20/07/2026
Little Dharma pearl
"One inspiring teaching each week"
π What are Delusions ?
βDelusions are distorted ways of looking at ourself, other people and the world around us. The way a deluded mind views these phenomena does not accord with reality.
The deluded mind of hatred, for example, views another person as intrinsically bad, but there is no such thing as an intrinsically bad person.
Desirous attachment, on the other hand, sees its object of desire as intrinsically good and as a true source of happiness. If we have a strong craving to eat chocolate, chocolate appears to us to be an intrinsically desirable object. However, once we have eaten too much of it and start to feel sick, it no longer seems so desirable and may even appear repulsive.
This shows that in itself chocolate is neither desirable nor repulsive. It is the mind of attachment that projects onto it all kinds of desirable qualities and then relates to it as if it really did possess those qualities.
All delusions function like this, projecting onto the world their own distorted version of reality and then relating to this projection as if it were true.
When our mind is under the influence of delusions, we are out of touch with reality and are, in a sense, hallucinating.
Since our mind is under the influence of at least subtle forms of delusion all the time, it is not surprising that our lives are so often filled with frustration. It is as if we are continually chasing mirages, only to be disappointed when they do not give us the satisfaction for which we had hoped.
The New Eight Steps to Happiness
Ven. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche
