Dalam literatur Pali, tiga kilesa pertama dalam sepuluh daftar Abhidhamma di atas (Pāli: ''lobha dosa moha'') dikenal sebagai "[[Tiga akar buruk|akar buruk]]" (Pāli: ''akusala-mūla'' atau akar ''akusala''); dan kebalikannya (Pāli: ''alobha adosa amoha'') adalah tiga "akar baik" (Pāli: ''kusala-mūla'' atau akar ''kusala'').<ref>In addition to frequent reference in the Abhidhamma and post-canonical Pali literature, references to the unwholesome roots (''akusala-mūla'') are sprinkled throughout the [[Sutta Pitaka]]. For instance, in the [[Digha Nikaya]], it can be found in DN 33 (D iii.215) and DN 34 (D iii.275); in the [[Majjhima Nikaya]], it is the first of several topics discussed by Ven. [[Sariputta]] in the well-known ''[[Sammaditthi Sutta|Sammādi{{IAST|ṭṭ}}hi Sutta]]'' ("Right View Discourse," MN 9); and, in the [[Itivuttaka]], a brief discourse on three unwholesome roots starts off the "Section of the Threes" (Iti. 50). However, in ''none'' of these Sutta Pitaka texts are the three unwholesome roots referred to as ''kilesa''. Such an association appears to begin in the Abhidhamma texts.</ref> <span class="extension-adhd-reader-wrapper"><span class="extension-adhd-reader-container"><span class="extension-adhd-reader-boldify">Kehadiran akar yang baik dan buruk tersebut dalam perbuatan batin (''manokamma''), ucapan (''vacīkamma''), atau jasmani (''kāyakamma'') mengkondisikan penilaian moral atas kesadaran (''citta'') yang akan muncul dan faktor-faktor mental yang terkait dengannya</span></span></span>.<ref>Nyanatiloka (1988), entry for "mūla," retrieved 2008-02-09 from "BuddhaSasana" at http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/bud-dict/dic3_m.htm.</ref>
Faktor mental keserakahan (''lobha'') dan kebencian (''dosa'') tidak dapat muncul sendiri tanpa eksistensi delusi (''moha''). Kitab Abhidhamma mengklasifikasikan kesadaran buruk (''akusala-citta'') dalam tiga kelompok:<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kheminda|first=Ashin|date=2017-09-01|url=https://books.google.co.id/books?id=vJEUEAAAQBAJ&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y|title=Manual Abhidhamma: Bab 1 Kesadaran|publisher=Yayasan Dhammavihari|isbn=978-623-94342-6-7|language=id}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Kheminda|first=Ashin|date=2019-09-01|url=https://books.google.co.id/books?id=2ZQXEAAAQBAJ&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Manual Abhidhamma: Bab 2 Faktor-Faktor-Mental|publisher=Yayasan Dhammavihari|isbn=978-623-94342-7-4|language=id}}</ref>