Five hindrances

In Buddhism, the five hindrances (Pali: "IAST|pañca nīvaraṇāni") [ [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2:1:669.pali Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 376] , entry for "IAST|Nīvaraṇa."] are negative mental states that impede success with meditation ("jhana") and lead away from enlightenment. These states are:

# Sensual desire ("kāmacchanda"): Craving for pleasure to the senses.
# Anger or ill-will ("byāpāda", "vyāpāda"): Feelings of malice directed toward others.
# Sloth-torpor or boredom ("thīna-middha"): Half-hearted action with little or no concentration.
# Restlessness-worry ("uddhacca-kukkucca"): The inability to calm the mind.
# Doubt ("vicikicchā"): Lack of conviction or trust.

In the Pali Canon

In the Pali Canon's Samyutta Nikaya, several discourses juxtapose the five hindrances with the seven factors of enlightenment ("bojjhanga"). [For example, in Samyutta Nikaya chapter 46, "Bojjhanga-samyutta", discourses 46.31 through 46.40 are based on this juxtaposition (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 1589-94).] For instance, according to SN 46.37, the Buddha stated::"Bhikkhus, there are these five obstructions, hindrances, corruptions of the mind, weakeners of wisdom. What five? Sensual desire... ill will... sloth and torpor ... restlessness and remorse... doubt....:"There are, bhikkhus, these seven factors of enlightenment, which are nonobstructions, nonhindrances, noncorruptions of the mind; when developed and cultivated they lead to the realization of the fruit of true knowledge and liberation. What seven? The enlightenment factor of mindfulness... [discrimination of states... energy... rapture... tranquility... concentration...] equanimity.... [Bodhi (2000), pp. 1591-92. Bodhi elides the middle five factors of enlightenment, inserted here in square brackets, since all seven factors of enlightenment are identified previously multiple times in Bodhi's text.] [Anālayo (2006), pp. 239-40, underlines::"To overcome the hindrances, to practise "satipatthana", and to establish the awakening factors are, indeed, according to several Pali discourses, the key aspects and the distinctive features common to the awakenings of all Buddhas, past, present, and future."Anālayo further supports this by identifying that, in all extant Sanskrit and Chinese versions of the Satipatthana Sutta, only the five hindrances and seven factors of enlightenment are consistently identified under the "dhamma" contemplation section; contemplations of the five aggregates, six sense bases and Four Noble Truths are not included in one or more of these non-Pali versions.]

In terms of gaining insight into and overcoming the Five Hindrances, according to the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha proclaimed::How, monks, does a monk live contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the five hindrances?

:Herein, monks, when sense-desire is present, a monk knows, "There is sense-desire in me," or when sense-desire is not present, he knows, "There is no sense-desire in me." He knows how the arising of the non-arisen sense-desire comes to be; he knows how the abandoning of the arisen sense-desire comes to be; and he knows how the non-arising in the future of the abandoned sense-desire comes to be. [ [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.nysa.html Nyanasatta (1994).] ]

Each of the remaining four hindrances are similarly treated in subsequent paragraphs.

The Buddha gives the following analogies in the "Samaññaphala Sutta" (DN 2, "The Fruits of the Contemplative Life"): :"... [W] hen these five hindrances are not abandoned in himself, the monk regards it as a debt, a sickness, a prison, slavery, a road through desolate country. But when these five hindrances are abandoned in himself, he regards it as unindebtedness, good health, release from prison, freedom, a place of security." [ [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.02.0.than.html Thanissaro (1997).] Some correlate each individual hindrance with its sequentially matched metaphor, so that covetness is likened to being in debt, having ill will to sickness, sloth and torpor to imprisonment, having restlessness and anxiety to slavery, and doubt to traveling through uncertain terrain.]

From post-canonical Pali literature

	"method of suppression"	"path of eradication"
sensual desire	first jhana based on bodily foulness	nonreturning or arahantship [Upatissa "et al". (1995), p. 316, identifies that sense-desire is "destroyed through the Path of Non-Return." In the context of commenting on sutta SN 46.55, Bodhi (2005), p. 440, "n". 14, states that sensual desire is "eradicated by the path of arahantship (since "kāmacchanda" is here interpreted widely enough to include desire for any object, not only sensual desire)".]
ill will	first jhana based on "metta"	nonreturning
sloth & torpor	perception of light	arahantship
restlessness & worry	serenity	arahantship & nonreturning
doubt	defining of phenomena ("dhammavavatthāna")	stream-entry
Table 1. The Pali commentary's methods and paths for escaping the hindrances.

According to the first-century CE exegetic "Vimuttimagga", the five hindrances include all ten "fetters": sense desire includes any attachment to passion; ill will includes all unwholesome states of hatred; and, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt include all unwholesome states of infatuation. The Vimuttimagga further distinguishes that "sloth" refers to mental states while "torpor" refers to physical states resultant from food or time or mental states; if torpor results from food or time, then one diminishes it through energy; otherwise, one removes it with meditation. In addition, the Vimuttimagga identifies four types of doubt:
* doubt regarding self is a hindrance to tranquility;
* doubt regarding the Four Noble Truths and three worlds is a hindrance to insight;
* doubt regarding the Triple Gem is a hindrance to both tranquility and insight;
* doubt regarding places and people is a hindrance to "non-doctrinal" things;
* doubt regarding the Discourses is a hindrance to solitude. [Upatissa "et al". (1995), pp. 91-92.]

According to Buddhaghosa's fifth-century CE commentary to the Samyutta Nikaya ("IAST|Sāratthappakāsinī"), one can momentarily escape the hindrances through jhanic suppression or through insight while, as also stated in the "Vimuttimagga", one eradicates the hindrances through attainment of one of the four stages of enlightenment (see Table 1). [Regarding the "IAST|Sāratthappakāsinī" commentary, see Bodhi (2005), p. 440, "n". 14. Regarding the "Vimuttimagga" commentary, see Upatissa "et al". (1995), p. 316.]

ee also

* Seven factors of enlightenment
* Ten fetters

Notes

ources

* Anālayo (2006). "Satipatthāna: The Direct Path to Realization". Birmingham: Windhorse Publications. ISBN 1-899579-54-0.

* Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). "The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya". Boston: Wisdom Pubs. ISBN 0-86171-331-1.

* Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.) (2005). "In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pāli Canon". Boston: Wisdom Pubs. ISBN 0-86171-491-1.

* Nyanasatta Thera (trans.) (1994). "Satipatthana Sutta: The Foundations of Mindfulness" (MN 10). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.nysa.html.

* Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). "The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary". Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.

* Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). "Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life" (DN 2). Retrieved 08-09-2008 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.02.0.than.html.

* Upatissa, Arahant and N.R.M. Ehara (trans.), Soma Thera (trans.) and Kheminda Thera (trans.) (1995). "The Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga)". Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society. ISBN 955-24-0054-6.

External links

* Nyanaponika Thera (1993), "The Five Mental Hindrances and Their Conquest" (Wheel No. 26). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. Retrieved 08-09-2008 from "Access to Insight" (1994) at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel026.html.