So, there's a passage in the MCTB where Daniel talks about the relationship of the practices of samadhi, vipassana and dzogchen/mahamudra to the three kilesas (greed, aversion, ignorance). I can't seem to find the relevant passage on the fly, but if my memory serves me well enough, he - with some caution - proceeded to map these practices on the kilesas in the following way:

1. Greed, the force of attraction or "lobha" being a strong factor in the practice of samadhi, as the mind focuses its attention on one object and along the jhanic follows a refinement of preferable states 
2. The force of aversion or "dosa" being a strong factor in the practice of vipassana, as discernment of the three characteristics is essentially a form of discrimation of the things phenome are not (non-permanent, non-satisfying, non-self)
3. Ignorance or "moha" being a strong factor in the practice of dzogchen/mahamudra. This one is probably a bit harder to see and I think in MCTB Daniel tries to point out that he doesn't imply any offence dzogchen practitioners might take at first sight. If I understood him correctily he points to an element of "letting things be", of non-meditation and direct cognition within dzogchen/mahamudra practice that can be seen as a skillful aspect of the "moha" root

This passage has resonated a lot with me over time.  A large part of my spiritual upbringing has been influenced by my Taoist martial arts teacher, who taught a system of Nei Dan or Inner Alchemy. In this system, the 5 chains that bind the common human mind can also be skilfully used as a fuel for practice and in that form they are referred to as the 5 dragons who carry the sage towards realisation.

As I have been mulling this over, I began looking and recognising patterns of how the three kilesas act skilfully as engines of my meditation practice. 

In my samadhi practice, the three kilesas seem to drive three distinct ways that the mind relates - and draws closer - to the meditation object.

1. Dosa, aversion, as the mind relaxes, lets go of hindrances and releases its agitation.
2. Lobha, attraction, as the mind is drawn to the object and the pleasure of concentrating on the object.
3. Moha, ignorance, as the mind simply rests and stillness reveals itself. 

This has been particularly useful in navigating the territory of "soft Jhana" or deepening access concentration. It provides a general arc for a samadhi session. In the beginning what seems most often necessary is a relaxing of the mind, then moving it towards the object, followed by simply resting in stillness. More importantly, when my jhana practice feels stuck with the mind becoming too contracted, too scattered or too fluffy, asking "what is needed in this moment of practice?" has helped me to become wiser towards what type of movement the mind seems to require in a particular moment to deepen concentration.

The first ever samadhi instructions I got given by my Thai teacher a long time ago were: "Focus on your breath and repeat สะอาด - สว่าง - สงบ" which translates to "clean - bright - still", or "clarity - luminosity - stillness". 

Looking at how the visual nimitta ripens during deepening access concentration, the dosa/lobha/moha modes of engaging with the meditation object seem to correspond to these 3 qualities of the concentrated mind.

1. Dosa, or releasing and relaxing the gaze, seems to improve clarity of the visual nimitta. There is a noticeable reduction of "visual noise", especially on the visual periphery, with the nimitta becoming clearer and the light becoming more pronounced in the foreground. 
2. Lobha, or letting the gaze become drawn towards the nimitta, seems to improve overall luminosity. The nimitta tends to increase in brightness, especially in the centre. Overall luminosity can also increase white noise and lead to a reduction in clarity, so maturation of the nimitta and deepening concentration involves a going back and forth between luminosity and clarity. 
3. Moha, or just the movement of non-movement, letting the mind rest with the nimitta, seems to increase stillness, depth and saturation of the visual field, with maturation corresponding to an increase of the nimitta's colour saturation and depth. Increases in luminosity described above seem to come in mostly bright, pastell colours, while the maturation that comes with stilling the nimitta seems to lead to a transformation of those colours to their more saturated versions. 

Using a slightly geeky metaphor, it feels as if each of these three modes have similar effects on the visual nimitta as the three main switches in an image editing software

1. Dosa, or relaxing corresponding to the "contrast" or "sharpness" setting
2. Lobha, or focussing corresponding to the "brightness" setting
3. Moha or stillness corresponding to the "saturation" and depth setting 

I'm curious if this resonates with other people's practice observations. Cheers,