How To Give Up Laziness

This talk is part of a series on 'How to overcome five hindrances' and it focuses on the hindrance of sloth and torpor, or laziness, dullness and heaviness, and how to let them go. 

The five hindrances are different types of dullness, distraction, and disturbance that cover and suppress our mind preventing us from experiencing clear, beneficial, and peaceful mental states. When we understand how they function as negative mental states and learn the skills and methods to let them go, we can reduce their intensity and eventually abandon them completely and be free from their negative effects.

Length: 1hr 7 mins

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Lifetimes of Learning,

A production at the Buddhist Education Centre,

Which is a part of Buddhist Discussion Centre Australia.

In our podcast series,

We will be discussing the wisdom and teachings of the Buddha from 2600 years ago,

Which can help improve our happiness and lives at a deep level in this modern era.

In this podcast,

We will cover a talk on how to give up laziness.

Wherever you are,

We invite you to bring your attention to the present,

Smile and listen to the teachings of the Buddha.

Okay,

So welcome,

Lovely to see you.

It's good to be here.

So today we're going to talk about the second topic in our series of classes on the five hindrances.

So generally in Buddhism,

The hindrances are the elements or the mind states that are disadvantageous to our well-being.

So these are things that over time,

If we use these mind states,

Our mind will not get better than it is.

In fact,

It will deteriorate.

The quality of our mind,

The quality of our mental states will deteriorate if we live using these hindrances.

So the hindrances to our well-being and happiness.

Also,

The hindrances in the context of what Buddhism is about,

Which is trying to wake up,

Try to become bright and clear and have the qualities of wisdom,

Compassion and so on.

So the hindrances are obstacles or things that types of mental states that will never lead to those type of outcomes.

And if you like the elements of our mental unwellness,

So they're also elements of our lack of happiness or our lack of calmness or our lack of well-being.

The difficulty is that in their own way,

Each of these mind states or these hindrances in the short term,

They may appear to be okay or they may appear to be helping us to achieve something.

For example,

One of these is called ill will.

And sometimes people use elements of that to get things done.

Like they might use it in relationships to get their own way.

They might use it as a way of getting people to behave how they want them to behave.

So there's an element of controlling the behavior of others.

So in a way,

There's this sort of sense that some of these things are not too bad.

Also sloth and torpor,

Which can manifest as laziness or a very sort of laid back attitude to life,

Might seem to be kind of like living our life on holiday mode.

So there's some element of these five which appear and can appear to be,

I wouldn't say beneficial,

But just a way of getting things done,

A way of operating in the world.

So the five of them are ill will,

Sloth and torpor,

Flurry and worry,

Sense desire,

And doubt.

So sense desire again,

Unless we examine it,

It just appears to be part of how we live.

We really enjoy the senses,

We enjoy music,

We might enjoy food or clothing,

There's a whole lot of things.

I mean,

In the human world,

That's part of how we might see us enriching our lives and being part of how we enjoy the world.

And that can be the case,

But there's an element there that if there's a lot of attachment in those things,

If there's a lot of grabbing and greed and almost intoxication with them,

That is another hindrance to the clarity of the mind,

To the mind becoming clear and bright.

It's like that level of intoxication is almost like a stain on the mind,

Which is a hindrance to our mind becoming bright and clear.

So in Buddhism,

We recognize that the hindrances are not beneficial.

In fact,

They're kind of counterproductive to what we're trying to do,

Which is we're trying to develop qualities of our mind that will lead in the short and the long term to our well-being and happiness.

So basically,

Buddhism divides our mental states into the mental states that are helpful,

Useful,

Wholesome,

And will lead to our development and happiness.

And the ones that are not conducive,

They can't really lead to good outcomes.

They can't lead to good outcomes in the sense that if we use them,

Our mind can't get clearer.

And also,

The karma that we make with the negative mental states is never a good outcome from the karmic point of view.

So even though in a sense,

We might choose something because it seems expedient.

So for example,

It might seem expedient to be angry at a certain time to get something we want.

But the problem with it is that that means that in the future,

More negative mental states will arise in our mind,

Which is the karma of us being angry in the present.

And also,

People will be angry back to us.

So if we want to have good relationships,

If we want to have loving relationships and meet good friends and meet good people,

Then ill will undermines that.

Ill will will destroy relationships.

It will destroy the relationships with the people in our world now.

But it will karmically destroy future relationships.

The people we meet in the future will be a reflection of how we are now.

So this idea of wholesome and unwholesome,

In Buddhism,

We're particularly interested in developing the wholesome mental states.

And the wholesome mental states that we have now,

We want them to grow.

And we want more wholesomeness to come in the future.

And also,

We wish to reduce the unwholesome mental states that we have arising now in our life.

And we wish to ensure that less and less unwholesome states arise in the future.

So all the mental pain and all the difficulties and the stresses that we experience from the Buddhist viewpoint,

Ultimately come back to these five hindrances.

Also,

In Buddhism,

Beneath these is what we call ignorance.

And the problem with ignorance is it doesn't understand clearly what's happening.

It doesn't see the things that arise clearly.

So it can get caught up with things like it can get caught up with flurry and worry and stress,

Because it doesn't understand primarily,

This,

It doesn't see their nature is troublesome.

Their nature is cloudy,

Their nature is more confusion.

So this is the inability to distinguish clearly what is beneficial and what isn't,

Is basically the root of our problem.

