Ephesians 4:19 Meaning They

Ahirika, Anottappa: Shamelessness and recklessness These are the mind with its two guards, shame and dread of wrongdoing, off duty. Callousness is skin doing what skin does: a hand that grips the same rough rope every day stops feeling the rope. The small wince before a wrong act wears down the same way, by being overridden again and again, and once it is worn through, the gate stands open to whatever comes next.

Moha: Delusion Delusion is the fog in which an unwholesome act looks like a reasonable one. Hardness of heart and a darkened understanding arrive together, since a hardened person does not experience the hardness as hardness; it feels like freedom, like being finally rid of pointless scruples. That is the trick of fog, which never looks like fog from inside, only like a road that happens to end a few feet ahead.

Kāmataṇhā: Craving for sense pleasure Craving is the constant pull toward what the eye, ear, and body can supply. Handing yourself over to it is dropping the reins and letting the horse go where the grass is; the animal was already pulling that way, and the only change is that no one is holding on. Nothing new gets added at that moment, and one thing goes missing: the small steady resistance that had been doing all the work.

Lobha: Greed Greed is the grip that reaches for more of what it already holds. Greediness is an odd word to attach to pleasure, and it fits, because pleasure taken this way behaves like salt water: every drink leaves a drier mouth, so the amount has to keep climbing. The appetite outgrows the enjoyment, and a person can stay busy at something that stopped being pleasant a long while ago.

Kilesa: Defilement Defilements are the stains in the mind that the deeds come out of. A dirty cloth takes the dye poorly however fine the dye, and anything worked from these motives comes out that same muddy color, generosity and affection included. Cleaning up the outward act while the motive stands does about as much as pressing a shirt that has not been washed.