The third mental non-virtue is wrong views, which means wrong views about conventional reality. It is not the wrong view about the ultimate nature, it is the wrong view that our actions do not have any ethical dimensions. Even if they have an ethical dimension, they do not bring results. Even if they bring results, the results are not concordant with the actual actions that are done. It can be wrong views such as there is no Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. Something like this.

Wrong view is in the field of ignorance, and it is ignorance when it is really developed. Wrong view is not doubt. It is not curiosity. It is not the mind that wants to investigate and learn. It is a very stubborn wrong view that comes about because of thinking of something in the wrong way and coming to the wrong conclusion, and then stubbornly holding onto that view in a very close-minded way so that you are not open to hearing anything else.

It is said that wrong view is the most dangerous because if we have wrong views about karma and its effects, then in our mind we give ourselves licence to do the seven non-virtues that are verbal and physical. If we say, “Our actions have no ethical dimension, so we might as well go out and do this and that,” somebody with wrong views could then justify their negative behaviour.

His Holiness, The Dalai Lama has also expanded the meaning of wrong view — usually, it is in the sense of experiencing the results of your actions in future lives. But he says it is a wrong view even if you are living your life now and you think, “I can do something illegal because my actions would not bring results.” It is the kind of mind that does not think about the future results of our actions. That mind gets us into a lot of problems. We do not think. Then we do something, and we have to experience the result of the choices that we have made, even in this life. It can bring a lot of mess into our lives.

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