And the root of our problem in Buddhism is called ignorance.

So together,

The direction of Buddhism is to weaken these hindrances,

And to cultivate the opposites,

Which is things like loving kindness,

Generosity,

Patience,

And certainly wisdom,

Because wisdom from the Buddhist viewpoint is the way out of the mud of all of these clouded,

Confused or unwholesome mental states.

So from so today,

We're talking about specifically sloth and torpor.

So all of these hindrances operate within a spectrum,

From,

You could say,

At one level,

That there's subtle elements of these hindrances,

To the other extreme where they become very overwhelming.

So for example,

With anger,

Or ill will,

Which is one of the five,

It's an easy one to talk about,

It's easy to recognize.

So at a subtle level,

That might just arise as a sort of dislike of something,

Just even a very gentle dislike,

Sort of like a,

Not some,

You know,

Like a sense of discomfort,

Or uncomfortableness about something.

And then obviously,

Through the spectrum,

It can end up with strong aversion to things,

Complaining about the world,

Being an irritable person.

And then further on,

It starts to become very manifest and aggressive.

And it can be anger,

You know,

All the different manifestations of anger,

Which can actually end up physically manifesting as physical violence.

In other words,

It's,

It's gone beyond just the mental state,

It's gone into physical behavior.

So sloth and torpor is similar,

It has this range from subtle to strong.

So at the subtle level,

We wouldn't probably even recognize that it's there.

We wouldn't recognize that this is sloth and torpor,

Unless we're minds clear and bright.

Even,

Even something more obvious,

Like ill will,

Often we don't recognize it as ill will until it's getting quite noisy in our head.

And then we,

We know we're pissed off about something,

And it's becoming obvious that this is ill will.

But at the subtle level,

Some of these hindrances are hard to see.

So,

So at the subtle level,

I've made a note of a few of the,

The,

The subtler levels.

So at the subtler level,

Sloth and torpor is like an element of complacency about things,

Like she'll be right.

There's nothing really,

Nothing to do with,

Nothing's needed.

Things just go along as they are.

Sort of an unwillingness to,

To address things,

To fix things,

Allowing things to deteriorate,

Not bringing enough resolve to,

To,

To difficult things,

Just to letting things sort themselves out.

You know,

This is sort of like a,

It's kind of a disengagement with adapt,

It has,

It's not good at adapting.

It's not,

Hasn't got much resourcefulness.

It just sort of,

It just wants the whole lot to go away,

Basically.

This is kind of a fairly passive level of sloth and torpor.

It may not be something that we even identify at that point.

But it's kind of a disinterestedness in,

It couldn't be bothered.

So then as it gets a bit stronger,

It can sort of even be like denial,

You know,

Like when things are falling to bits all around you,

And you just,

You just don't do anything about it.

You're lazy,

Basically,

You're lazy,

You're complacent.

So these are elements of sloth and torpor.

And then when it starts to get even stronger,

It's almost like you start to fall asleep.

You know,

Like you,

I can remember being in school when I was young.

And on a midway through the afternoon,

It's like,

The minutes seem like hours.

It's just like everything the teacher says just seems to,

You know,

Be a weight on your shoulders,

And you go drowsier and drowsier,

And you just wish you could get out of there.

So it's sort of gone to boredom.

It's like a dislike,

Followed by a boredom,

Followed by literally just starting to shut down.

There's no mental energy.

There's like a weight on your head,

And you just feel like you'd like to go to sleep.

So that's kind of going towards the other end of the scale.

So now in contrast,

So I mentioned then about,

There's this sense of disengagement or even dislike.

And actually,

The way we go into sloth and torpor is often from a dislike of the thing that we're doing,

A lack of interest in the thing that we're doing.

So in a way,

Sloth and torpor can creep up on us.

You know,

It doesn't need someone yelling in our face,

Which anger might need to prompt it.

Sloth and torpor can sort of just sort of come in through the back door when we're not looking,

Simply because the thing that we're doing,

You know,

We're not that interested in it,

And we couldn't be bothered.

And gradually,

This sort of attitude allows the sloth and torpor to build up and build up.

And the problem with the hindrances is they're not good at getting out of them.

They're not,

They don't know.

So sloth and torpor doesn't know how to stop itself.

It doesn't know how to not be slothful.

Anger doesn't really know how to not be angry.

It's good at being angry.

And sloth and torpor is like that.

It's just,

It doesn't,

It hasn't got a lot of tools.

None of the hindrances have got the tools of wisdom.

So sloth and torpor is a bit the same way that we find that we're sort of in it and lost in it.

We don't have a clear way of getting out of it.

The general description of how it manifests.

But I'd also like to talk,

You know,

So the thing is,

In terms of our lives,

This sort of mind can create all sorts of problems.

This sort of mind,

Which leaves things to the last minute.

It doesn't address things that should be addressed.

It's complacent about things that could end up being big,

Big,

Big problems.

You know,

If they were addressed in,

In a timely manner,

Things can be fixed quite easily.

But sometimes they're not addressed,

And the problem magnifies and gets bigger.

So maybe Simon,

I'll throw to you about how you see sloth and torpor and how you've seen it operating in your world and the danger of it.

It'd be helpful if you could talk about it.

So our minds are continually looking to get out of suffering.

And what Buddhism offers is surefire ways that will help us to get out of suffering.

