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Five Hindrances
followthepath
Explorer
Hello. I'm a new Buddhist and I'm curious about whether the five hindrances only apply to meditation or whether they apply to life in general. Toni Bernhard, author of How To Wake Up, seems to apply the five hindrances to life in general. She says in her book that during the day she strives to be mindful of the hindrances. According to Wikipedia, every school of Buddhism concerns themselves with the five hindrances only within the realm of meditation. I don't know which it is. Should I think of the five hindrances as an obstacle to successful meditation or something that will lead to suffering? Thanks!
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The five hindrances are obstacles to awakening, and one must be mindful of them in life and in meditation alike. If what is practiced and learned in meditation does not carry over into one's life, then meditation is a waste of time at best. Others on this forum can doubtless explore this question more lucidly than I.
Life is one great big Meditation......
sure, to one who knows how to meditate
Googled - found this excerpt about the 5 hindrances:
"These mental states are called "hindrances" because they bind us to ignorance and to suffering (dukkha). Realizing the liberation of enlightenment requires unbinding ourselves from the hindrances. But how do you do that?
This essay is called "Practicing With the Five Hindrances" rather than "Getting Rid of the Five Hindrances," because practicing with them is the key to going through them. They cannot be ignored or wished away. Ultimately, the hindrances are states you are creating for yourself, but until you perceive this personally they will be a problem.
Much of the Buddha's advice about the hindrances relates to meditation. But in truth practice never ceases, and usually what comes up repeatedly in meditation is an issue for you all the time."
http://buddhism.about.com/od/buddhistmeditation/a/Working-With-The-Five-Hindrances.htm
No.
To one who Understands Life.
No, they are general obstacles to awakening, but are usually easier to see in meditation when the mind is quieter.
There are traditional "antidotes" for the hindrances, so if you notice a particular obstacle then there are methods for countering it.
In the suttas the hindrances are progressively "displaced" by the seven factors of enlightenment.
Thanks everyone. Can someone please give me a good definition of torpor? I read How To Wake Up by Toni Bernhard, but I didn't really understand what torpor is. Is a person experiencing torpor when they don't want to do any activity or just when they don't want to do a wholesome activity? And how does one define "wholesome"?
Have a look at this: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel026.html#sloth
"There arises listlessness, lassitude, lazy stretching of the body, drowsiness after meals, mental sluggishness..."
torpor is abject laziness. Indolence. Lethargy. Cant-be-arsedness. "You could be reluctant, but you can't be bothered even to make that effort" as my father once told my elder brother!
"Can't be arsed" gives a good feel for it.
It's both.
Would ADHD-induced distraction and hyperfocus upon alternate tasks be considered slothful? Someone with this problem is never really "doing nothing" as far as "can't be arsed"-ness....
but rather, can't focus enough on the proper things & therefore can't finish them in as timely a manner as they'd like.
That would be more like the hindrance of restlessness and anxiety.
so a person will not really be able to be both at once? I know I personally struggle quite a lot with the Restless/ Worrying bit... but when one is very restless/ worrisome, it can be quite detrimental to your productivity, which can make one feel useless/ talentless/ lazy/ unskilled. But I suppose it makes sense that Restless and Slothful would be antonyms.
Too much thinking will definitely lead to suffering, I know that one for a fact. In Zen, this focus you speak of is not really the path, so there is not a lot of time spent on that at all. The focus is on sitting meditation, finding a suitable teacher, having the teachings available, and fitting into a good sangha. That is all anyone needs. Worrying about hindrances will create more hindrances than we will know what to do with. Keep it simple.
@row37 , so you're saying it all comes a bit more naturally if you are able to cultivate a zen mindset?
@RuddyDuck9. The hinderances are nor separated by strict borders they are seen by some as interwoven. The understanding from experience is often very different from just reading.