhole­some. Cit­ta is sim­ply the aware­ness of an object. When it aris­es along with unwhole­some cetasikas, it is called an unwhole­some cit­ta. Cetasikas are what makes one type of con­scious­ness dif­fer­ent from anoth­er type of consciousness.

These four cetasikas are called uni­ver­sal because they arise with all twelve types of unwhole­some cittas.

Delu­sion is char­ac­ter­ized by men­tal blind­ness or igno­rance. Its func­tion is to hide the true nature of the object. It man­i­fests as the absence of right under­stand­ing or as men­tal darkness.

Shame­less­ness and Fear­less­ness of wrong­do­ing both have the func­tion of doing evil things. The char­ac­ter­is­tic of shame­less­ness is the absence of revul­sion at bod­i­ly and ver­bal wrong­do­ing. The char­ac­ter­is­tic of fear­less­ness of wrong­do­ing is the absence of fear due to such wrong­do­ing. The prox­i­mate cause of shame­less­ness is the lack of self-respect. The prox­i­mate cause of fear­less­ness of wrong­do­ing is the lack of respect for others.

Rest­less­ness here refers to men­tal rest­less­ness. Its func­tion is to make the mind unsta­ble, which man­i­fests as restlessness.

Greed cov­ers all degrees of self­ish desire, long­ing, attach­ment, cling­ing and craving.

Wrong view is char­ac­ter­ized by wrong inter­pre­ta­tion of things. Its func­tion is to make assump­tions and to mis­un­der­stand things.

Con­ceit is a kind of men­tal mad­ness. It has the char­ac­ter of arro­gance. Its func­tion is self-aggran­dize­ment. It is expressed as vanity.

Hatred includes all kinds and all degrees of dis­like, ill will, anger, irri­ta­tion, annoy­ance and enmi­ty. Its hall­mark is feroc­i­ty. The func­tion of hatred is to spread or to con­sume the mind and body of the per­son where it aris­es. Before you do any­thing to the hat­ed per­son, you your­self are tor­ment­ed by the hatred.

Envy is char­ac­ter­ized by jeal­ousy of the suc­cess of oth­ers — their wealth, their looks, etc. 

Avarice hides one’s own suc­cess when it can be achieved by oth­ers. Its func­tion is to not be able to bear shar­ing with oth­ers. It is expressed as mal­ice or sour feeling.

Wor­ry here means con­cern or remorse for hav­ing act­ed wrong­ly. Its hall­mark is sub­se­quent regret. Its func­tion is to mourn what has been done wrong or what has not been done.

Sloth is slug­gish­ness or dull­ness of mind. Its hall­mark is a lack of dri­ve. Its func­tion is to remove ener­gy. Its prox­i­mate cause is unwise atten­tion to bore­dom, drowsi­ness, etc.

Tor­por is an apa­thet­ic state of mind, char­ac­ter­ized by list­less­ness and indif­fer­ence. It man­i­fests itself as nod­ding sleepi­ness. Its prox­i­mate cause is also unwise atten­tion to bore­dom, drowsi­ness, etc.

Sloth and tor­por always appear togeth­er and are opposed to ener­gy. Sloth is iden­ti­fied as a dis­ease of the cit­tas, tor­por as a dis­ease of the cetasikas. As a pair, they con­sti­tute one of the five hin­drances for men­tal development.

Doubt here means spir­i­tu­al doubt. From a Bud­dhist per­spec­tive, this means the inabil­i­ty to have faith in the Bud­dha, dham­ma, sang­ha and one’s prac­tice. The func­tion of doubt is waver­ing and it is expressed as indecision.