But because we don't know what is happening,

A lot of the time,

We're using not particularly wise methods of getting out of suffering,

Which means we're sort of bouncing around or circling through the five hindrances in order to try and escape what's happening,

What we think is happening to us.

So sloth and torpor,

For example,

For me,

It's like,

Almost it feels as if I can reduce anxiety,

I can reduce pressure by being in this very comfortable,

Nice,

Slow,

It's like I'm cocooning,

It looks like I'm cocooning my mind from all the suffering and attacks that it gets.

So that's the first thing you need to recognize that we're doing that a lot.

So you have to recognize that.

Then what you have to start to do is you have to recognize the sort of internal dialogue that these minds produce.

So it's lines like,

That probably doesn't really need to be done now.

It's minds like I can't really be bothered.

And when sloth and torpor has got to quite an acute level,

It's like all you want to do is,

As Frank said earlier,

Is just want to go to sleep.

And you want to sleep for like a month,

Because that's what it feels like it needs.

And so this is the mind trying to escape the suffering that we're experiencing.

There's many documented cases of people who are severely depressed,

And they sleep much longer than they need to,

Because that's one of their coping mechanisms,

And that would be sloth and torpor in operation.

So you have to recognize the signs and the symptoms,

Which are,

It's a heaviness,

It's a feeling of tiredness,

It's going to produce lines like I can't be bothered,

And that doesn't need to be done now.

And it sort of wants to put things off.

Procrastination is another method of or another manifestation of sloth and torpor.

So this is where,

Because we want to catch these minds before they get loud,

We want to catch them like if,

If loud is and you're stuck in them as 10,

We want to see if we can catch these minds at two or even one before they become almost too big to confront.

So that's where the practice of mindfulness comes into it is this monitoring of the mind and prompting of the mind of wholesome mental activity,

So that we don't get too enmeshed in these horrible minds such as sloth and torpor.

Because these minds have no interest in waking up,

They have no interest in saying the truth.

They have no interest in in stopping themselves.

So sloth and torpor it you can't use that mind to get better.

But the mind is very tricky because in many ways we are we use these minds and we're addicted to these minds.

Because that's what we've been practicing for a long time.

So we want to try to build our mindfulness so that we can start to recognize these minds before they become too big,

So that it's not too difficult to then pull out of them.

Then what these minds also stop us from doing is seeing the truth.

These minds don't recognize impermanence,

For example.

So often with these minds,

Like when you're irritated,

For example,

It feels like you're going to be irritated for days.

When you've got sloth and torpor,

It just feels like you just haven't got the energy to do anything.

And it and it feels like it's going to be like this for,

You know,

For a long time,

So that I recognize that actually things are changing very,

Very,

Very quickly.

And that nothing lasts for very long.

These minds make it look like they're going to be around for a long time.

So they distort your perception of time.

For example,

Like Frank mentioned earlier,

Sloth and torpor looks like time really slows down.

And it looks like that.

So then sloth and torpor will say,

It's okay.

You don't need to do that task now.

There's plenty of time and do it later.

So and so you completely sort of lose touch with actually what is occurring.

Flurry and worry,

For example,

Tends to speed time up,

It makes it look like there's not enough time,

It looks like it's impossible to achieve what you need to achieve in the time that you've been allocated.

So they stop you from seeing things from the way they are.

They stop you from seeing impermanence.

They say they will tell you things that are not really what's occurring.

And they're dangerous because they keep us in samsara and they keep us suffering.

Yeah,

How'd you go with that?

It was good,

Frank.

What stood out for me is,

Like Simon said,

Sloth and torpor can manifest in terms of complacency.

Yeah.

So sometimes,

You know,

When people treat you unfairly,

And you do not choose to speak up.

Yeah,

Sometimes it can go bad.

And I mean,

Not be good.

So you need to speak up as well.

Sometimes you get into,

You know,

All sorts of trouble later on in life.

Right.

My question was,

Like,

How do you catch sloth and torpor?

Or how do you practice,

You know,

To get out of this?

Yeah.

So that's what we'll go on to next.

But generally,

How you catch these unwholesome mental states is you become familiar with their characteristics,

How they appear before they become overblown and loud and noisy,

But how they first appear.

What are the conditions whereby they often can come?

Like,

You know,

We might find that we're very habitual,

And we might find that certain things when we get near to them,

Sloth and torpor comes.

So in Buddhism,

There's an element of investigation of trying to see what's going on with these habits,

Like what triggers them.

Because habitual minds or habitual behavior is difficult to get off.

It's like,

It's a bit like if you're walking through the forest,

And there's this familiar path that you're always walking along.

But if you need another path,

It's like there's just bush all around,

You know,

It's like you've got to go into the bush to make a new direction.

So it's a bit like that.

It's like an easy way of going is the path that's well beaten.

But to make a new path might mean you've,

You know,

Requires effort and insertion and sloth and torpor doesn't really want to do that.

So it's kind of self defeating.

And it's got a lot of investment in to just keep doing what you're doing.

So but anyway,

Look,

We'll talk about it.

And the other thing to mention is,

It's not like a formula.

Each person there,

We all have a different way of operating in a different way of perceiving ourselves.

So it's a matter of learning about your own mind and your own mental states.

Even though there's a book that says,

Oh,

Well,

This is what's going to happen.

Or this is what it looks like.

