The Six Basic Emotions

    The basic emotions are those emotionally tainted mental events, namely,

1.    Attachment    ['dod chags]
2.    Anger    [khong khro]
3.    Arrogance    [nga rgyal]
4.    Lack of intrinsic awareness   [ma rig pa]
5.    Indecision    [the tshoms]
6.    Opinionatedness    [lta ba]
    The defining characteristic of emotions in general has been explained in the Abhidharmasamuccaya as follows:
When something occurs, the characteristic of being restless will be present. When that happens, the existential state of the mind will be restless. This is the characteristic of emotions.
An emotion is an ego-centered attitude which makes the mind restless when something occurs.