The Five Hindrances are:
1. Sensual Desire: “I like that,” otherwise known as Lustful or Greedy Mind. You will hang onto things that are pleasant and want more.This will cause attachment to pleasant states of mind that have arisen in the past, and desire for pleasant states to arise in the future.
2. Anger, Aversion, Fear: “I don’t like that.” You will want to push
away states of mind that you don’t like. Or, you might experience fear or anger over unpleasant or painful feelings that have already arisen. You will try to push away and control anything causing you pain. You will even try to force your mind to experience things in a certain way that you think is right when you actually should just observe what is there. Now, that is really overly controlling!
3. Sloth and Torpor: Dullness and Sleepiness. These will cause lack of effort and determination because you’ve lost interest in your object of meditation. You will experience a mental fog. When you look at it closely, you actually see that it has tightness and tension in it. There is even Craving in sleepiness.
4. Restlessness: With Restlessness you constantly want to move and change, to do something other than what you are doing, to be somewhere other than here. Restlessness can manifest as very tight, unpleasant feelings in the body and mind.
5. Doubt: You are not sure you are following the instructions correctly, or even if this is the right practice. It makes you feel unsure of yourself and may even manifest as a lack of confidence in the Buddha’s teaching or your teacher or both.
When the hindrances arise, your job is neither to like them no to fight with them. Your job is to accept them, to invite them in, and to “offer them tea”!
Don’t feed them with your attention. Forcing and not liking them to be there just gives them the attention they crave and makes them stronger.
@evolve_in
1. Sensual Desire: “I like that,” otherwise known as Lustful or Greedy Mind. You will hang onto things that are pleasant and want more.This will cause attachment to pleasant states of mind that have arisen in the past, and desire for pleasant states to arise in the future.
2. Anger, Aversion, Fear: “I don’t like that.” You will want to push
away states of mind that you don’t like. Or, you might experience fear or anger over unpleasant or painful feelings that have already arisen. You will try to push away and control anything causing you pain. You will even try to force your mind to experience things in a certain way that you think is right when you actually should just observe what is there. Now, that is really overly controlling!
3. Sloth and Torpor: Dullness and Sleepiness. These will cause lack of effort and determination because you’ve lost interest in your object of meditation. You will experience a mental fog. When you look at it closely, you actually see that it has tightness and tension in it. There is even Craving in sleepiness.
4. Restlessness: With Restlessness you constantly want to move and change, to do something other than what you are doing, to be somewhere other than here. Restlessness can manifest as very tight, unpleasant feelings in the body and mind.
5. Doubt: You are not sure you are following the instructions correctly, or even if this is the right practice. It makes you feel unsure of yourself and may even manifest as a lack of confidence in the Buddha’s teaching or your teacher or both.
When the hindrances arise, your job is neither to like them no to fight with them. Your job is to accept them, to invite them in, and to “offer them tea”!
Don’t feed them with your attention. Forcing and not liking them to be there just gives them the attention they crave and makes them stronger.
@evolve_in