It may not look like that,

To you or me,

You know,

Maybe at all.

Because things are hard to see,

Particularly things that are like our habits.

And it's like they're our second nature,

We don't even think about them in terms of their wholesome or unwholesome.

They're just part of,

You know,

The furniture in our mind.

But so we've kind of got to do investigation to flush out the bits that maybe with we never suspected were unwholesome,

But they they're the beginnings of something that it's at a subtle level.

And,

You know,

Maybe we recognize it at the more grossest levels,

But not the subtle.

So we'll,

We'll go into it.

Yeah,

Mark.

Yes,

Thank you for explaining sloth and torpor.

The,

The complacency has always been a big,

A big issue for me.

And,

Yes,

It's,

I think,

As you said,

It needs to be analyzed,

Because it's obviously quite complex how all the hindrances fit in together.

Yeah,

Because sloth and torpor with ill will,

And then there can be desire in there as well.

Otherwise,

As often could be flurry and worry.

Yeah,

There's a problem.

Sloth and torpor doesn't do anything about it.

And it will work out.

And flurry and worry worries about it a lot,

Get stressed.

Yes.

So the combination of these things is obviously very thwarted.

Yes.

And these are why they're called hindrances.

You,

How do you get on in,

In,

You know,

The things you need to really operate effectively and resolve things.

Problem solving and improve in different areas.

They never,

They won't happen with those mental states operating.

Yes.

Yeah,

Thank you.

Where we don't use them at all.

So just as a contrast,

One element is you probably there might be something that in your life you found very interesting.

I know for me,

There was things when I was growing up,

Which was I used to like motorbikes.

So,

So I had my own library of books on motorbikes.

I couldn't get enough of this is all bikes,

Not modern ones.

And I would read and read and read.

And I could retain so much of the information.

And it's like I had a bigger and bigger expanding knowledge.

And my interest was so that is because I like the thing.

Whereas if it's a topic,

I don't like the subject matter.

It's like the opposite.

I don't really read about it.

I don't look at the books.

I don't pay much attention to it.

I don't put much effort in.

And of course,

I don't learn anything about it.

And that happened might happen to be something that I needed to pass in,

You know,

School.

And yet,

I'm not really giving it the resources,

The mental resources of the time,

Because that's the way these minds work.

So dislike is often the precursor to sloth and talk.

You know,

If you look at it the other way,

You could have dislike of something.

But if you didn't have sloth and talk,

You'd say,

Okay,

There's an issue here.

I've got to pass this subject.

I don't like it.

I better figure it out.

I better work out how,

You know,

Because I'm not naturally interested in reading about it and learning about it.

So if there's no sloth and talk,

You'll get an action plan.

And you'll say,

Right,

Well,

This is a risk.

It's like perceiving it as a risk that if I don't do something about it here,

I'm going to fail.

So then there's a resourcefulness,

Which you don't have in sloth and talk,

Which will mean you'll address this problem now,

Before you fail,

Because you know that if you don't address it,

You will fail.

So this is kind of learning the operating system of sloth and talk versus the operating system when you don't have it.

So the fact that you don't like something is not reason.

To the sloth and talk of mind,

That's good enough,

You can tune out.

But to a mind without sloth and talk,

The fact you don't like it,

If it's important,

Like if it's not important,

Perhaps it's not a big deal.

But if it's something you should be doing,

Say you're running a business and you don't like cold calling,

Right?

Well,

You know,

A lot of businesses,

Your business will be out of business.

It's only a matter of time,

Because cold calling is an essential element of building up new business.

So there's a lot of ways that in our normal life,

Like the fact that we,

We don't address the areas that are difficult causes to have other problems arising down the track.

The mind without sloth and talk won't do that.

It will see the problem.

Even if we don't like to do the work of cold calling,

It will figure out how I'm going to do it.

It'll investigate it,

And it'll come up with a plan.

And then it'll,

It'll do it.

Because that's like the opposite of sloth and talk.

So you can see sloth and talk can be dangerous because it can cause your business to fail.

It can cause you to fail at school.

It can cause lots of flow on issues.

It can cause relationship problems.

Simply because it won't address problems.

And,

You know,

We all know how our life is a series.

In many instances,

We're challenged by problems in so many different areas on so many different fronts.

If part of our habit is sloth and talk,

Then we're going to be hitting brick walls all over the place because we don't have a mechanism to resolve the problems because sloth and talk doesn't want to go there.

So it's a practical life skill to not to use minds that don't have sloth and talk or to develop them.

So,

Okay,

So how do we,

How do we not get caught in it when it arises?

And how do we train ourselves to not use it?

So it's difficult.

It's like,

Say you had a cloth with a stain in it.

Some stains are not too difficult to get out.

You put them in hot water and they just wash out.

But there are other stains that are very hard to get out.

So sloth and talk is one of those in the sense that it's sort of under the radar,

You know,

It's,

It's undermining you before you even know you've got it.

So it's not easy to like anger actually is what it,

Even though anger can cause the most damage,

Perhaps in some respects,

It's regarded as the easiest one to overcome because it's in your face.

Anger can be obviously more subtle levels as I've described before,

But you can't pretend you're not angry.

You can't pretend you're not pissed off.

It's right there.

It's yelling at you in your own head,

Right?

So sloth and torpor is kind of quiet.

