དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ། | Glossary of Terms

Wholesome actions that are conducive to happiness.

Cumulative meritorious deeds performed by an individual throughout past lives. The most common threefold list of roots of virtue include non-greed (Skt. alobha), non-hatred (Skt. adveṣa), and non-delusion (Skt. amoha).

Wholesome actions that are conducive to happiness.

Wholesome actions that are conducive to happiness.

Wholesome actions that are conducive to happiness.

Wholesome actions that are conducive to happiness.

Wholesome actions that are conducive to happiness.

Wholesome actions that are conducive to happiness. There are three fundamental roots of virtue from which the others arise: absence of desire, absence of hatred, and absence of delusion.

In most contexts designates the three roots of good, i.e., virtuous, states of mind: the opposites of the three mental “poisons” of greed (lobha), hatred (dveṣa), and confusion (moha). Edgerton (BHSD, s.v. “kuśalamūla”) translates kuśalamūla as “the root(s) of merit.” See UT22084-072-038-127. For a different list of three roots of virtue, see Dharmasaṃgraha (Müller and Wenzel 1885, no. 15).

The roots of virtue are of three types: absence of desire (ma chags pa, alobha), absence of anger (zhe sdang med pa, adveṣa), and absence of bewilderment (gti mug med pa, amoha). These three give rise to all wholesome qualities and hence they are called “roots.”

A virtuous action or state of mind that will “ripen” into happiness later in this life, the next, or at some point in the unknown future.

See “roots of virtue.”

According to most lists (specifically those of the Pāli and some Abhidharma traditions), the (three) roots of virtue or the roots of the good or wholesome states (of mind) are what makes a mental state good or bad; they are identified as the opposites of the three mental “poisons” of greed, hatred, and delusion. Actions based on the roots of virtue will eventually lead to future happiness. The Dharmasaṃgraha, however, lists the three roots of virtue as (1) the mind of enlightenment, (2) purity of thought, and (3) freedom from egotism (Skt. trīṇi kuśala­mūlāni | bodhi­cittotpādaḥ, āśayaviśuddhiḥ, ahaṃkāramama­kāraparityāgaśceti|).

Wholesome actions that benefit others.