This is the cause of human unhappiness then: deluded thinking leading to excessive or disordered wanting, leading to painful feelings when the wanting is not fulfilled in our day to day lives.

This can be summarized in the form of a weed that can be found in most gardens.  The roots of the weed represent lies. The stem represents excessive or disordered desires.  And the flowering portion of the weed represents painful emotions. In addition, as we will see, the fragrance of the weed represents abusive action, that is, words and actions which are not loving.

The weed then, looks like this:

The human mind then, can be seen as a chain reaction, operating in a similar way to the way a weed grows. The weed first sprouts roots; then the stem grows, followed by the flowering portion of the weed. Once the flowering portion blooms, a fragrance is given off. In a similar fashion, the human mind starts with thoughts. If the thought is untrue, but believed to be true then we have the roots of a weed. The deluded thought then gives rise to an excessive or disordered desire (the stem), which in turn is the direct cause of emotional suffering (the flowering portion of the weed), which occurs when the desire is continually frustrated. Then the emotionally upset mind acts out its content in abusive words and actions (the fragrance of the weed).

For example, suppose a person were to believe the following lie to be true: “I am a more worthwhile person if other people approve of me, and less worthwhile person if other people disapprove of me.” Believing this falacious statement to be true will immediately give rise to an excessive desire for approval. That desire sits there like a land mine until someone steps on it by criticizing the person. Then it explodes in painful emotions of anger, hurt, sadness or depression. Then, in a state of anger, for example, the person lashes out verbally at the person who was critical.

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