It's,

It sort of slinks around,

You know,

You can't quite get a handle on where it is and what it's doing.

So in that sense,

It's harder to,

But it's,

It can be overcome for sure.

So the thing to know is that there are actually lots of ways to overcome these,

These hindrances or defilements.

We can also call them defilements,

But probably there's basic steps that you can use for all of them.

And the first one is you have to recognize that there's a defilement or that there's something going on there that needs to be fixed.

So you have to recognize and even more than that,

You have to be able to name what it is.

So the problem is if you can't see it,

You're not going to,

You're not going to be alerted to it and you're not going to do anything.

And the second thing is if you don't know what it is,

Then it's hard to know what will fix it,

What you can do to address it.

And even trickier thing with sloth and torpor,

It doesn't want you to address it.

It couldn't be bothered,

Right?

It's too complacent to bother to fix itself.

So maybe with that anger,

You might recognize,

Hang on,

I've got to back off here.

This is ridiculous.

You know,

I'm going to walk out of the room.

I'm going to leave it.

This is not helpful.

So there might be with anger,

Immediate sense of I've got to stop this.

But with sloth and torpor,

Why?

There's no part of your mind that's saying,

I have to stop this because sloth and torpor is not interested in doing anything.

But nevertheless,

We have learned about Buddhadharma and we understand that we can have these sort of mental states and we need to be able to recognize them when they arise.

So there's like,

If we get into the present,

Which is basic for all Buddhist practice,

Be in the present,

Then you've got some chance of being able to recognize something arising,

Even if it's subtle.

If you're not in the present,

You're not going to see it.

Because basically out of the present means there's an element of our mind which is asleep.

And that's just the territory that sloth and torpor will operate in.

That element of our mind,

Because sloth and torpor is like a type of awake sleeping,

Isn't it?

Sleeping awake sort of thing.

So you need to have,

For all of these,

You need mindfulness.

You need to be in the present.

If you're in the present,

Then you can sort of investigate.

You can say,

Okay,

I know that my mind's not clear.

I know that I'm sleepy or I know that I'm,

Whatever the symptom is that's arising.

So I need to be able to recognize what this is.

Now,

If you do that,

You're probably not going to be very difficult to recognize what sloth and torpor,

If there's sloth and torpor there,

Because it's got all of these signs that you can see.

So that would be the first thing is to be in the present and to be able to see,

Firstly,

That there's a defilement.

My mind isn't clear.

It's not happy.

It's not interested or whatever the symptom is.

Then from that,

You can see if this is sloth and torpor.

Okay,

If it's sloth and torpor,

Then I know I have to do something because it's not going to fix itself.

So there's lots of things you can do.

First thing is just to reinforce that sloth and torpor is unwholesome.

You just tell yourself,

You've got to recognize that this mental state is not beneficial,

That it's not okay just to sit there and let it perpetuate.

That's not any sort of response or Buddhist practice or right effort or anything.

So you recognize the disadvantages of this mental state.

Okay,

This is sloth and torpor.

If my mind has got sloth and torpor,

It's not going to learn anything.

It's not going to get clear and bright.

It's an obstacle to clarity.

It's an obstacle to wisdom.

It's an obstacle to compassion.

It's an obstacle to any decent mind that I would want and that would be helpful to me.

This is going to prevent that arising.

So this is the nature of hindrances.

So then once you're clear that you have to get out of here,

You have to get off it,

Then the technique is about how do you shift off that mental state?

What do you do?

So often sloth and torpor operates because you dislike what you're doing.

So the first thing you should do is smile.

You should prompt the opposite of dislike.

Even though the thing that's sitting in front of you that you were doing,

You dislike,

That's not you.

That's just something out there in the world.

You don't need to have a mind of aversion.

You can develop and you can promote other mental states.

You don't have to have dislike.

So you might consider something pleasant,

Like I might think of my granddaughter or my granddaughters to just bring lightness to my mind,

To relieve my mind of the heaviness of the sloth and torpor.

And then smile and think of something that's enjoyable.

Again,

Be in the present,

Get onto your breath.

So the thing with sloth and torpor is it doesn't really want to do anything.

So in the Buddhist texts,

It suggests you should initiate some sort of actions.

You shouldn't just sit there.

So,

For example,

Go and do something that is energetic.

Like we would do some chanting.

Buddhist chanting would be good.

A really good one would be to do prostrations.

We do a practice of 35 prostrations to 35 Buddhas.

That's very energetic.

And actually also it's energetic in your mind because you're paying respect to those 35 Buddhas.

Okay,

Another thing to look at is quite often we rely on our motivation to be motivated as the prompt for us to keep going and to do things.

But with sloth and torpor there's no motivation.

So in that sense motivation is weak in the sense that it's unreliable.

It can blow hot and blow cold.

If you only can do stuff when you feel motivated and you're enthusiastic,

Well what happens when the motivation's gone?

You're not going to do much because the driver for your action is dissolved.

And motivation is like that.

You just can't rely on it.

So sloth and torpor won't give you any motivation.

So therefore you won't tend to act from it.

So you need a better system than relying on motivation.

So the thing that is particularly helpful in this area is planning.

So because planning,

You end up out of planning.

Firstly,

Even before planning is goal setting.

So if you set goals that you believe in,

Then quite often you can rely on those like motivation.

Because the goal doesn't disappear.

Like the mental state motivation disappears.

