When the working of the human mind is examined closely, experiences and situations are normally interpreted and evaluated through the influence of the following biases :
1. Kamasava, which is the concern for desires for the five kinds of sense objects: sights, sounds, smells, tastes and bodily sensation
2. Bhavasava, which is the concern for existence and preservation of the self.
3. Ditthasava, which is the concern or attchment to, or fixed ideas on views, beliefs and ways of thinking.
4. Avijjasava, which means delusion or ignorance, not clearly knowing the meaning of things as they really are, which leads to the perception of self.
In all unenlightened beings, without wisdom or right reflection, behavior will be guided or controlled by these kinds of outflows, particularly Avijjasava - delusion or ignorance and Ditthasava - biased views and belief, including political, social, religious ideals and practices. They condition everything from likes and dislikes to means and methods chosen to gratify human desire.
According to normal perception, we think that we are in control of our actions and are able to purses desires of our own free will. Close observation will tell us that this is an illusion. Truly, we would find nothing which is really our own, but instead inherited behavior patterns learned from school, religious upbringing, social conditioning and the likes or dislikes we encounter along the stream of the material world. These biases are powerful forces over which most people have little or no control, so that there is really very little chance for true independence of their own will.
These outflows, Avijjasava and Ditthasava, in particular, lie behind the behavior of all worldly people, and create the delusion of self view, which is ignorance at is most basic level. It is ignorance, one of the significant factors in the cycle of Dependent Origination, continues with ignorance as a determinant, followed by volition impulses, consciousness and so on : resulting in the whole process of suffering in the cycle of Paticcasamupada.
By THE BUDDHA's Core Teachings
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