The Characteristic of Lobha - Satisfaction in sense-pleasures

Lobha arises when there are conditions for its arising; It is beyond control. In many suttas the Buddha speaks about lobha, points out the dangers of it and the way to overcome it. The pleasant objects which can be experienced through the five senses are in several suttas called the 'five strands of sense- pleasures'. We read in the 'Mahā-dukkhakkhandha -sutta’ ('Greater Discourse on the Stems of Anguish', Middle Length Saying I, No. 13) that the Buddha, when he was staying near Sāvatthī, in the Jeta Grove, said to the monks:

    

And what, monks, is the satisfaction in pleasures of these senses?

These five, monks, are the strands of sense-pleasures.

What five? Material shapes cognisable by the eye,

agreeable, pleasant, liked, enticing,

connected with sensual pleasures, alluring.

Sounds, cognisable by the ear...

Smells, cognisable by the nose….

Tastes, cognisable by the tongue…

Touches, cognisable by the body,

agreeable, pleasant, liked, enticing,

connected with sensual pleasures, alluring.

These, monks, are the five strands of sense pleasures.

Whatever pleasure, whatever happiness arises

in consequence of these five strands of sense-pleasures,

this is the satisfaction in sense-pleasures.

 

The satisfaction in sense-pleasures in not true happiness. Those who do not

know the Buddha's teachings may think that attachment is wholesome,

especially when it arises with a pleasant feeling. They may not know the

difference between attachment and loving kindness (mettā), phenomena

which may both arise with a pleasant feeling. However, a citta accompanied

by pleasant feeling is not necessarily kusala citta. When we learn more about

akusala cittas and kusala cittas and when we are mindful of their

characteristics, we will notice that the pleasant feeling which may arise with

lobha-mūla-citta (citta rooted in attachment) is different from the pleasant

feeling which may arise with kusala citta. Feeling (vedanā) is a cetasika which

arises with every citta. When the citta is akusala, the feeling is also akusala,

and when the citta is kusala, the feeling is also kusala. We may be able to

know the difference between the characteristic of the pleasant feeling arising

when we are attached to an agreeable sight or sound, and the characteristic

of the pleasant feeling arising when we are generous.