Etymologically, the word asāva means the toxic liquids that seep from plants or flowers, or the pus that seeps from wounds. In Buddhism, it means the toxic elements that lie in the deepest parts of the mind and corrupt the operation of the mind. They generate passions, desires, infatuations and addictions.
The suttas list four categories of mental defilements: desire (V: dục lậu), craving for existence (V: hữu lậu), ignorance (V: vô minh lậu) and false perspective (V: kiến lậu).
Refer to the text “The Five Aggregates and the Sutta on the No-Self” for more details.
P: āsava , S: āśrāva, V: lậu hoặc
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