8 Questions About the Outbreak, Answered
At least thousands have been affected by widespread ongoing transmission of destructive emotions known as the kleshas. With information about these afflictions — and their risk of spreading — evolving by the hour, we’ve answered basic questions about the outbreak here. We’ll be updating this story as more information becomes available.
1) What are these afflictions, and where did they come from?
The kleshas are a family of disturbances that typically attack the mind, weakening awareness and diminishing compassion. At least three kleshas are known to infect humans: delusion, hatred, and greed. However, it’s normal for a klesha to mutate as it infects people, producing secondary strains such as anxiety, boredom, jealousy, sloth, doubt, vanity, and hypocrisy. We aren’t sure where they came from — doctors and health officials use the term “beginningless” when they don’t know the source of an infection.
2) What are the symptoms?
Mistaking a childish compulsion to do whatever one pleases, without any regard for others, as “freedom”.
Hoarding food, cleaning supplies, or paper products.
Clinging to an unbalanced way of life while demanding that others sacrifice their health and even their lives in order to prop it up.
Clinging to a position of privilege while declaring that we’re all in this together.
Projection of systemic failures onto an imaginary other.
Enjoying a docuseries about animal abuse and homicidal narcissism as a “wacky” diversion from troubled times.
3) Who’s at increased risk?
Plutocrats who strategically use misinformation and false promises to divide and control a desperate populace.
A desperate populace susceptible to the misinformation and false promises of plutocrats.
Sheltering-in-place celebrities with Instagram accounts.
4) How do the kleshas spread?
The kleshas are spread through unskillful words and actions, as well as social media. Mostly social media.
5) What should I do to protect myself?
You should seek refuge in the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as much as possible. If you do have to go out, watch over your mind with great care, as if shielding an open wound during a riot. Good mental hygiene and spiritual distancing is essential. The cultivation of empathy and the conscious practice of generosity is also recommended.
6) Is there a cure for the kleshas?
People with a mild case of the kleshas can ease their symptoms by stabilizing the mind with Samatha meditation. Clinical trials are under way with Vipassana meditation as a promising treatment. There’s no vaccine, but tantric researchers are working hard to find one.
7) Are the kleshas worse than the flu?
Yes. Unlike the flu, the kleshas can bind the infected in a cycle of samsaric existence. In severe cases, they can lead to rebirth in the Avīci hell, whose fire destroys even the mighty Mount Meru on touch.
8) Can the kleshas be transmitted through groceries, packages, or food?
Unclear. Although there’s no evidence that anyone has caught the kleshas from food or food containers, we recommend disinfecting countertops and wiping down plastic, metal, and glass packaging with soap and water — just to be safe.
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