What to Hold Onto & 'Let Go' in Meditation

Ajahn explains how to recognize the 5 hindrances in meditation and how to work with them, and work towards going beyond them with many practical pointers.

Transcript

So during this period of time we'll be coming and bowing,

Crossing the legs,

Closing the eyes,

Looking inwards,

Trying to be with our awareness as a breath,

And we'll be becoming familiar with certain types of thoughts,

Certain types of feelings that are a challenge.

So on one level we really do just wish to be with the breath as it is and settle on that awareness.

Sometimes we can,

But oftentimes there's energies in the mind,

Thoughts in the head that make a bit of a challenge.

This is of course normal,

Ordinary.

We are very fortunate inasmuch as Lord Buddha,

Who had by the time he attained enlightenment been cultivating his mind and training his meditation for thousands,

Possibly millions of lives.

With his incredible experience he was able to formulate very pithy lists of Dhamma,

All of them very helpful,

To give us some basic blueprints and also to give us a handful of skillful means with which to train our minds.

So any beginning meditator,

And in fact any meditator at any level,

Needs to be able to recognise the five hindrances.

They have their coarse manifestation but they also have their very subtle manifestations.

So even experienced meditators need to recognise the way these things appear in the mind.

And as well as helping us to recognise what is a hindrance,

Lord Buddha gave us another list of the five spiritual faculties or the five spiritual powers.

So the five faculties,

These are faculties of mind that we have available to us,

Having been born as human beings,

And when we recognise these faculties and we cultivate these faculties they become a power.

They become spiritual powers and those spiritual powers are the remedy,

The antidote to the hindrances.

So these two simple lists are enormously helpful to recognise something that needs to be let go of,

But also in helping us to recognise what we use in order to be able to let go.

So it was in one of the weeks after the Buddha became enlightened,

In Bodhgaya,

Over 2500 years ago,

And Lord Buddha was meditating under at that time the Nirodha Banyan tree,

And he was looking back on what he'd realised and he became aware that these five spiritual powers,

When cultivated,

When made much of,

The five spiritual powers lead to the deathless,

Merge in the deathless.

So once again it's really our good fortune that we have Lord Buddha explaining this to us because we read a simple list,

Sathā,

Virya,

Sati,

Samādhi,

Pānyā,

Faith,

Energy,

Mindfulness,

Concentration and wisdom.

It seems so simple.

But Lord Buddha is saying if made much of,

If cultivated,

If practiced consistently,

These qualities lead to the deathless,

Merge in the deathless.

What's the deathless?

That which doesn't die,

It's mental isn't it?

It's not the body.

The body has to die.

So it's something that you discover in your mind.

So in practicing meditation,

Cultivating a lot of mindfulness,

A lot of wisdom,

Becoming aware of the nature of conditions,

The mind begins to glimpse that which is sometimes referred to as the unconditioned.

It's also referred to as the deathless or the undying.

So the hindrances on the other hand are energies that obscure the mind from being able to experience that.

The Buddha sometimes calls the hindrances bandits or robbers because they steal the mind's potential to be peaceful.

They run away.

They take the energy and they invade the mind and the mind doesn't experience peacefulness.

So it's very important that we learn how to recognize them and then step back from them.

So the first hindrance,

Craving,

Sensual craving.

So you come and you're trying to watch your breath and this can manifest in many different ways.

I want to go and have more sleep.

That's actually a sensual craving.

I want to go and have a nap.

We want to get lost in the pleasure of sleep or the pleasure of oblivion.

At least when we're asleep we're not aware of our suffering.

So there's that desire.

I want to go and have more sleep.

I want a nap.

Maybe I'll have a nice dream.

That's one way craving can manifest.

Or I wish I had more fried noodles.

I wish I took another muffin for breakfast.

It's fairly subtle.

On the more coarse,

When the lust invades the mind,

Sexual energy can be very powerful.

It can be having fantasies,

Sexual fantasies.

This can take the mind away from its meditation object for a long time.

Very powerful.

So in our meditation practice,

When we're taking the breath as the main object,

We want to be able to recognize a hindrance early before it takes the mind on a long journey,

Before it steals all of the energy and takes it away from the present moment in some kind of abstract fantasy.

So the sexual thoughts begin to come up.

Recognize this is a hindrance.

Try not to fall into a fantasy.

Coming back to the breath and just recognizing this is sensual craving.

The Buddha says this is a hindrance.

This will steal peace.

Don't make karma with it anymore.

At least in the meditation.

Pull back from it.

Try to put it down.

We'll be talking a bit later in the retreat about reflective meditations,

Which are also antidotes.

In the forest tradition we do a lot of body contemplation.

If there is a lot of lust,

We just have a good look at what a body really is.

In the Satipatthana Sutta,

The body within the body,

The Lord Buddha talks about the body within the body.

So that's the bones and the blood,

The fat cells,

The organs.

We have a closer look at bodies.

It's difficult to have a lustful fantasy about them.

So there's other ways that we work with hindrances as well by having basically a closer look at the truth,

Chipping away at ignorance and delusion,

Misapprehending things.

The other thing about sensual craving is you'll notice that it's an agitated thing.

So on one level if you indulge a fantasy about something that you would want to do,

Something you want to experience,

There's a little bit of titillation,

A little bit of pleasure in the anticipation of being able to do something.

But if you have a closer look on the level of the heart,

It's agitated.

There's a dis-ease.

The mind isn't content with what it has now.

There's a feeling of lack.

So it's not dependable.

It's not a true pleasure.

So learning to recognize when sensual craving or lust is affecting the mind and trying to pull back from it and contemplate the downsides.

And coming back to the faith and confidence,

It's good to have faith.

It's good to be confident that there's something much better than sensual craving,

Your mind's potential to experience deep bliss,

Tranquility.

And eventually liberation is much better than an essential pleasure.

So we develop some faith that there's something better and then we get interested,

Come back to the meditation object.

Second hindrance is the aversion.

It's kind of a craving not for.

So this comes up a lot in all of our lives.

We don't want to do certain things.

We don't want to experience certain things.

Or it might be qualities in other people.

We don't like the way a certain person chews their food.

We don't like the way somebody walks.

We don't like the way this one comes late.

We don't like the way that one drops their pen.

Especially in retreats,

Little aversions can come up.

And so it's important to understand that these three root kinesis,

Greed,

Hatred and delusion are quite strong in the mind.

And in a way they're kind of ready to grab onto objects.

So it's not really the other person's habits that's a problem.

The problem is actually our own aversion,

Looking for an object.

So in retreat,

Keep coming back,

Taking responsibility.

This is hindrance occurring in my mind,

Running away with the peacefulness,

Recognizing aversion as aversion and trying to let it go.

So it has its mild forms and it also has its very powerful forms.

Resentment,

Jealousy.

Jealousy can begin as a little bit of jealousy.

If we end up becoming really jealous we can end up hating somebody because they have what we want.

And anger,

Irritation can become fixed,

Negative perceptions can even become hatred.

We see that culturally.

A lot of the ways wars can be justified is if people have a lot of negative imprints about a certain race or a certain religion and government media can kind of stimulate hatred in people to justify a war.

And it feels okay to kill the people who are bad.

So obviously we want to recognize.

We don't want to make karma.

We want to recognize a hindrance as a hindrance.

We want to be able to let it go and experience peace.

We don't want to be pushed around by our potential to be angry and hateful.

We want to recognize that as unskillful,

Weaken it and let go of it.

Third hindrance,

Sloth and torpor.

So first full day of the retreat.

Many people traveling,

Getting up a bit earlier than normal.

So some of you will have been working with this already this morning.

Sloth and torpor.

So again the hindrances have their mild and their gross form.

So when there's really a lot of sloth,

It's like that dark,

Heavy cloud.

It's like sinking in quicksand and you're just lost in heavy sleepiness.

So that's when it's very coarse.

When it's less coarse,

There's that dullness,

Just a lack of clarity.

Things are a bit dull,

Fuzzy.

It can get even more subtle to the point where it's actually quite pleasant,

What they call about the bhavan gacchitta.

There's a little bit of awareness and you can fall into a pleasant,

Dull state where there's no thoughts.

This is dangerous actually.

Ajahn Tate referred to this state as a tree stump samadhi.

Nothing can grow from it.

So we need to recognize as we train in samadhi,

Is there a sense of clarity which is aware and luminous,

Radiant,

Aware,

Spacious.

If it's real samadhi it will feel like that.