But the goal is a written goal that you've defined and you know what it is and you know what it means.

So if you have a strong set of goals and out of that you will have defined what you need to do to achieve your goals and you'll have some planning.

That actually is a much better base to use than motivation or enthusiasm.

Because you can be unenthusiastic but the thing in the paper says go and do this because it's part of your plan.

So you just do it because you follow the plan rather than follow the whims of your shifting minds and your mindsets.

Whether you feel enthusiastic or you feel tired or whatever you feel.

Feelings are fleeting,

They come and go.

So it's like a very shifting sense to base your behaviour on.

But if you have goals and you have planning,

Then you just follow the plan irrespective of your motivation,

Your feelings.

And then you'll find that you build habits around your planning systems rather than your feelings and your mental states.

So you build a habit of following your plan.

So the plan says every day I have to do this,

Three times I have to do this,

I have to do this,

I have to do this.

So you just do those things and you get into the habit of doing the things that you've defined will help,

Are beneficial,

Are worthwhile.

And that means you've got an alternative to sloth and torpor.

If you don't create an alternative,

You've got nowhere to go.

Sloth and torpor won't degenerate the alternative,

It'll just leave it as it is.

So if you don't have something that's predefined,

You haven't got any option,

You're stuck.

So in a longer term sense,

Planning is very powerful in this sense.

It's much more reliable.

Also the planning has come out of some sort of analysis and investigation.

So it's well thought through.

So it's likely to be productive,

It's likely to be effective.

Even if your mind is fooling around,

You go and just do these things and you'll still be able to get things done.

Now,

If the planning is about your own mental states,

Like if you know that sloth and torpor comes up,

You write a plan.

How do I not get trapped in my sloth and torpor?

So when sloth and torpor comes,

Where's my plan?

I get my plan.

It says do this,

Do this,

Do this and do this.

So you do those things and you're not following your sloth and torpor at that point.

You're following your analytical way of overcoming the sloth and torpor.

So the fact that it's written down is the biggest benefit because it doesn't disappear out of your mind.

It's in the world,

It's a hard copy.

So generally the approach to overcoming sloth and torpor is what you might see or you could almost call overkill.

But it's not really overkill,

It's just that sloth and torpor is so slippery.

You get caught in it,

It's so sticky,

It's so hard to move away.

So you need something else that's really robust to be able to drag you away from it.

I'm talking about when sloth and torpor is pretty strong.

So typically there's like five steps that will give you enough energy to pull you out of the orbit.

It's like you're trying to overcome the force of gravity.

You've got to get into orbit,

That's your mind we're talking about.

The gravity is the stickiness of the fall.

So if a rocket hasn't got enough oomph,

It won't even budge.

It could have a thousand pounds of energy,

But if it needs a thousand and ten,

It won't lift off.

So you've got to have enough energy to lift off.

So the five steps are,

The first one is called generate the intention.

It's for anything you want to do.

This isn't only for sloth and torpor,

This is for anything that you want to do where there's some difficulty involved and you want to succeed.

So the first one,

I think I've got it written here.

So the first thing you do is you generate specifically what's your intention that you're trying to achieve.

The second one is you make the effort.

So this is like a deliberate step one,

Step two,

Make the effort.

Don't just sit there and daydream.

Get up,

Get the resources you need,

Sit down,

Get a pad,

Get a pen or whatever,

Make the effort.

And then you have to arouse the energy to sustain your effort.

You have to arouse it.

It's such an active thing,

You're not waiting for the energy,

You're not waiting for the thing to fix itself.

You have to arouse the energy in your mind to whatever this thing is,

To go through the next step,

The next step,

The next step.

You've got to support what you're doing by arousing the energy to do it,

Which you can do.

Volitionally you can do this,

It's possible.

And you apply yourself.

You have to have a level of commitment,

A level of dedication,

A level of resolve,

A level of support to your own plan.

Don't be half-hearted.

So it's the opposite of half-heartedness.

You be wholehearted.

And the final thing that you do is you do it with happiness.

You do it with joyfulness.

You don't do it begrudgingly.

You don't do it wishing you were doing something else.

You don't do it and split your attention and sort of have your phone and be checking your phone.

Okay,

So I'll also again ask Simon about the business of how to get over the sloth and torpor.

There's lots of methods,

Right?

So I've mentioned a few and Simon will mention a few.

And yeah,

Planning and the real,

The genuine wish to,

I want to over time,

I want to reduce and relinquish sloth and torpor.

That's what I want to do.

That's my intention.

And if you can have that,

If you can be reminded of that often,

That will also keep you from getting too far into it.

Because you'll be reminded that actually,

Yes,

I'm too tired.

Yes,

I can't be both,

You know,

Sloth and torpor is starting to run.

But I'm not interested in that.

I actually want to relinquish my sloth and torpor.

That's my agenda here.

So if you've got that agenda on top,

That starts to,

It cuts the top dialogue that sloth and torpor,

Ill will and anxiety produces.

It's that my agenda in this moment is actually to relinquish this mind.

So it doesn't matter what it says to me.

It doesn't matter how convincing it might sound.

That's what I'm trying to do.

Good.

Okay,

We'll go around,

See how you're going.

You got any questions?

Any comments?

You good?

I think some of the comments are really good.

Like,

There's an intention to relinquish sloth and torpor.

It hasn't come to my mind.

