Learn Buddhism: Five Hindrances In Meditation

Buddhism has something called the "Five Hindrances" which are mental obstructions on our path towards enlightenment and Nirvana. In this episode, we will talk about Buddhist meditation, our mind, and how the Five Hindrances are like obstacles on the road and some common Buddhist ways to overcome them.

Transcript

Welcome to Learn Buddhism.

I'm Alan Pedo.

When we think of meditation,

We're usually thinking of sitting meditation,

Calming ourselves,

And that's pretty much it.

But when it comes to the Buddhist version of meditation,

We are using it as a form of something called meditative concentration.

Because what we're trying to do is two things.

Calm and settle the mind,

Essentially tame the mind,

And then develop insight.

Insight into the true nature of things,

The truth,

The Dharma that the Buddha taught.

Everything from impermanence,

The concept of non-self,

Dependent origination.

These are the things we are trying to develop insight into because that is the path towards enlightenment and eventually nirvana.

That's what we're trying to do and we need insight for that.

But we have a problem.

There's something called the five hindrances in Buddhism,

Which are mental states that are counterproductive for you to achieve insight.

Because of that,

We have to have ways to essentially go around them.

Because these five hindrances are going to be part of your practice.

You're going to have them.

They are part of our everyday life.

But how a Buddhist looks at the five hindrances and is able to still progress in light of these is what we're trying to do as part of our practice.

I kind of like to explain the five hindrances almost like again we're on this road,

We're on this long trip towards enlightenment and eventually to nirvana.

And just like if you're going on a trip right now on the road,

Whether that's on a bus,

In your car,

Train,

Whatever,

You might have potholes.

There could be speed bumps.

There could even be a big boulder that crashes down on the road.

How do you get past that?

Or there could even be something as simple as a roadside attraction.

Well let me go take a look at that or whatever.

The point is we are unable to continue down this path towards enlightenment and nirvana because of these hindrances.

They're,

As I mentioned,

Counterproductive for us.

Now between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism,

They will look at the five hindrances and interpret them in different ways insofar as how they apply to meditative concentration.

But in general,

They are those hindrances to the stages of meditative concentration and calming the mind.

Because of that,

We want to find ways around them,

These obstacles that we have in the road.

Because these hindrances,

They are essentially chaining you to the cycle of rebirth,

To the ignorance portion of the three fires of greed,

Anger,

And ignorance.

When we are ignorant of why things are occurring,

Why we're doing things,

We're just trapping ourselves.

We are in this vicious endless cycle of doing the same things over and over again and the hindrances are caused by us.

So it's not something that is being done to us.

It is our own mind,

Our own untamed mind that's controlling us.

And guess what?

It doesn't want us to get towards Nirvana.

It wants to keep us controlled by itself.

So the hindrances are essentially your own mind preventing you from taming it,

From calming it,

So you can develop insight.

So when we're looking at Buddhist practice and why we're Buddhist,

It's all about ending the cycle of rebirth.

Because the cycle of rebirth and every existence that we have in the cycle of rebirth are impermanent.

And the Buddhist said all that is impermanent is suffering,

Is dukkha.

And so because of that,

As Buddhists,

We want to end this forced rebirth in new existences.

And these new existences,

This cycle of rebirth,

Is spurred on by karma,

Our karmic actions.

And those actions are due to,

You got it,

Ignorance.

Ignorance which results in karmic actions because of greed,

Anger,

Hatred,

All of those.

It's just trapping us in this cycle,

Just like chains.

So when we are able to overcome these hindrances,

We are able to get to that insight that we need.

We're able to calm the mind and that allows us to develop the insight.

But because we've been clouded to the truth of the Buddhist teachings for so long and all these things,

This can be very very difficult.

So before I go into them,

Just realize this isn't something that you're going to figure out overnight and overcome right away.

This is why Buddhists practice.

So I mentioned about Buddhist practice a lot and this is not like a sprint.

It's like a marathon.

We need to have consistent practice.

Like you're going to the gym,

You have to be consistent in it.

The more you're able to understand Buddhist teachings,

You're following the five precepts,

Maybe the eight precepts at times,

And you're doing all these different practices,

You are helping to reduce and hopefully eventually stop these hindrances.

So just realize,

Don't feel,

Wow,

You know,

This hindrance got me again.

It's going to happen.

It's going to happen in our practice.

All we can do is recognize it because when we're able to recognize it,

Because right now we're not always recognize it and what it does to us,

And we're giving it to power.

