The Pitfalls of Clinging to the Feeling Skandha

Because sentient beings regard the aggregate of sensation as the self, cling to the aggregate of sensation, and for the sake of inner feelings, give rise to greed and hatred, thereby creating immeasurable and boundless sinful karma. If one neither regards the aggregate of sensation as the self nor clings to it, neither craves agreeable sensations nor resists disagreeable ones, then greed and hatred will not arise, and thus no evil karma will be created, without even realizing it.

The most prominent characteristic of sentient beings in the Saha World is greed, hatred, and delusion, with greed being the most common affliction in the human realm of the desire realm. Although they have studied the Dharma, understand cause and effect, and know that greed is the root cause of sinking into the cycle of birth and death, due to heavy karmic obstructions, they still cannot subdue their greed. Whether lay practitioners or monastics, subduing all afflictions is extremely difficult. This is because, through immeasurable kalpas of birth and death, habitual tendencies have become deeply ingrained and are nearly impossible to shake even slightly.