outflows

"There are many kinds of outflows. Anger is an outflow, and so is greed. To be stupid is also to have outflows. Having a temper, one has outflows; and if one is a glutton, one has another kind of outflow. Greed for wealth is an outflow. as is greed for forms. Anything which is not proper that you like out of habit is called an outflow.

"Outflows are the root of birth and death. Why can't you end birth and death? Because you have outflows. To be without outflows is to be like a bottle that does not leak--one has to be devoid of all bad habits and faults... Then you are not greedy for wealth or sex or fame or profit. You are not greedy for food or sleep. When you are not greedy for anything, you have penetrated to the state of no outflows.

"Having no outflows is true comfort. When you reach the state of no outflows, then you are genuinely there--you have not run away. You do not run to and from as if engaged in guerrilla warfare. Right now, in a state of outflows, your false thinking is like guerrilla troops. If it isn't going this direction, it is headed in that direction. One knows not how far you might go! The question always hangs in the air:

Will the hero be victorious or defeated?

Tune in for the next episode.

If you have no outflows, then your basic nature of true suchness is there--self-present. If you have outflows, then the truth runs away. What is the truth in people? It is the most valuable thing within your possession. If you let that most valuable thing flow away, if you lose it then you turn into something completely worthless. What is this most valuable thing? It is the collateral for becoming a Buddha, the foundation of becoming a Buddha. If you lose this most valuable thing, then you'll never be able to end birth and death. If you ask how you can stay around and be of worth, how you can be a jewel more valuable than a diamond, you must be without outflows. You have to cut off desire and get rid of emotional love. Although this topic looks really simple, if you have outflows, then what you have that is true has left you and run away." (SM IV 44-45)

"What are outflows? They're just people's bad habits and faults that they've amassed from beginningless time, life after life. That is what is meant by 'all outflows'.

"If you like to drink wine, that's a wine outflow. If you smoke dope, then you have an outflow of smoking dope. People who are greedy for wealth have the outflow of wealth. And those who are greedy for beautiful form have the outflow of beautiful form. Outflows are insatiable. For example, eating is an outflow and wearing clothes is an outflow. When you like to sleep, that's an outflow. Any state that you go along with and end up getting afflicted by is an outflow. If you have thoughts of desire, then you will have a lot of outflows. Outflows are just all our various bad habits and faults. This includes continually breaking the rules and doing things that are not in accord with the Dharma. That's what is meant by outflows.

"Some people hear this explanation of Dharma and give rise to false thinking. What kind of false thinking? They are opposed to what has just been expressed. They think, 'You say that eating is an outflow, and that wearing clothes is an outflow, and that sleeping is an outflow. then tell me, what isn't an outflow? Eating is an outflow, but everybody has to eat. Nobody can go without eating. How can we eliminate that outflow? Nobody can go without wearing clothes, so, how can we get rid of that outflow. Nobody can go without sleep. How can we dispense with that outflow. If all those things are outflows, then how can anyone be without outflows? If one doesn't eat, one dies. If one doesn't wear clothes, one won't get away with it. If one doesn't sleep, one will soon find it's just as important as eating and wearing clothes. If the outflows we must get rid of are those essential parts of our life, then I definitely object!'

"I agree. There isn't anyone who doesn't need to eat, sleep, and wear clothes! Outflows means overindulgence in these things. For instance, if when you eat, you just eat your fill, then that's okay. You shouldn't pay attention to whether the food is good or bad. The important thing is not to have a lot of false thinking about what you eat, and then you won't have any outflows.

"If, on the other hand, you eat something and then give rise to a lot of false thinking, then you will have an outflow. You think, 'I wonder if what I ate today had any food value. I don't know if I've had enough nourishment or not. Will the things that I've eaten help out my body or not?' On the one hand you eat, and on the other hand you have so much false thinking about it that even if you did eat something nourishing, you'd waste it all by false thinking. You may have put the food in your stomach, but it all flows back out in your false thinking. If, when you eat, you stop when you're full and you don't have any false thinking about whether the food is good or bad, then you're a person of the Way without any thoughts. 'No thoughts' means that you eat and don't have any false thinking. And if you do it in this way, then the nourishment will be endless and boundless. It's just because of your false thinking that all the proteins and vitamins disappear.

"This can be likened to a bowl with water in it. If there aren't any cracks in the bowl then when you put water in it, the water won't run out. It doesn't have any outflows. But if there are cracks, then the water is going to leak out. People's false thoughts are just like cracks in a bowl. If you don't have any false thinking, then you don't leave any cracks for outflows.

"Originally you didn't have any of these false thoughts. Why do you want to create some and start speculating about what the food tastes like and analyzing every bit of it for its vitamin content? No matter how much false thinking you have about what you ate today, by this time tomorrow when it has passed through your body, you certainly won't want to eat it, no matter how good it was before.

"If you don't have any false thinking, then the nourishment will stay in your body and will not flow out. But the more false thinking you have about it, the more of its energy-value you lose in outflows.

If you wear clothes in order to keep warm, that's okay. But if your objective in wearing clothes isn't to keep warm, but rather to look good and cause others to notice you, then that's an outflow. As soon as someone pays attention to you, an outflow takes place. If you worry about whether your clothes are good or not, and keep wanting to change outfits, then there is an outflow. When you wear clothes you should only wear them to keep warm. Don't have false thinking about them.

"What is the outflow of sleeping like? When it's time to go to sleep, you lie there but you can't go to sleep. Once you start false thinking, sleep runs off and you don't know where to find it. You toss and turn and still you can't go to sleep. Would you call this an outflow or not? It the outflow of sleep. And if you don't get enough sleep, then the next day you won't have enough energy, because you used it all up false thinking all night.

"Not getting enough sleep is an outflow and getting too much sleep is also an outflow. If you get just the right amount of sleep, then there is no outflow. And so, tell me now, which isn't an outflow? Eating? Sleeping? Wearing clothes? What were you opposing? . . .

"Not only are eating, wearing, clothes, and sleeping outflows, but whatever you like is an outflow. Your temper is also an outflow. Worry, hate, and desire are also outflows. The seven emotions of happiness, anger, grief, fear, love, hate, and desire are all outflows. But these outflows can be stopped. If you get to the place where you can flow and yet not flow, then you can be said to have no outflows. . . ." (FAS Ch9 10-13)

(Source: Epstein, 2003: pp. 155 - 157)

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1) Chinese Mandarin: lou ; 2) Sanskrit: asrava; 3) Pali: asava; 4) Alternate translations: contaminations, impurities, influxes, taints, biases.

See also: ignorance, five desires, eight winds, samsara, suffering.

Buddhist Text Translation Society (http://www.BTTSonline.org) References: AS 125; SM IV 44-45; FAS Ch9 10-15.
 

(NOTE: Numerous corrections and enhancements have been made under Shastra tradition and "Fair Use" by an Anonymous Buddhist Monk Redactor (Compiler) of this Online Buddhist Encyclopedia Compilation)