So when we understand why things are happening,

We're being mindful.

And not mindful in the very secular commercial aspect,

But in the Buddhist aspect,

We are mindful of what's occurring and why things are occurring.

That's where we can start to turn the tables,

So to speak,

And not give our mind,

This untamed mind,

The power over us.

Because when you can see things as you truly are,

That's when it can't have power over to you.

Right now we can't really understand that.

We really can't see.

We make little flickers of insight,

Wisdom,

But we don't see the full picture yet.

So the five hindrances are these.

There's central desire.

There's ill will.

There is going to be also one where you're going to have apathy or laziness.

There will be restfulness and worry.

There will also be doubt and uncertainty.

Now all of these are preventing you from gaining insight and also calming the mind.

So let's go through each one of them.

So central desire.

So in Buddhism,

You know,

Our eyes,

Ears,

Nose,

You know,

Sensual things that we're seeing all over and hearing and tasting and all these different things,

We are consumed by sensual desire.

That could be just,

I want to have this cake,

Or it could be anything.

Anything that you want,

TV show,

Movie,

Whatever.

Sensual desire is everywhere and it prevents us from progressing on the path because it is untamed.

It is uncontrolled,

But we don't see really us being pulled around that way.

So some ways that Buddhists practice to stop or essentially control the sensual desire is to try meditating on the impure,

Ever-changing,

And impermanent nature of the desire.

And what one practice I do on this one is,

Well,

I like chocolate,

Right?

I'm sure you do too.

And so when you have chocolate or maybe a candy or some food that you really enjoy,

Right?

Do you ever notice that as soon as you're done with it,

You've had that satisfaction of eating it,

But it's over.

And so maybe you're craving it again.

This is why you see people maybe eat potato chips over and over and over again.

That satisfaction from eating it quickly goes away and then you want to eat again.

Same thing with candy.

You know,

Maybe kids after Halloween just want to eat all that candy because they want to keep that sensation going.

Sensual desire.

So we usually don't really focus in our minds on the impermanent nature of things.

So we're trying to keep a sense of permanence going by continuing the sensual desire.

We're also not seeing the impure nature of things.

So what I'm gonna say here,

I'm not gonna tell you to do,

But like back in the Buddha's day and after he died,

We see where you had monastics.

We're actually meditating in graveyards.

Wow,

You know,

That is amazing.

And the reason he was doing that was because the monks and the nuns wanted to meditate on the impure nature of our bodies.

We really think our bodies are fantastic,

But they're really not.

There's all sorts of things going on in our bodies right now which are impure.

Just for nature.

And just as a very biological sense,

You have waste inside you right now,

Right?

Every single person does.

And so there is always impure things inside us.

But we're always ever-changing and all things are ever-changing and permanent,

Especially us.

But we don't like to see that.

So this is really going to the heart of the concept of non-self.

We're trying to break down in Buddhist practice the belief in a permanent,

Unchanging,

Independent self which we believe occurs at some level.

The Buddha says it does not occur.

We are impermanent.

We are ever-changing and we are interdependent upon other things.

So this is a great practice to focus on with your meditation.

It could be even on a very simple level where you are seeing the impermanent nature of nature.

So when you're going out and seeing,

You know,

Maybe leaves turning,

You know,

When the seasons turn or whatever it might be,

We can find a way to meditate on the impure,

Ever-changing,

And permanent nature of the desire.

This can help you quite a bit.

Now again,

I'm not going to go to a graveyard.

That was something that the Buddhist monks and nuns did way back in the day.

We have other ways to practice right now.

But you can also use that vivid imagery as well.

Ill will.

So we are at part of three fires.

Greed,

Anger,

And ignorance.

So hatred and anger.

This is going to be something where we all have in us because we are clinging and craving to the idea of self.

And because of that,

We want to keep things permanent.

We want to keep a feeling permanent.

We want to keep that sensation,

As I just mentioned,

Maybe of a chocolate cake,

For example,

Permanent.

We want to do things that we enjoy being permanent.

And when we are faced with the very much real world of things are not always permanent,

Of course,

That is something we don't like.

And so we we have various different levels to this hatred and anger that results from it,

Which creates these karmic actions.

So the three fires really feed off of each other and we see this ill will come up as part of that.

So a way that you can practice is to practice loving kindness or metta.

And this is a very time-honored tradition inside Buddhism where we are practicing this loving kindness but also compassion and joy.

When we're doing this,

It's almost like we are countering hatred and anger.

