Advesha

A full moon is sometimes used as a metaphor for the pleasing quality of advesha/adosa.

Advesha (Skt. adveṣa; P. adosa; T. zhes sdang med pa) is translated as "non-aggression" or "non-hatred". It is a mental factor that is defined as the absence of an aggressive attitude towards someone or something that causes pain.

Advesha (Pali: adosa) is identified within the Abhidharma teachings as:

• One of the twenty-five beautiful mental factors within the Pali tradition
• One of the three beautiful roots (sobhana hetus) within the Pali tradition
• One of the eleven virtuous mental factors within the Abhidharma-samuccaya of the Sanskrit tradition
• One of the ten omnipresent wholesome factors within the Abhidharma-kosa of the Sanskrit tradition

Definitions

Pali tradition

Nina van Gorkom states:

Non-aversion or non-hate, is one of the three sobhana hetus, beautiful roots. As we have seen, each sobhana citta is rooted in non-attachment and non-aversion, and it may or may not be rooted in Wisdom...

Adosa can be translated as non-aversion or non-hate, but there are many forms and degrees of it, loving kindness, metta, is a form of adosa which is directed towards living beings. Adosa can also be non-aversion with regard to an object which is not a being and then it can be described as patience. There can be non-aversion or patience with regard to heat, cold, bodily pain or other unpleasant objects.

The Atthasalini states:

Absence of hate has the characteristic of freedom from churlishness or resentment, like an agreeable friend; the function of destroying vexation, or dispelling distress, like sandalwood: the manifestation of being pleasing, like the full moon...

Sanskrit tradition

The Abhidharma-samuccaya states:

What is advesha? It is the absence of the intention to harm sentient beings, to quarrel with frustrating situations, and to inflict suffering on those who are the cause of frustration. It functions as a basis for not getting involved with unwholesome behavior.

The Khenjuk states:

• Tib. ཞེ་སྡང་མེད་པ་ནི་སེམས་ཅན་དང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་གྱི་ཆོས་ལ་ཀུན་ནས་མནར་སེམས་མེད་པ་སྟེ་ཉེས་སྤྱོད་ལ་མི་འཇུག་པར་བྱེད་པའོ།
• Non-aggression is the absence of a hostile attitude towards a sentient being or an object that causes pain. It prevents one from becoming involved in negative actions.

StudyBuddhism states:

Imperturbability (zhe-sdang med-pa) is not wishing to cause harm (mnar-sems) in response to limited beings (sentient beings), our own suffering, or situations entailing suffering that may arise from either of the two or which may simply be the situations in which the suffering occurs. It does not imply total freedom from anger, and it too serves as a basis for not engaging in faulty behavior.

The Buddhist Psychology of Awakening states:

Nonhatred is the absence of the intention to harm living beings. It is also the absence to engage in arguing or quarreling in situations that we find frustrating. Nonhatred is also the absence of engaging in causing suffering for those whom we regard as the cause of our frustration. Thus, nonhatred is the absence of inflicting suffering on those who cause frustration in us. This is something positive. And it is said that it functions when it is present to serve as a basis for not getting caught up in what [we] might call “bad” karma, something that will be bad for us in the future. It goes on to say that this nonhatred or nonaggression is the awareness that, in some situations, we have no intention whatsoever to pay it back, to inflict it upon others. And this is considered a good thing. It is good for us and good for others.

Alternate English translations

• non-hatred (Gyurme Dorje, Tony Duff)
• non-hate, non-aversion (Nina van Gorkom)
• non-aggression (Rigpa wiki)
• imperturbability (Alexander Berzin)
• non-anger

Sources

• Berzin, Alexander (ed.), Primary Minds and the 51 Mental Factors, StudyBuddhism 
• Bhikkhu Bodhi, ed. (2000), A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma, Pariyatti Publishing 
• Goodman, Steven D. (2020), The Buddhist Psychology of Awakening: An In-Depth Guide to the Abhidharma (Apple Books ed.), Shambhala Publications 
• Mipham Rinpoche (2004), Gateway to Knowledge, vol. I, translated by Kunsang, Erik Pema, Rangjung Yeshe Publications 
• van Gorkom, Nina (1999), Cetasikas, Zolog 
• Yeshe Gyeltsen (1975), Mind in Buddhist Psychology: A Translation of Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan's "The Necklace of Clear Understanding", translated by Guenther, Herbert V.; Kawamura, Leslie S., Dharma Publishing 

External links

• zhe_sdang_med_pa, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki
• Nonaggression, Rigpa Shedra Wiki