I just,

I feel like it's a bit of a battle.

Like,

I didn't like you trying to push it away,

But I've got to accept that.

I've got to do this task.

I think I'll try that,

You know,

Having another layer of intention.

And that before I actually get on to the task.

And to say that I want to get this done.

And enjoy.

It's good,

Actually.

The thing about the hindrances is often we don't like them either because they're unpleasant mental states.

Like,

At the end of the day,

We might be pissed off and it seems like we're totally justified.

But actually it's really unpleasant.

It's really unpleasant.

So we don't like the whole thing.

You know,

We're pissed off and we don't like it.

So part of dealing with the hindrances is that we don't hate ourselves because of them.

We don't be doubly annoyed because we've got an unwholesome mind.

It's like we accept that it's there.

And in a way,

Accepting it means it's like saying it's okay.

It's okay.

Look,

It's just that's what it is.

And I'll deal with it,

But I'm not going to fight it.

It's not my enemy.

It's almost like,

I'm not saying be its friend,

But don't be its enemy.

Because if you're against your own mental state,

You're fighting yourself.

An internal battle's going on.

And that's another defilement.

That's another hindrance.

It's not really a wholesome method to have an internal battle going on.

That just means you've got one defilement jumping on the other one.

So this is why we're smiling.

And even though it's not a pleasant experience,

The hindrances,

But the beginning of the way out is to smile.

Because it's like letting the mind let it go,

In a way.

There's an element of letting go if you smile.

Because you're taking the position of the wholesome.

Smiling is wholesome,

Essentially.

It's taking another position than the defilement or the hindrance.

So in a way,

It is allowing you some space in your mind to let it go.

Even you can think how fortunate I am.

You think of things that are good things in your life.

I live in great conditions.

I've got a beautiful husband.

I have a good family.

Things that bring relief to your mind.

Things that soften your mind.

Things that take the immediacy of the defilement away.

So it's to recollect things that are significant things that are blessings in your world.

So that is a really good antidote.

Because it's going towards a totally different mindset than the hindrance.

It's going to a very wholesome,

Nourishing.

It's bringing nourishing elements into your mind in the present.

So we can't say hindrance,

Stop.

We don't have control like that.

But we can direct the mind to something different.

That we can do.

So direct your mind to something very nourishing and wholesome.

And it gives you space to let go.

So your mind is not 100% just looking into this defilement or into this hindrance.

Whatever it be.

So in the Dharma there is another element of sloth and torpor.

Which I'm going to read a quote out of the book.

This is a quote.

It's to do with right energy.

So this is by Geshe Rabten.

And it's really interesting.

And it just shows you the perverseness of sloth and torpor.

It's on a book called Bringing Wisdom to Life.

Which is our own book,

Our own production.

But within it is a quote by one of the Tibetan lamas.

It's on page 74.

Now this is on the topic of right energy.

So right energy is actually the opposite if you like.

All the unwholesomes.

It's the energy that will propel you on the Buddhist path.

It's the energy of developing the wholesome qualities that we need.

It's the energy of abandoning the unwholesome.

It's the energy that will lead our mind towards becoming clear and bright.

And achieving the type of mental states which are very supportive of our well-being.

And so this is one of these types of energies.

It's called the first.

This is the quote.

The first is the energy of the mind that stops the desire for unprofitable things.

If we have a strong desire for ordinary things disconnected from Dharma,

It disrupts our Dharma practice.

Although we have to do everyday things,

If our fondness for them is greater than our fondness for Dharma,

Our attention is taken away from our main work.

A person may concentrate and work very hard,

But if the goal of all that effort is a worldly one,

Then according to Dharma,

That person is lazy.

People who really want to practice Dharma are in a hurry,

Even when eating or excreting,

So as to not waste time.

This aspect of the perfection of energy speeds us quickly towards the final goal.

Having energy for Dharma practice,

The real purpose of life,

Prevents our being distracted by worldly goals.

It protects us from all kinds of bad things.

So this is not a normal observation about laziness,

But this is in terms of our addiction to worldly activity.

We are living in the world,

So we have to commit to all of the support systems that we need to live in good conditions,

To have a comfortable life,

To be able to support ourselves and others.

So that's absolutely the case,

Particularly for lay people.

So we have to have that level of focus on our worldly lives,

And also our relationships and our family.

However,

What Geshe is saying is that if that focus becomes so preoccupying and overwhelming that there's no space left for Dharma,

From a Buddhist viewpoint,

That's a waste of life.

Because all of those things are literally the support system of us being in the world,

But they won't wake us up,

They won't help us,

They won't develop our clarity or our wisdom,

Or any of the qualities that we must develop in order to look after ourselves properly.

So if we're so skewed to the worldly agendas that we basically don't leave any space or don't make space for the Dharma activities,

From the Dharma viewpoint,

That's lazy.

It's like you've created no foundation and no environment,

No conditions where you can practice the Dharma.

So that's like complete lopsided.

So that's the point that he's making.

So when we look at it from that viewpoint,

The practice to overcome the hindrances is at a completely another level to what we've been talking about today.

The practice to overcome the hindrances comes from all our Dharma practice,

Which is our commitment to developing our mindfulness,

Our generosity,

Developing wholesome mental states,

Being kind,

Developing virtuous minds,

And then abandoning the unwholesome.

To develop our precepts and our morality,

To increase our merit over time.

