:-) Hi DhOers!
I am seeking information on Theravadin teachings about
kilesa-vāsanā (which may be translated as impressions/imprints/ perfumes of the
kilesas; Skt:
kleśa-vāsanā) and
jneya-āvaraṇā/
jneyāvaraṇā (which may be translated as coverings/ obscurations/obstructions of what-is-to-be-known; I don't know the Pali, and have given anglo-Sanskrit for this latter term). Mahayana and Theravada teachings agree that these remain, until dealt with, in the mental continua of persons who have reached the 8th Mahayana Bhumi or 4th Theravada Stage: thus I think this subject may be of interest to others on DhO.
A common analogy of vasana equates the kilesas with fish that have been carried in a bag (mental continuum), the vasana being the pong that remains in the bag once the fish have been removed. The only reference I have found to kilesa-vasana in my admittedly meagre Theravadin literature appears in
A Treatise on the Paramis by Acariya Dhammapala, as a note to eradicating the “mental impression of hatred”, in the section on "the method of practising the
perfection of virtue”. The note is also the only obvious reference to the jneyavarana that I have seen so far in Theravadin literature…
On the subject of the
vāsanā or “mental impressions” the commentary to the Udāna says: The
vāsanā are particular dispositions to actions existing as a mere potential force built up through the defilements [kilesas] that have been brought into play through the course of beginningless time. Found in the mental continua even of those who are devoid of defilements (i.e of arahats), they function as springs for conduct similar to the conduct followed while the defilements were yet unabandoned. In the case of the Exalted Buddhas, who through the fulfilment of their original aspiration abandon the defilements along with the obstruction of the knowable [
jneya-āvaraṇā/
jneyāvaraṇā], no
vāsanā remain in their mental continuities. But in the case of disciple-arahats and pacchekabuddhas, who abandon the defilements without removing the obstruction of the knowable, the
vāsanā remain.” The classical example of this is the case of the
Venerable Pilindavaccha who, though an arahat, continued to address other bhikkhus by the word
vasala [outcast; person of low birth], a derogatory term used by brahmins to refer to those of low caste. This bhikkhu, however, did not use the word due to conceit or contempt for others, both of which defilements he had utterly destroyed, but merely through the habitual force of past usage, since he had been a brahmin through many previous lives. See Ud.III,6 and its commentary.
The case of Pilindavaccha appears just to be a verbal habit but the vasana can also affect thinking, and so speech and action based on that thinking. (Kilesa-vasana are not to be confused with the
kilesāvaraṇā, obstructions to liberation, i.e to arhathood.)
The above reference to “the obstruction of the knowable” suggests that a term similar to
jneya-āvaraṇā/
jneyāvaraṇā is known in the Theravada. In the Mahayana (where this terms is also sometimes confusingly translated as “obstructions to omniscience”) the jneyavarana include both kleśa-vasana (Pali:
kilesa-vāsanā) and imprints of illusoryself-grasping (Skt:
ātma-grāha-vāsanā), the latter giving rise to subtle dualistic perceiving (hence the Mahayana reference to realising the ‘emptiness of phenomena’, such as the skandhas, in addition to realising the 'emptiness of a self imputed upon the skandhas'). The 8th bhumi and beyond is occupied with clearing up the jneyavarana.
Any info from Theravadin sources on the
kilesa-vāsanā and whatever-the-Pali-is-for
jneya-āvaraṇā/
jneyāvaraṇā would be much appreciated. (-:
