Buddhism In Numbers - The Five Hindrances

This is a short talk followed by a guided contemplation practice on The Five Hindrances. These hindrances arise for everyone at some time and so it is very helpful to learn how to work with them in practical ways. The Five Hindrances are sensual desire, ill will, sloth, restlessness and uncertainty.

Working with The Five Hindrances helps us to be more effective in our meditation practice and to know how to address them when they arise in our everyday lives.

Transcript

Hello,

Thank you so much for joining me.

And today I'd like to talk about the five hindrances.

And after the talk,

There'll be an opportunity to join me in a contemplative practice related to these.

So it can be very challenging when we're practicing meditation to stay focused and to be present and to not allow our senses to take us off into stories and to manage the mental formations that are arising in our mind.

There's already quite a lot to do.

But as if that wasn't challenging enough,

There are even bigger challenges that we all have to manage.

And they arise in the meditation practice for everyone.

And they arise in our everyday lives too.

We call them the five hindrances.

So I want to include them because they are so common and so relevant to all people.

And what are these five hindrances?

The first one is sensual desire.

So we can think about this as desiring comfort or pleasure,

For example,

From touch,

From food,

From sex,

From something pleasant to look at or to listen to.

And it can arise physically,

Emotionally,

And mentally.

So you could imagine,

For example,

That you're sat for your morning practice and your tummy starts to rumble.

And all you can think about is your breakfast,

That sensual desire.

The second one is ill will.

This is having a negative disposition towards someone or something,

Not wanting,

Not liking,

Pushing away,

Thinking maybe or speaking badly of someone.

So you could imagine maybe a teacher guiding you in a practice and you maybe don't want to guide them.

Maybe you want silent meditation.

So this is ill will.

You don't want it.

The third hindrance is called sloth,

Feeling lethargic or sleepy or really lazy,

Maybe to the point where you're not present at all.

You're drifting away.

You can't keep your attention where you want it to be.

So really you have very little control of your awareness,

Makes meditation very difficult.

Imagine that you decide to practice in the evening.

And every time you sit down to practice in the evening,

You just fall asleep and find yourself fishing with your chin dropping all the time.

So this is sloth.

The fourth one is restlessness.

And this can arise as agitation or worry or anxiety,

And it can arise in the body as well as in the mind.

So maybe when you can't sit still,

You can't concentrate or you don't want to stay focused.

So imagine you're practicing and your mind just starts to work through your to-do list for the day or your to-do list for the next week.

And maybe you feel the need to get up and write it down or get started.

So this is restlessness.

The fifth one is uncertainty.

And this can arise by being skeptical or being unsure of ourselves or others,

Or having doubt about the practice,

Doubt about what we're doing or about the practice more generally,

Or doubt about the teacher or the teachings.

And maybe you can imagine a time where a teacher is guiding you and you don't agree with something,

They say.

And then suddenly all their teachings are called into question.

So this is uncertainty.

So all of these hindrances do arise for everyone at some time or another,

And they can arise in a minor or a moderate or a major way at different times.

They can become really,

Really powerful and really affect our practice and affect other aspects of our everyday lives as well.

They can really seem to demand our attention and call on us to act on them as opposed to what we might like to do,

Which is stay focused on our meditation or the thing that's important to us in our everyday lives.

So the Buddha taught us that mindfulness,

Mindfulness of body sensations,

Feelings and thoughts in particular,

These are the things that will help us to overcome the hindrances.

So with that in mind,

I'd love to invite you to share this contemplative practice with me where we bring to mind the five hindrances and we just see what arises for us in this moment.

So I'm going to explicitly draw attention to the hindrances that might arise.

This is a little bit unusual because we don't often try to bring our attention to these hindrances,

But because they're so common and so prevalent,

I thought it would be useful for us to be able to recognize them.

So what we're going to do is we're going to work with them.

And this is a really important way of thinking about the hindrances.

It's not about trying to really embrace them or get rid of them.