The mind will feel full,

Empty but also full,

Full of rapture.

But if there's a kind of a pleasant dullness,

Not much thoughts,

But a pleasant dullness,

It's possibly this hindrance on a more subtle level.

So we need to recognize it in its coarser and more subtle manifestations.

Coming back to the five powers again.

So the way we work with it is putting forth some effort.

When there's sleepiness in the mind,

Okay,

Apply the mind to know the object with more clarity.

So sleepiness in the mind and try to know the whole breath and breathe a bit more deeply.

Nose,

Chest,

Abdomen,

Abdomen,

Chest,

Nose.

Give the mind something to do to wake it up.

Try to notice all the changes and all the differences in each breath.

Open the eyes.

We're putting forth these skillful efforts.

Effort,

Energy,

Viriya is actually energy but effort is very closely associated to energy.

So it's often by putting forth efforts that energy arises.

And then once the energy has arisen,

It's like maintaining it,

Sustaining it,

Keeping the mind energized by keeping it on its object,

Maintaining one's interest.

That's how we keep it from falling asleep.

And that's how we keep it from falling into craving for or craving not for.

Fourth hindrance,

Worry,

Remorse,

Restlessness.

So there's a bit of a crossover here between the precepts training and the dhāna.

Of course there's a lot of crossover in all of these lists in mental training.

If we have been generous,

Big-hearted,

Kind,

And if we've been ethical,

We tend to have not so much remorse,

Anxiety.

But if we've been very busy and very scattered,

As most modern people are,

We've actually been making a lot of karma with restlessness.

So even good,

Kind,

Generous,

Ethical people,

If they have very busy lives,

When they come to meditate,

There's just a lot of restlessness there because the mind is used to running all over the place.

And so we have to be patient with it.

But if you can be really diligent in your practice of dhāna and really as scrupulous in your ethical training,

If you become a really virtuous,

Truly virtuous person,

You'll find that there won't be so much remorse,

There won't be so much anxiety.

On a deep level you'll feel confident that you're a good person and that you've made genuine efforts to be reasonable,

To be kind.

So there's not so much remorse,

Not so much anxiety.

But the restlessness,

It's good to look at your lifestyle.

It's another reason coming to do these retreats is good.

Stepping out of your life you'll have moments where you can look back on it and it might be good to think about what you can do in terms of simplifying.

Because if you do have a really busy life,

When you come to meditate there is going to be both restlessness because the mind has habituated to thinking about lots of things.

And there's also going to be sloth because the mind will be tired.

It'll be wanting to fall asleep,

It'll be wanting to have a break.

So here we have a very simple life.

Nice,

Clear,

Simple structure.

Don't have to do much.

Other people are cooking for you.

But with this restlessness we have to pacify it.

Placing the mindfulness on its object again and again and again.

Come back,

Come back,

Come back.

Start again,

Start again.

And the metta can be very helpful,

You know,

Skillful samatha practices.

It gives the mind something to do which is pleasant and allow the mind to be bathed in the loving kindness.

It's very healing,

It's very nourishing,

Very energizing.

It's also tranquilizing.

It's a calming practice.

So it's a good way to pacify the restlessness.

Give the mind something to do which is skillful.

And if there's a lot of restlessness we'll then get really determined about cultivating metta for lots of people.

Breathing in loving kindness to oneself,

Breathing out,

Spreading loving kindness to all of the people in the room.

Give the mind something to do with its restlessness.

Keep it busy skillfully.

The last hindrance,

The speculative doubt.

It's a quite dangerous quality because it can keep you from applying yourself to the meditation object wholeheartedly.

So if you doubt the meditation object or you doubt the person teaching it or you doubt Buddha or you doubt the Buddha was enlightened,

You might wonder if there's any point.

What's the point?

And if there is that kind of doubt then you don't give yourself to it wholeheartedly.

So in the suttas the Buddha does describe Anapanasati as being the crown jewel of all the meditation methods that he teaches.

And most of the forest masters in recent history have also taught Anapanasati.

So I think we can feel very confident that this meditation object can help you,

Does help you,

Will help you to develop both calm and wisdom and can take you a long way along this path towards liberation.

So there's no need to doubt the meditation object.

Doubting one's own potential,

This is more common.

