Five hindrances
Encyclopedia
In Buddhism
, the five hindrances (Pali
: ) are negative mental states that impede success with meditation
(jhāna / bhāvanā
) and lead away from enlightenment (nibbāna). These states are:
's Samyutta Nikaya
, several discourses juxtapose the five hindrances with the seven factors of enlightenment
(bojjhanga). For instance, according to SN
46.37, the Buddha stated:
In terms of gaining insight
into and overcoming the Five Hindrances, according to the Satipatthana Sutta
, the Buddha proclaimed:
Each of the remaining four hindrances are similarly treated in subsequent paragraphs.
The Buddha gives the following analogies in the Samaññaphala Sutta (DN
2, "The Fruits of the Contemplative Life"):
Similarly, in the Sagārava Sutta (SN
46.55), the Buddha compares sensual desire with looking for a clear reflection in water mixed with lac
, tumeric and dyes; ill will with boiling water; sloth-and-torpor with water covered with plants and algae; restlessness-and-worry with wind-churned water; and, doubt with water that is "turbid, unsettled, muddy, placed in the dark."
According to the first-century CE exegetic Vimuttimagga, the five hindrances include all ten "fetters": sense desire includes any attachment to passion; ill will includes all unwholesome states of hatred; and, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt include all unwholesome states of infatuation. The Vimuttimagga further distinguishes that "sloth" refers to mental states while "torpor" refers to physical states resultant from food or time or mental states; if torpor results from food or time, then one diminishes it through energy; otherwise, one removes it with meditation. In addition, the Vimuttimagga identifies four types of doubt:
According to Buddhaghosa
's fifth-century CE commentary to the Samyutta Nikaya
(), one can momentarily escape the hindrances through jhanic suppression or through insight
while, as also stated in the Vimuttimagga, one eradicates the hindrances through attainment of one of the four stages of enlightenment
(see Table 1).
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, the five hindrances (Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
: ) are negative mental states that impede success with meditation
Buddhist meditation
Buddhist meditation refers to the meditative practices associated with the religion and philosophy of Buddhism.Core meditation techniques have been preserved in ancient Buddhist texts and have proliferated and diversified through teacher-student transmissions. Buddhists pursue meditation as part of...
(jhāna / bhāvanā
Bhavana
Bhāvanā literally means "development" or "cultivating" or "producing" in the sense of "calling into existence." It is an important concept in Buddhist praxis...
) and lead away from enlightenment (nibbāna). These states are:
- Sensual desire (kāmaKamaKāma is often translated from Sanskrit as sexual desire, sexual pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, or eros54654564+more broadly mean desire, wish, passion, longing, pleasure of the senses, the aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, without sexual connotations.-Kama in...
cchanda ): Craving for pleasure to the senses. - Anger or ill-will (byāpāda, vyāpāda): Feelings of malice directed toward others.
- Sloth-torpor or boredom (thīna-middha): Half-hearted action with little or no concentration.
- Restlessness-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca): The inability to calm the mind.
- Doubt (vicikicchā): Lack of conviction or trust.
In the Pali Canon
In the Pali CanonPāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and one of the first to be written down...
's Samyutta Nikaya
Samyutta Nikaya
The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas is...
, several discourses juxtapose the five hindrances with the seven factors of enlightenment
Seven factors of enlightenment
In Buddhism, the Seven Factors of Enlightenment are:* Mindfulness i.e...
(bojjhanga). For instance, according to SN
Samyutta Nikaya
The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas is...
46.37, the Buddha stated:
- "BhikkhuBhikkhuA Bhikkhu or Bhikṣu is an ordained male Buddhist monastic. A female monastic is called a Bhikkhuni Nepali: ). The life of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis is governed by a set of rules called the patimokkha within the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline...
s, there are these five obstructions, hindrances, corruptions of the mind, weakeners of wisdom. What five? Sensual desire... ill will... sloth and torpor ... restlessness and remorse... doubt.... - "There are, bhikkhus, these seven factors of enlightenment, which are nonobstructions, nonhindrances, noncorruptions of the mind; when developed and cultivated they lead to the realization of the fruit of true knowledge and liberation. What seven? The enlightenment factor of mindfulness... [discrimination of states... energy... rapture... tranquility... concentration...] equanimity....
In terms of gaining insight
Vipassana
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
into and overcoming the Five Hindrances, according to the Satipatthana Sutta
Satipatthana Sutta
The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta and the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta are two of the most important and widely studied discourses in the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism...
, the Buddha proclaimed:
- How, monks, does a monk live contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the five hindrances?
- Herein, monks, when sense-desire is present, a monk knows, "There is sense-desire in me," or when sense-desire is not present, he knows, "There is no sense-desire in me." He knows how the arising of the non-arisen sense-desire comes to be; he knows how the abandoning of the arisen sense-desire comes to be; and he knows how the non-arising in the future of the abandoned sense-desire comes to be.
