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In Buddhism, the Pali word Kilesa (Sanskrit: kleśha or klesa) is used to mean "defilements", "corruptions" or "poisons". These are mental states which temporarily cloud the mind's nature and manifest in various forms as unskillful actions of body, speech, and mind.

Three main kinds of kilesa (Sanskrit: mula klesha; "root obscurations") are:

1. lobha: greed, lust (rāga), attachment.
2. dosa: hatred, aversion.
3. moha: delusion, sloth, ignorance (avijjā).

(These three kilesha are known as The Three Poisons in Mahayana Buddhism.

These three kilesas specifically refer to the subtle movement of mind (citta) when it initially encounters a mental object (In Buddhist conceptions of the mind, 'mental object' refers to any object which the mind perceives, be it a thought, emotion or object perceived by the physical senses.). If the mind initially reacts by moving towards the mental object, seeking it out, or attaching to it, the experience and results will be tinged by the lobha kilesa. Unpleasant objects or experiences are often met by aversion, or the mind moving away from the object, which is the root for hatred and anger to arise in relation to the object.

The Five Poisons (Sanskrit: Pañca-kleśa; Tibetan: Japanese: go-shō).

The third śloka of Patañjali's Yogasūtra explicitly identifies the Pañca-kleśa:^[1]

अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः पञ्च क्लेशाः॥३॥ ^[2]
Avidyāsmitārāgadveṣābhiniveśāḥ pañca kleśāḥ//3// ^[3]

This may be rendered in English as:

Ignorance (in the form of a misapprehension about Reality) (ávidyā), egoism (in the form of an erroneous identification of the Self with the intellect) (asmitā), attachment (rāga), aversion (dveṣa) and fear of death (which is derived from clinging ignorantly to life) --abhiniveśa-- (abhiniveśāḥ) are the five (pañca) Kleśa-s or Afflictions (kleśāḥ)//3// ^[4]

The Five Disturbing Emotions

1. Passion ( desire, greed, lust, etc.)
2. Aggression (anger, hatred, resentment etc.)
3. Ignorance (bewilderment, confusion, apathy etc.)
4. Pride (wounded pride, low-self esteem etc.)
5. Jealousy ( envy, paranoia etc.)

All Buddhist schools teach that through Tranquility (Samatha) meditation the kilesas are pacified, though not eradicated, and through Insight (Vipassana) the true nature of the kilesas and the mind itself is understood. When the empty nature of the Self and the Mind is fully understood, there is no longer a root for the disturbing emotions to be attached to, and the disturbing emotions lose their power to distract the mind.

• Five Hindrances
• Ten Fetters

1. ^ Patañjali (undated; author); Pradīpaka, Gabriel & Andrés Muni (translators) (2007). Yogasūtra. Source: [1] (accessed: November 23, 2007)
2. ^ Patañjali (undated; author); Pradīpaka, Gabriel & Andrés Muni (translators) (2007). Yogasūtra. Source: [2] (accessed: November 23, 2007)
3. ^ Patañjali (undated; author); Pradīpaka, Gabriel & Andrés Muni (translators) (2007). Yogasūtra. Source: [3] (accessed: November 23, 2007)
4. ^ Patañjali (undated; author); Pradīpaka, Gabriel & Andrés Muni (translators) (2007). Yogasūtra. Source: [4] (accessed: November 23, 2007)

• Kilesa māra
• Practicing for the extinction of kilesa
• The ten kilesa
• DHAMMA NET
  • Abhidhamma chapter 2: cetasikas and akusala cetasikas
  • Abhidhamma chapter 5: carita