Most people here born in Asia have quite a strong faith faculty.

Not so difficult to have faith in the Buddha,

Not so difficult to have faith in the arahants.

May even have met some and when you meet them you feel a lot of metta,

You feel confident about other people's liberation.

But we can doubt our own potential and that can be very,

It's like a withholding,

Withholding the confidence coming back to faith.

So we have faith that the Buddha was enlightened but the Buddha taught the path to enlightenment because beings could realize that if they couldn't realize that he wouldn't have taught it.

And since the Buddha was enlightened millions of beings have been enlightened since him.

So we can do what millions of others have done.

And there were Buddhas before our Buddha and there will be Buddhas after this Buddha.

So in the past,

In the present and in the future beings who have enough accumulated spiritual qualities will train in the five spiritual powers and will be liberated.

Their minds will realize the deathless,

Merging the deathless.

If you find that you do doubt your potential,

You're sitting there thinking it's too hard,

I can't do it.

So it's good to challenge that a bit.

Well it feels like it's too hard and it feels like I can't do it.

And that's doubt,

Hindrance.

And it's through trying.

All you have to do is try and keep trying.

And then you'll find that you develop skills,

Skillful means.

And you will have experience of the hindrance dropping away and you'll feel peaceful and you have to notice that.

Oh isn't that interesting?

Five minutes ago I was thinking this is too hard,

I can't do it and now I feel fine.

I feel peaceful,

I feel very happy.

And this thing about paying attention,

Coming back and having a good look,

How is it now?

And how is it now?

And how is it now?

And then noticing,

Noticing the change.

Five minutes ago very dull,

Sleepy mind,

Now I feel very awake,

Very clear.

Ten minutes ago I was feeling quite depressed,

Now I'm feeling well-being.

Last night I was feeling like I'm not going to be able to do this,

It's too hard.

And this morning I'm feeling very happy that I'm here.

So notice the way mind states try to delude us and just train in recognising more and more clearly a mind state is just a mind state,

It's not a self,

It's not a solid,

It's always changing and has to change.

And then notice that change and get really interested in it so that you don't believe any of them,

Even the good ones.

We can know and we have to know which mind states are wholesome,

That's kusala.

And we have to know which mind states are unwholesome,

Akusala.

But we shouldn't grasp at any of them as being our true self,

My true self,

A mind state is a mind state.

We don't grasp at them but we do incline the mind towards experiencing more and more kusala.

And it's okay and it's good to have a bit of a sense of humour about these things,

A bit of light-heartedness because our minds can feel like quite oppressive places to be in at times.

Many of these things we've seen them so many times but we get stuck in them again and again.

And if you have just a bit more mindfulness and a bit more samadhi and a bit more wisdom and you can step back from it and laugh at it a little bit.

Some of the fantasies we fall into,

Some of the regrets that we rehash.

What would it have been like if I made that choice instead of the choice I made?

And what if I chose to marry that person instead of this person?

What if I quit that job and took that job?

And what if I had finished this degree?

And all the things that we can think,

What if we have these fantasies and then so familiar with them but we don't want to keep giving a lot of energy to that.

Because the past is the past,

It really is gone and what we have is what we have and we have to work with it.

On the flight recently I was on,

Had a meeting of Abbott in England.

We have these long flights back from London to Bangkok,

I think it was 12 hours.

It's one of the few times that I'll watch a movie because I can't sleep on flight,

On planes in general and the screens right there in front of your face.

And so I'm wondering what movie to choose.

I'm trying to think,

Well I'm a monk so I shouldn't look at anything too sexy or too violent.

So I chose the most recent Muppet Show movie.

What was interesting about the Muppet Show movie is this is the 10th Muppet Show movie since the first Muppet Show movie and there was a very funny song at the beginning of the Muppet Show movie.

The chorus was like,

It's the Muppets again,

Again.

Yeah,

Well our minds can be a bit like that can't they?

That same old memory,

That same old grudge,

That same old fantasy,

It's like oh it's that character again,

Again.

And so we have to kind of see it like that.

I was talking last night about how we're often caught in the picture in the movie and when we come to meditate we're having a look at the projector and stepping back from being completely absorbed in the film and reflecting on it and seeing what it,

What's projecting,

Whether it has to project and not believing what is being projected.