Hatred and anger can't give rise when you have loving kindness,

Compassion,

And joy.

This is how we defeat that.

Now what about apathy and laziness?

This is something where you're gonna have,

Especially with sitting meditation,

It can be very boring.

And your mind wants you to believe it's boring because what you're trying to do is just observe,

Right?

Because you're trying to calm the mind and observe things.

Not,

You know,

Latch on to this thought and just let it carry you away.

You're observing it and letting it go.

Your mind doesn't like that.

Your mind wants you to grab on to that impermanent thought or impermanent feeling and there it has control over you.

So we're not giving a mind what it wants us to do.

It doesn't like that.

So how does it respond or how do we respond?

Well this is boring,

You know,

I'm just sitting here.

What's the point of all this,

Right?

We're trying to calm the mind.

We're trying to settle the mind,

Tame the mind so we can get to insight.

And for most Buddhists,

We are very much working on the calming the mind portion as our practice.

Getting to insight would be fantastic,

But we got essentially a very dirty window that we got to clean.

So we got a while to get until we can get to that insight.

So different ways you can really counteract this apathy and laziness.

Well you can just do something simple.

Maybe try another meditative position.

Maybe the position you're in right now is just not very conducive or maybe it just hurts.

So try something different.

Maybe splashing some cold water on your face,

You know,

Just to kind of wake you up,

It'll revigorate you.

Try something different.

Maybe walking meditation,

Which is also very popular or one that you may not even think of.

Just take a break.

You know,

So Buddhists around the world,

Especially layperson Buddhists,

Don't do what we may consider meditation.

They don't do the sitting meditation.

It's a routine part of their practice or even at all.

So thinking,

Well I have to do sitting meditation for meditative concentration.

Now there's many different ways to do meditative concentration.

A lot of times it's chanting or recitation.

So there's lots of different ways to actually do it.

But what you're trying to do here is keep up that consistent effort on the path.

That effort is so important,

Just like going to the gym.

So however you want to do it,

Splashing some cold water on your face,

Changing position,

Whatever.

Try that out.

Because if you're gonna burn yourself out just by,

Well I'm just meditating just to meditate because I have to do it,

You're gonna get to the point where you're not gonna meditate anymore.

You're not gonna do meditative concentration.

So that's why I also say try taking a break.

There's many,

That's why you have so many different types of Buddhist practices out there that can supplement that.

What about restlessness and worry?

So this is where you are just uneasy and just like,

What's going on?

It's anxiety.

Now I should just really note right now,

Things such as medical conditions can really arise in you as anxiety or restlessness,

Worry.

You should definitely go and speak to a medical professional to see if it could be a medical condition.

But we're all going to have,

As human beings,

Some degree of anxiety,

Restlessness,

And worry.

And so how do we kind of counteract that?

So factoring in there's no medical condition,

Just this regular everyday type of restlessness and worry,

We want to recognize and observe those emotions,

Which is uneasy.

So because what we want to do,

We want to judge those emotions and control it.

And so we're trying to judge,

Like why am I so anxious?

Why am I restless?

What am I worried about?

And so we're trying to form a conclusion about it,

But there's not always a conclusion about it.

And then we're trying to control it.

Well I don't want to feel this way,

So thus I'm going to do this.

So in the Buddhist context here,

We are observing the emotions without judgment or controlling it.

A very,

Very hard practice to do,

But this is what you see Buddhists aspire to do.

Again,

Anxiety and things like that can be a symptom of a medical condition,

So you should definitely go and get that checked out if that's something that's reoccurring.

This is talking about the everyday,

You know,

Routine type of anxiety or worry or restlessness we may just generally have.

Then we also have to round out the hindrances.

Doubt and uncertainty.

Your mind loves us because it wants you to doubt what you're trying to do here on Buddhist practice.

Make you uncertain about the outcome.

Just give up right now.

Just watch this TV show.

Why are you bothering so much with all this Buddhist stuff,

Right?

That's what your mind wants you to do.

It wants you to give up.

It does not want to get you to that end destination of nirvana.

It doesn't want you to get there.

So if they can make you make a u-turn and go back home,

It's gonna do it.

And doubt and uncertainty work really well.

So the way we counter that,

The practice we do,

Is to have this faith in the Buddha,

The Dharma,

And the Sangha.

This is the triple gem that we take refuge in as Buddhists.

And just,

Now word right there,

Refuge.

We're taking refuge in them because they are like people we are going with on this journey towards nirvana.

