Question asked by Danny
Dear Pastors, I understand that in some liturgy it mentions there are two obscurations, and in others it can be broken down further into four obscurations such as karmic obscurations, emotional obscurations, cognitive obscurations and habitual obscurations. Could you tell me what the difference is between all of them, and possibly an example please 🙂 clear up my understanding?














































































Dear Danny,
Thank you for your question. This is very deep area of study, so I will try to explain in summary. You mentioned two obscurations and these are (i) emotional obscurations and (ii) cognitive obscurations. These are included in the list of four obscurations, with the addition of (iii) karmic obscurations and (iv) habitual obscurations.
I will focus this explanation on the two obscurations, as the differences between the four can be very subtle. It is better to have a firm understanding of the two first. An obscuration is something that literally obscures our path of spiritual development leading to ultimate Buddhahood.
(i)Emotional Obscurations
This refers to what His Eminence 25th Tsem Rinpoche terms as ‘afflictive emotions.’ This includes (a) emotions that disturb the equilibrium of the mind and attitudes that are formed based on these emotions. This leads us to (b) think and act in ways which propagate the view that phenomena exist inherently, which strengthens self-grasping. This therefore prevents liberation from samsaric suffering. Also included in this category is (c) the tendencies or seeds of the aforementioned emotions and (d) the tendencies to grasp at the false view of inherently existent phenomena. These tendencies are the subtle traces of the emotions and grasping left within the mindstream, once the moment of the gross emotion or grasping has ceased. In the future these tendencies can manifest. For example an apple seed it just a seed, but when the correct conditions exist, such as fertile soil, water and sunlight, the seed can grow into an apple tree. Similarly these tendencies can manifest as further afflictive emotions and grasping in the future. This goes to show just how vicious the cycle of samsaric existence is.
Since we place emphasis on the Six Perfections, examples of emotional obscurations would be the opposite of the Six Perfections. These are in fact caused due to grasping at the inherently existing self, and all phenomena. It is also a cause which strengthens this view. As this is the view that binds one to samsara, it obscures or prevents the achievement of enlightenment. Therefore this is very important to understand, and strive to overcome through practice.
Example: A child is angry because another child received a sweet. This leads the child to act out. This acting out strengthens grasping at phenomena – the sweet. This obscures enlightenment because the child views the sweet as existing inherently, thinking it will bring happiness. This mistaken view, based on grasping (attachment), has led to anger. Once the anger is over, the subtle traces (tendency) of this anger and grasping is left behind in one’s mindstream. At a later stage, certain conditions may arise for this subtle trace to manifest as more anger. This causes all the aforementioned affects, therefore the cycle is repeated again.
(ii)Cognitive Obscurations
Cognitive Obscurations prevent omniscience. Part of this omniscience is understanding the two truths (relative truth and ultimate truth) and operating from this understanding. Therefore cognitive obscuration is a lot subtler than emotional obscurations. It refers to habits or instincts that are formed from emotional obscurations, and can act as the cause for emotional tendencies to arise, but they are not actually emotional obscurations themselves. Whereas emotional obscurations are not continuous over a period of time but are instances of emotions, cognitive obscurations are continuous over a certain period of time.
Emotional obscurations give rise to further instances of afflictive emotions and attitudes, though occasionally. Cognitive obscurations however do not have the ability to give rise to the same. Instead they act as a support to continuous cloud the natural clarity of the mind. It is due to this lack of clarity that one cannot realise the two truths.
(iii) Karmic Obscurations & (iv) Habitual Obscurations
Karmic obscurations are whatever stop you from reaching enlightenment based on karma, or the results of actions in the past, whether positive or negative. And habitual obscurations are a very subtle form of cognitive obscurations.
Discussion on the types of obscurations and how they affect us is very subtle and needs a lot more study and understanding than can be presented here. All these obscurations are included in the corpus of teachings called Lorig which is the study of the nature and workings of the mind. Obscurations can really only be understood after having some understanding of the nature of the mind. If possible, you should read more on Lorig, as this will strengthen your understanding.