It's about recognizing them and finding really helpful and practical ways to work with them.

So as we proceed,

You can check for yourself whether any of these are actually arising.

And if they're not arising for you,

That's okay.

You can simply listen and reflect because you know they will arise at some point.

If they do arise,

Just observe,

Acknowledge them,

And then allow them to pass.

And I'll be giving you some instruction to do that.

So just allow yourself to settle,

Find a comfortable place to be seated for just a few minutes.

And you can adopt a stable,

Comfortable,

But upright and relaxed posture.

Take your time to settle,

To settle your breath,

To settle your body,

To settle your emotions,

And to settle your mind.

And this can take some time.

If it feels okay for you,

You might like to close your eyes or lower and soften your gaze,

Just so you can bring your attention inwards and you're not distracted.

Notice your breath.

Be aware of the sensations of your body as you breathe naturally,

Not trying to change anything,

But simply allowing yourself to settle.

The first hindrance is sensual desire.

Notice and acknowledge when this hindrance arises.

When you notice,

See if you can then discern the particular form of this hindrance.

It's a little bit like looking more closely.

What form does it take?

Is it sexual?

Is it food related?

Is it imagining or wanting some other pleasurable activity or experience?

Discern the form of this hindrance.

Observe sensual desire without chasing it or indulging it in your mind.

If it becomes obsessive,

Then it may be helpful to bring to mind something less attractive or even something distasteful.

Allow sensual desire to pass away in its own time.

Come back to your breath and body for a few moments.

The second hindrance is ill will.

Notice and acknowledge when this hindrance arises.

In the same way,

Discern the particular form of this hindrance.

Look closely.

Is it hatred,

Anger or something milder,

Irritation,

Annoyance?

Is it directed towards yourself,

A person,

A situation or something else?

Discern the form.

Observe ill will without indulging it or trying to push it away.

If it's very prevalent,

You can if you want,

Stop the practice and practice something else,

Such as loving kindness,

Where you draw attention and extend loving kindness to yourself and to others in order to counteract the ill will.

Allow ill will to pass away in its own time.

Come back to your breath and body.

The third hindrance is sloth.

Notice and acknowledge if you can when this hindrance arises.

Discern the form of this hindrance.

Is it laziness,

Sleepiness,

Lack of motivation or something else?

Observe sloth without indulging it or trying to fight with it.

And if it threatens to overpower you,

Do something else.

Open your eyes,

Pull your earlobes,

Splash water on your face.

If all else fails,

Take a nap.

Allow sloth to pass away in its own time.

And come back to your breath and body.

The fourth hindrance is restlessness.

Notice and acknowledge when it arises.

What form does this hindrance take at this moment?

Agitation,

Fidgeting,

Worry,

Anxiety,

Something else.

Observe it without chasing it or indulging it.

If it's very strong,

You can try something else.

Imagine the body as a container.

Observe how the restless energy moves around from one part of the container to another.

Come back to your breath and body.

The fifth hindrance is uncertainty.

Notice and acknowledge when this hindrance arises.

Observe the form of this hindrance.

Is it doubt,

Skepticism,

Criticism,

Limiting beliefs or something else?

Observe uncertainty without indulging it or trying to push it away.

If it's helpful,

You can practice detaching from the expectations about how things should be.

Allow uncertainty to pass away in its own time.

Come back to your breath and body.

Take a few moments now to let go of the hindrances if you can and come back to an awareness of the breath in the body.

Perhaps noticing the expansion and contraction of the body.

Arise and forward your breath.

Arise and forward your abdomen or the breath entering and leaving the nostrils.

Just notice the breath coming and going.

Taking a few moments to let go of your awareness of the hindrances and coming back to the breath and body as a whole.

Let any thoughts and feelings just pass away without further analysis or interpretation and enjoy the experience of just being for a few moments.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

All that we are is the result of what we have taught.

The mind is everything.

What we think we become.