You can think of like,

You know,

Maybe we're on a bus and the bus is the temple,

You know,

And we have who's driving the bus.

Well,

It's gonna be maybe the Buddha.

He knows exactly where to take us,

Right?

And then who else is kind of like there with us?

Well,

We got monastics in there with us as well and they're helping us understand where we're going and how to get there,

How to overcome this,

You know,

Feeling a little uneasy on this long road trip,

Right?

So when we have faith in the triple gem,

Which we do as Buddhists,

That's why we take refuge in the triple gem,

That's gonna help us overcome that doubt and uncertainty.

Because it doesn't matter how long you practice Buddhism,

There's gonna be teachings and concepts which are so difficult to understand because of our mind and because of just that the clouded nature,

The ignorance,

The delusion that we're living in.

We just can't really understand a Buddhist teaching,

The Dharma,

The Buddha Dharma.

And so when we have faith in that,

You know what,

I don't have to know it all to practice to be a Buddhist.

I got the Buddha as my teacher.

I got the Dharma as his teachings,

You know,

It's the solution,

It's the path.

I got the Sangha,

They're there to support me and me to support them.

This is what I'm putting my faith in and it's a weight off your shoulders.

And it's not like a faith where it's,

Well,

I'm just gonna put my faith in them and I don't know if it's true or not.

Again,

We don't fully understand everything starting off,

But we're putting faith in this triple gem where we have seen something inside there that goes,

I have faith in it.

And I realized that I have to,

As part of my own individual Buddhist practice,

Eventually understand these things on my own,

Test them out on my own,

Figure these out on my own.

But that's not gonna happen,

So I put my faith in the triple gem and I move forward.

So things that may be very confusing for you like rebirth and maybe impermanence and dependent origination and non-self and all these other things,

You know,

I can't understand half of these.

That's okay.

You know,

We're putting our faith in the Buddha,

The Dharma,

And the Sangha as saying,

You know what,

Help me get there.

And we do that through Buddhist practice.

So that uncertainty can go away the more your faith in the triple gem develops.

And for Buddhists around the world,

That's a devotional Buddhist practice.

And for them,

That's just Buddhism.

So I call it devotional Buddhist practice because what we have is this devotion in the triple gem.

Got that faith inside there.

It's this strong foundational faith in the triple gem.

And with that,

That's gonna help you with what we're talking about right here,

Meditative concentration.

So the five hindrances.

I gave you this very vivid analogy that we are trying to go on this long journey towards the city of Nirvana,

If you will,

In my example.

And so you're gonna want to make your turns and go back home.

You're right,

Forget about this.

Or take some detours.

Or,

Wow,

It's a big boulder in front of me.

How do I get around it?

Just imagine the triple gem is your GPS and getting you to that location.

Just imagine these hindrances as not really being hindrances.

As soon as you understand how to counter them through practice,

You develop a stronger and stronger mindset and practice where they become less and less powerful over you.

So the more you have the practice's wisdom and you go,

Wait a minute,

Is controlling me that way?

I don't think so.

That's where our practice becomes deeper and deeper.

And the way that we help ourselves counter these five hindrances is with,

Remember that triple gem?

The Sangha.

So your monastics,

Your monks and nuns,

They are the ones who will help you overcome these hindrances.

So if you got to temple or maybe even online,

So if you have monastics that are helping you and guiding you,

And maybe it's not an individual aspect but you know as part of the practice that maybe you're watching or attending,

Those practices,

Those Dharma teachings are giving you,

Is helping you overcome the hindrances.

And they are the ones that we really put our faith in to help us get down this path.

So five hindrances,

You can get past them into different ways.

We may not be able to master them all because that is what we're looking at as like an enlightened being like a Buddha or Bodhisattva.

Hindrances,

They don't have them because they've become enlightened.

It's almost like a very clean window.

They see these hindrances for what they truly are and there's no power to them anymore.

They are no longer acting in this way.

And we eventually of course want to get to that level as well.

So what do you think about the five hindrances?

Are any of these ones that you can very much identify with during your practice?

I think most of us can probably identify with quite a number of these.

I'd love to hear back from you.

You can send me a message from my website,

Alanpedo.

Com,

Leave a message on Spotify,

Or talk to me on social media.

I look forward to talking with you in our next episode.

Thank you.

Reviews

Thank you for your clear instruction. As a new student I am hungry to learn. 🙏

Thank you for reminding me All, it’s a lot , but I do like the idea of meditating with the Dead, (grave meditating) as I was growing up I was fascinated with grave sitets