Each of the remaining four hindrances are similarly treated in subsequent paragraphs.
The Buddha gives the following analogies in the Samaññaphala Sutta (DN
Digha Nikaya
The Digha Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the first of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism...
2, "The Fruits of the Contemplative Life"):
- "... [W]hen these five hindrances are not abandoned in himself, the monk regards it as a debt, a sickness, a prison, slavery, a road through desolate country. But when these five hindrances are abandoned in himself, he regards it as unindebtedness, good health, release from prison, freedom, a place of security."
Similarly, in the Sagārava Sutta (SN
Samyutta Nikaya
The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas is...
46.55), the Buddha compares sensual desire with looking for a clear reflection in water mixed with lac
Lac
Lac is the scarlet resinous secretion of a number of species of insects, namely some of the species of the genera Metatachardia, Laccifer, Tachordiella, Austrotacharidia, Afrotachardina, and Tachardina of the superfamily Coccoidea, of which the most commonly cultivated species is Kerria lacca.The...
, tumeric and dyes; ill will with boiling water; sloth-and-torpor with water covered with plants and algae; restlessness-and-worry with wind-churned water; and, doubt with water that is "turbid, unsettled, muddy, placed in the dark."
From post-canonical Pali literature
| method of suppression |
path of eradication |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sensual desire |
first jhana based on bodily foulness Patikulamanasikara Paikkūlamanasikāra is a Pāli term that is generally translated as "reflections on repulsiveness." It refers to a traditional Buddhist meditation whereby thirty-one parts of the body are contemplated in a variety of ways. In addition to developing mindfulness and concentration, this form of... |
nonreturning Anagami In Buddhism, an anāgāmi is a partially enlightened person who has cut off the first five chains that bind the ordinary mind. Anagami-ship is the third of the four stages of enlightenment.... or arahantship |
||
| ill will | first jhana based on metta Metta Mettā or maitrī is loving-kindness, friendliness, benevolence, amity, friendship, good will, kindness, love, sympathy, close mental union , and active interest in others. It is one of the ten pāramīs of the Theravāda school of Buddhism, and the first of the four sublime states... |
nonreturning | ||
| sloth and torpor |
perception of light | arahantship | ||
| restlessness and worry |
serenity Samatha Samatha , śamatha "calm abiding," comprises a suite, type or style of Buddhist meditation or concentration practices designed to enhance sustained voluntary attention, and culminates in an attention that can be sustained effortlessly for hours on end... |
arahantship and nonreturning |
||
| doubt | defining of phenomena (dhammavavatthāna) |
stream-entry Sotapanna In Buddhism, a Sotāpanna , Srotāpanna , or "stream-winner" is a person who has eradicated the first three fetters of the mind. Sotapanna literally means "one who entered the stream ", after a metaphor which calls the Noble Eightfold Path, 'a stream'... |
||
| The Pali commentary's methods and paths for escaping the hindrances. |
||||
According to the first-century CE exegetic Vimuttimagga, the five hindrances include all ten "fetters": sense desire includes any attachment to passion; ill will includes all unwholesome states of hatred; and, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt include all unwholesome states of infatuation. The Vimuttimagga further distinguishes that "sloth" refers to mental states while "torpor" refers to physical states resultant from food or time or mental states; if torpor results from food or time, then one diminishes it through energy; otherwise, one removes it with meditation. In addition, the Vimuttimagga identifies four types of doubt:
- doubt regarding selfAnattaIn Buddhism, anattā or anātman refers to the notion of "not-self." In the early texts, the Buddha commonly uses the word in the context of teaching that all things perceived by the senses are not really "I" or "mine," and for this reason one should not cling to them.In the same vein, the Pali...
is a hindrance to tranquilitySamathaSamatha , śamatha "calm abiding," comprises a suite, type or style of Buddhist meditation or concentration practices designed to enhance sustained voluntary attention, and culminates in an attention that can be sustained effortlessly for hours on end...
; - doubt regarding the Four Noble TruthsFour Noble TruthsThe Four Noble Truths are an important principle in Buddhism, classically taught by the Buddha in the Dharmacakra Pravartana Sūtra....
and three worlds is a hindrance to insightVipassanaVipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
; - doubt regarding the Triple Gem is a hindrance to both tranquility and insight;
- doubt regarding places and people is a hindrance to "non-doctrinal" things;
- doubt regarding the Discourses is a hindrance to solitude.
According to Buddhaghosa
Buddhaghosa
Bhadantācariya Buddhaghoṣa（Chinese: 覺音）was a 5th-century Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar. His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga, or Path of Purification, a comprehensive summary and analysis of the Theravada understanding of the Buddha's path to liberation...
's fifth-century CE commentary to the Samyutta Nikaya
Samyutta Nikaya
The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas is...
