There is a third factor that makes the afflictions arise in addition to the seed of the afflictions and contact. It is called inappropriate attention. This is a mental factor that exaggerates the good qualities, and the bad qualities, or projects qualities that are not there, and triggers the affliction to arise. You are not near your boyfriend, but you think of him, and boom! Why? Because the inappropriate attention is projecting that what is actually foul is beautiful. That what is in the nature of suffering is happiness. That what is impermanent is permanent. What does not have its own nature has its own inherent nature. This inappropriate attention is distorting how we cognise the object and produces affliction.

Inappropriate attention is something that we really have to try to work on in our practice, in order to calm it down. When you have an affliction arising in your meditation, instead of just trotting after it like it is the sergeant and you are just following instructions, stop and ask, “Am I seeing this object correctly? Here is this person. What is she (or he) really? Skin, bones, flesh, blood, and a mind stream. Is there anything that is pure in all of that? Is there anything that is clean in all of that? What am I desiring?”

Then you watch how your mind goes, “Oh, but being with that person is going to make me happy!” Then you stop and say, “What kind of happiness is that?” Is it true happiness? Or is it just the happiness that is making my gross suffering go down a bit? Is it happiness that is going to last a long time? Or is it happiness that is going to change with changing circumstances? Or happiness that will change because my mind gets tired of it? This kind of happiness, after a while, becomes actually unpleasant! You start doing this questioning process of, “Am I seeing this object correctly?” By taking a long hard look at the object of attachment, you begin to see things as they really are.

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