Grammatical Analysis
Lobha: [m.] greed; attachment; lust; covetousness. From root lubh (to covet, desire, cling to). Signifies the psychological drawing toward or grabbing of an object.
Orthodox Definition
Lobha is the first of the three unwholesome roots (akusala-mūla) that generate all unwholesome mental states, actions, and future karmic suffering. In the Abhidhamma, it is classified as a specific unwholesome mental factor (akusala-cetasika). While taṇhā describes the ongoing thirst or craving process, lobha is the underlying ethical root driving that process.
The Atthasālinī provides its specific structural criteria:
- Lakkhaṇa (Characteristic): Grasping or sticking to an object (upādāna-lakkhaṇo), like meat catching onto a hot frying pan or glue sticking to wood.
- Rasa (Function): Cleaving or pulling things in (allīyana-raso).
- Paccupaṭṭhāna (Manifestation): Not letting go or possessiveness (atatta-paccupaṭṭhāno).
- Padaṭṭhāna (Proximate Cause): Seeing enjoyment or utility in things that fetter existence.
Lobha operates across eight distinct types of unwholesome consciousness (lobhamūla-citta), manifesting as everything from subtle attachment to deep meditative states down to intense, blinding addiction.
Textual References
- Canonical: Dhammapada (v. 216) – “From craving springs grief, from craving springs fear; for one who is wholly free from craving there is no grief, whence fear?”
- Abhidhamma: Dhammasaṅgaṇī (Exposition on unwholesome states).
- Commentary: Atthasālinī – Detailed analytical dissection separating greed from its wholesome counterparts.