Sights are just sights,

Sounds are just sounds.

It's interesting as you meditate more and more I am,

I impressed myself by actually being able to cry in the Muppet movie.

You see what happened was Kermit the Frog got swapped by a bad Kermit the Frog,

A really villainous Kermit the Frog and the other Muppets didn't notice that the Frog had been abducted and the bad Frog was trying to steal the crown jewels of London but he was promising all the other Muppets fame,

Gain,

Honour,

Renown and so even though he was evil they pretended not to notice because they wanted the fame and they wanted the money.

And the real Kermit the Frog had been put in the prison that the bad Frog had escaped from in Siberia.

Anyway they eventually worked out that Kermit had been abducted and some of the nicer Muppets went and busted him out of the Gulag and in the end the Muppets said you're the real Kermit and we really love you and we're sorry that we didn't notice that you've been kidnapped and that's when I cried.

But anyway coming back to the Five Hindrances and the Five Powers,

If you can develop a sense of recognising an old hindrance as an old story that you've seen again and again and pull back from it,

Don't believe it and get interested in investigating it.

Okay this is a thought.

As powerful as it might seem,

As compelling as it is,

It's a thought.

It's a thought construct,

A thought pattern,

A series of thoughts,

A storyline.

Another way to work with it is to like go straight to the feeling.

When I'm having these thoughts in the area of the heart how does it feel?

If there's enough mindfulness to do that,

Go and have a look.

What does it feel like?

Often with things like sexual craving you're trying to get away from boredom.

I'm just trying to fill up the mind with something more fun.

And so if you can come back and see that,

I'm actually just a bit bored so I'm fantasising because I don't want to just be here being bored.

And with this quality of boredom you'll find that there's a strong sense of self.

Here I am,

I'm solid and I want to have fun and I don't want to be bored.

And so what that means is that mindfulness is weak.

And so you have a closer look,

Generate more mindfulness,

Have a closer look.

Where's the self?

Where's the self which is bored?

Where's the self that wants to have more fun?

And look at these feelings that thoughts come out of and then those thoughts if we indulge and then feed more of those feelings get interested in that relationship.

And with the breath,

What we have to do as we're training in breath meditation is train in breathing through the energies that come into the mind,

Through and around.

One phrase is ventilating.

You ventilate your mind states.

And on the out-breath if you can,

Try to put them down.

Just as you put down a cup,

Just as you put down a plate,

You pick up your meal,

You put down a plate,

You get a drink,

You put down a cup,

You get up,

You finish your meal,

You put down a chair.

We can put down mind states.

And if mindfulness is nice and clear and if there's a little bit of samadhi then boredom doesn't occur.

This is really important to understand and you'll have lots of experiences like that.

Because if the mind is inclined inwards and gathers somewhat into itself,

So this is a samadhi,

Spiritual power,

There's a feeling of coolness and contentment.

And you wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Wherever you are,

If the mind is experiencing good mindfulness and a little bit of samadhi,

You wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world and you wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

And it's fascinating to see that.

That five minutes ago,

Ten minutes ago or an hour ago you had to leave.

Can't stand it anymore.

Too boring,

Too hard.

Can't work with my mind.

Half an hour later,

Everything's fine.

So notice this.

So we keep coming back to our breath meditation,

Placing our mindfulness on the breath.

We're using the metta as well,

Coming from a space of caring,

A healthy sense of self-interest,

Wishing yourself well.

Use the metta to brighten the mind,

To gladden the mind.

Keep coming back to the meditation object,

The footsteps,

The feelings of the footsteps when we do the walking meditation.

We're putting forth that consistent effort,

Giving rise to energy.

We do it with faith.

Millions of others have done this practice before us and derived great results.

Many of us have also done this practice before and derived some good results.

So we're picking it up again,

Working on that sati,

Trying to make it consistent.

And so how Ajahn Chah teaches about samadhi,

As far as I understand,

Is that it's through consistently maintaining the mindfulness on the meditation object that sammasamadhi arises by itself.

So you don't sit and try to make the mind concentrated.

You don't try to kill the hindrances.

You don't try to get rid of anything and you don't try to get samadhi.

Because if you do,

You've got the first two hindrances working there.

I want the samadhi.

I'm going to get it.

Hindrance number one,

Samadhi won't come.