These are actually the foundations of our path to enlightenment.

So as we develop those things,

What happens is the unwholesome mental states get less and less.

They reduce.

The energy and the power of them becomes weakened and the wholesomes become stronger because we're focusing on developing and strengthening the wholesomes.

So gradually the ratio in our mind of wholesome versus unwholesome,

Because our underlying commitment is to the Dharma,

To our own practice of the Dharma,

Gradually the scales tip and the wholesome becomes stronger and the unwholesome becomes weaker.

And as we go on that journey,

Eventually the unwholesomes have less and less influence on us.

Even though they may arise,

We don't get caught by them.

And the wholesomes,

We start to live in that all the time,

So that our mind is living in the wholesomes.

That is our protection from the unwholesome mental states.

So the wholesomes include loving kindness as a practice,

Doing offerings on altars and doing offerings to other people.

That's the generosity.

There's many elements of these practices.

But the ultimate purpose of these practices is to abandon the unwholesomes and to build the wholesomes so strong that our mind is clear and bright all the time.

And then in that sort of mind,

Wisdom and compassion and all the good qualities can grow and they flourish in that sort of mind.

If you're overwhelmed by defilements,

It's very hard to grow wholesome mental states because they haven't got the strength.

There's too much noise.

But out of our practice over time,

This can happen.

And then the wholesomes can grow much easier,

Much quicker.

So,

Yeah,

That's the kind of message of that quote from Geshe Radcliffe,

Which is very helpful.

So the Buddhist path is about becoming well and happy,

But that's not the whole path.

That's just getting to a platform where you're stable.

And then from that platform,

You need to develop very bright,

Clean minds.

And those minds can understand yourself.

They can understand your own nature,

Your own mental states,

How you develop,

How you improve.

You can find all of that in yourself.

Okay,

So I'll go again to Simon,

If you've got any other comments you'd like to ask him.

Yeah,

So,

You know,

Each week we're isolating the hindrances,

But it is important to recognize that they work together.

And that's why we have to,

You know,

So we've got lots of different strategies,

But they can be very fast working together.

So we need to be aware of the sorts of dialogue.

This is why the mindfulness comes into it,

Because we need to be aware of the internal dialogue that we're listening to.

And so you gave me a really good instruction the other day,

Which is to be suspicious of what is arising,

Which is a good way to approach a lot of what comes into our mind.

Is to just take a step back,

Yeah,

To not be like listening to your mind at face value 100% all the time.

So just to sort of step back from that,

Be suspicious,

Check out what's going on.

Ask yourself the question,

Is this wholesome?

And if it isn't,

Then what do I need to do?

Yeah.

I think that the quote that you read from the book did really remind me of my own experience in the last few years where when I'm reminded that I need to practice more.

Really,

Life seems to go better.

And then when it goes better,

I get more comfortable and then I tend to have,

I spend more time and more focus on my daily activities.

And then later on,

I practice less and then things don't go that well anymore.

I come back to more practice.

So I got into this cycle and now I think I want to keep this in my mind when life's going well,

I still want to practice more so that I don't go into that cycle.

Don't be defeated by your success.

Yes.

Because sometimes we have a motive to practice when we're suffering.

Yes.

But then when the suffering starts to reduce,

It's like our motive for practice.

Reduce,

Yeah.

See,

So it's okay we start with a motive for practice to reduce suffering,

But somewhere along the line,

We need to start to see that there's a bigger picture there.

It's not just today I'm suffering,

But what about my future well-being and happiness?

And what does the Dharma say about how I should view my life as a journey towards waking up?

So you have to get your motive bigger than just fix this problem.

You go to the doctor to fix a problem and then the problem's gone,

You don't do anything,

Then you're fine.

That's okay,

But sooner or later,

If you don't get a better motive,

You'll stop practicing.

Yes.

Thank you.

Okay.

Alright,

So we can do our chanting.

So at the end,

We share the merits,

Which makes a lot of merit,

Learning the Dharma,

Considering the Dharma,

Trying to work out how to develop our well-being and happiness and our wholesome mental states.

So we share this.

May the merits made by me,

The now or at some other time,

Be shared among all beings here,

However many they be.

May the merits made by me,

Now or at some other time,

Be shared among all beings here,

However many they be.

May the merits made by me,

Now or at some other time,

Be shared among all beings here,

However many they be.

May this merit accrue to my mother and my father.

May they be happy.

May this merit accrue to all my relatives.

May they be happy.

May this merit accrue to my teachers and my preceptor.

May they be happy.

May this merit accrue to all gods.

May they be happy.

May this merit accrue to all hungry ghosts.

May they be happy.

May this merit accrue to all enemies.

May they be happy.

May this merit accrue to all beings.

May they be happy.

May this gift of merits help all beings know the path,

Realise the path,

Follow the path.

May this gift of merits help all beings know the path,

Realise the path,

Follow the path.

May this gift of merits help all beings know the path,

Realise the path,

Follow the path.

May I be well and happy.

May you be well and happy.

May all beings be well and happy.

May I be well and happy.

May you be well and happy.

May all beings be well and happy.

May I be well and happy.

May you be well and happy.

May all beings be well and happy.

Salute.

Salute.

Salute.

This concludes the talk on how to give up laziness.

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Reviews

Excellent teaching. I'll be coming back to this one. Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu. 🙏🙏🙏