Dissonant Mental States
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Dissonant Mental States (nyon mongs)
- The essentially pure nature of mind is obscured and afflicted by the various psychological and mental defilements known as the dissonant mental states (Skt. kleśa). The Tibetan equivalent nyon mong implies a mental event whose arisal causes psychological afflictions within the mind, thus destroying its peace and composure. According to the Abhidharma literature in general, there are six primary dissonant mental states: fundamental ignorance, attachment, anger, pride, doubt, and mundane views; and an enumeration of twenty subsidiary mental states (Skt. upakleśa), which include: wrath, malice, dissimulation, fury, envy, miserliness, dishonesty, deception, arrogance, mischief, indecorum, indecency, obfiscation, agitation, distrust, laziness, carelessness, forgetfulness, distraction, and inattentiveness. Even more wide-ranging are the 84,000 dissonant mental states for which the 84000 aspects of the sacred doctrine are said to provide distinctive antidotes. At the root of all these psychological afflictions lies the fundamental ignorance which misapprehends the true nature of reality. GD (from the Glossary to Tibetan Elemental Divination Paintings)