I'm going to kill the hindrances.

I'm going to obliterate them.

I'm going to nuke them.

I'm going to make my mind peaceful.

Hindrance number two.

Doesn't work.

What does work is coming back again,

Gently,

Having a look,

Noticing all of the changes and maintaining that consistently.

That works.

And just keep coming back with no agenda and no time frame.

Doesn't matter if it's today or tomorrow or the next day that the mind becomes peaceful.

What matters is the consistency of the effort.

That's the spiritual power and the mindfulness coming back to the object.

That's the spiritual power and doing it with faith in the Buddha,

The Dharma and the Sangha and faith in your potential.

What you'll find is samadhi arises in moments.

And Ajahn Anand talks about momentary concentration,

Neighborhood concentration,

Apana concentration.

So that's all concentration.

He doesn't talk about jhana.

We're not trying to get jhana.

We're just trying to incline the mind towards right collectedness.

If you're able to put down the hindrances or not pick them up,

You'll find that the mind collects to some degree and feels cool,

Feels peaceful,

Feels spacious.

There are things that you can feel as some samadhi arises.

And so Kanika Samadhi,

Ajahn Anand described as being like five minutes.

In the beginning it might just be one minute,

Two or three minutes where the thoughts drop away and the mind feels at ease.

And if you keep up the meditation,

You'll find that that peacefulness becomes deeper and lasts for longer.

And that might be the ubhujara,

The neighborhood concentration.

And so it's all concentration and it's all good and you don't need to worry about what type of concentration it is.

It doesn't matter.

We just keep inclining the mind towards being with this object.

We keep putting down the hindrances and when the peacefulness arises,

We just allow it to be there and allow the mind to be bathed in the coolness,

The clarity.

And when the mind moves from that peacefulness,

There'll probably be more thinking.

It's important that you take the energy that you get from whatever samadhi that you have to generate more mindfulness,

Come back to the object more clearly,

Investigate it.

So use the energy that comes from samadhi to investigate once again.

So you can investigate the beginning,

The middle,

The end,

The cessation of an in-breath,

The beginning,

The middle,

The end,

The cessation of an out-breath.

So it gives the mind some work to do.

And if you do this,

You'll find that the mind might become peaceful again and become even more peaceful if it's noticing the characteristics,

Impermanence,

Not self,

Unsatisfactory.

You contemplate the three characteristics.

When the mind moves from its peacefulness,

You'll find the mind comes back into peacefulness,

Sometimes even more deeply.

Or you can investigate the body and the parts of the body or break up the parts of the body as elements,

That kind of thing.

Or you can recollect the qualities of the Buddha,

The Arahants,

The Bodhisattvas,

Beings that you respect and love,

Recollect their qualities,

Give the mind something to do which is wholesome and incline it back towards peacefulness.

Reviews

Thank you for having shared these helpful practical suggestions on how to approach the five hindrances 👌

I never thought of sleep as avoiding, new perceptive, thank you. May you be blessed.

Dharma teaching at a pace and language I can understand

A very helpful summary of meditation processes thank you 🙏

The lessons in this session were exactly what I needed to meditate on tonight! I'm very grateful for your wisdom 🕉️🧘🏻‍♀️

I cannot recommend this talk highly enough.
Having mediated daily for over five years these words and teachings penetrate deeply in to my heart.
Sadhu sadhu sadhu 🙏🙏🙏

May all practitioners get rid of 5 hindrances and develop 5 spiritual powers. Thank you, Ajahn Achalo, for an insightful and encouraging talk. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Extremely helpful, thank you!

Very helpful. Thank you. 🦋

One of my favorite talks from Arjahn Achalo. It's a great one to review periodically to maintain an effective practice.

So deep. One not only knows how the mind works on such subtle levels but explains the teachings in a clear and very transparent way. Thank you master and I am glad that the path brought me to you.

Most excellent Dharma talk thank you so much

helpful. Especially appreciated the Kermit the Frog teaching.

heartening. gratitude🙏🏻

Thank you a lot.

Thank you for sharing.

Outstanding info presentation in layman's terms. Thank you. Namaste 🙏🧘

Thank you very much for sharing some very helpfool tools!

Ajahn Achalo is such a skillful and understanding teacher!

5 hindrances explained using relatable concept examples, “for instance”