(), one can momentarily escape the hindrances through jhanic suppression or through insight
Vipassana
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
while, as also stated in the Vimuttimagga, one eradicates the hindrances through attainment of one of the four stages of enlightenment
Four stages of enlightenment
The four stages of enlightenment in Buddhism are the four progressive stages culminating in full enlightenment as an Arahat, which an average, instructed person can attain in this life...
(see Table 1).
See also
- Seven factors of enlightenmentSeven factors of enlightenmentIn Buddhism, the Seven Factors of Enlightenment are:* Mindfulness i.e...
- Ten fettersFetter (Buddhism)In Buddhism, a mental fetter, chain or bond shackles a sentient being to sasāra, the cycle of lives with dukkha. By cutting through all fetters, one attains nibbāna ....
- The paramitasParamitaPāramitā or pāramī is "perfection" or "completeness." In Buddhism, the pāramitās refer to the perfection or culmination of certain virtues...
(virtues), either six or ten
Sources
- AnālayoBhikkhu AnalayoBhikkhu Anālayo is a German bhikkhu , scholar and meditation teacher. He was born in 1962, and ‘went forth’ in 1995 in Sri Lanka...
(2006). Satipatthāna: The Direct Path to Realization. Birmingham: Windhorse Publications. ISBN 1-899579-54-0.
- Bodhi, BhikkhuBhikkhu BodhiBhikkhu Bodhi , born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York/New Jersey area...
(trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Pubs. ISBN 0-86171-331-1.
- Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.) (2005). In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pāli Canon. Boston: Wisdom Pubs. ISBN 0-86171-491-1.
- Nyanasatta Thera (trans.) (1994). Satipatthana Sutta: The Foundations of Mindfulness (MNMajjhima NikayaThe Majjhima Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the second of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism...
10). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.nysa.html.
- Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text SocietyPali Text SocietyThe Pali Text Society was founded in 1881 by T.W. Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pali texts".Pali is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism is preserved...
. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.
- Thanissaro BhikkhuThanissaro BhikkhuṬhānissaro Bhikkhu, also known as Ajaan Geoff, is an American Buddhist monk of the Dhammayut Order , Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He is currently the abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is a notably skilled and prolific translator of the Pāli Canon...
(trans.) (1997). Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life (DNDigha NikayaThe Digha Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the first of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism...
2). Retrieved 08-09-2008 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.02.0.than.html.
- Upatissa, Arahant and N.R.M. Ehara (trans.), Soma Thera (trans.) and Kheminda Thera (trans.) (1995). The Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication SocietyBuddhist Publication SocietyThe Buddhist Publication Society is a charity whose goal is to explain and spread the doctrine of the Buddha. It was founded in Sri Lanka in 1958 by two Sri Lankan Buddhist laymen, A.S. Karunaratna and Richard Abeyasekera, and a European-born Buddhist monk, Nyanaponika Thera...
. ISBN 955-24-0054-6.
- Walshe, Maurice O'C. (1985). Samyutta Nikaya: An Anthology (Part III) (Wheel No. 318-321). Kandy: Buddhist Publication SocietyBuddhist Publication SocietyThe Buddhist Publication Society is a charity whose goal is to explain and spread the doctrine of the Buddha. It was founded in Sri Lanka in 1958 by two Sri Lankan Buddhist laymen, A.S. Karunaratna and Richard Abeyasekera, and a European-born Buddhist monk, Nyanaponika Thera...
. Retrieved 2008-11-09 from "Access to Insight" (2007) at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/walshe/wheel318.html.
External links
- Nyanaponika TheraNyanaponika TheraNyanaponika Thera or Nyaniponika Mahathera was a German-born Sri-Lanka-ordained Theravada monk, co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society, contemporary author of numerous seminal Theravada books, and teacher of contemporary Western Buddhist leaders such as Bhikkhu Bodhi.-Chronology:*1901: born...
(1993), The Five Mental Hindrances and Their Conquest (Wheel No. 26). Kandy: Buddhist Publication SocietyBuddhist Publication SocietyThe Buddhist Publication Society is a charity whose goal is to explain and spread the doctrine of the Buddha. It was founded in Sri Lanka in 1958 by two Sri Lankan Buddhist laymen, A.S. Karunaratna and Richard Abeyasekera, and a European-born Buddhist monk, Nyanaponika Thera...
. Retrieved 08-09-2008 from "Access to Insight" (1994) at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel026.html. - Ajahn Dhiravamso (2008), The Five Hindrances [Dhamma talk video]. Serpentine: Bodhinyana MonasteryBodhinyana MonasteryBodhinyana is a Theravadin Buddhist monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition located in Serpentine, about 60 minutes drive south-east of Perth, Australia.- Abbot :...
. Retrieved December 8, 2008 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xpcD0Y3x7Y - Frondal, Gil (2008), The Five Hindrances Courses [Dharma online course]. http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/articles/the-five-hindrances-handouts/