Ajahn Suchart
“5 hindrances and how to deal with them.”
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Question (M): Can you explain about the 5 hindrances?
Than Ajahn: The 5 hindrances are the conditions in your mind
that create obstruction to your meditation. The first hindrance is the doubt in
the Buddha, the Dhamma or the Saṅgha. You doubt whether they can help you find
peace and happiness. You doubt whether there is a real Buddha, whether his
teaching is effective.
When you have doubt, you need to talk to someone who has
experienced the results from the teachings of the Buddha. This person is
usually an enlightened person. An enlightened person is someone who knows. He
is similar to a person who knows whether a car dealer sells good cars or bad
cars.
For example, if you want to buy a car from a bad dealer,
this person (who knows which one is a good and bad car dealer) can convince you
to go to a good car dealer. He’ll convince you, ‘Go to this dealer. He’s good.
He’s not going to lie to you.’ In the same way, you have to talk to an
enlightened person because an enlightened person will vouch for the teachings
of the Buddha. An enlightened person will guarantee that the teachings of the
Buddha are real and they are good for you.
If you cannot find any enlightened person, then you have to
rely on the teachings of the Buddha which are recorded in the Tipiṭaka. You can
use the recording as something to help you to gain faith in his teachings to
get rid of your doubt.
However, the most important thing to entirely get rid of
your doubt is to apply his teachings to yourself. Once you can apply the
teachings and see the result from your practice, you won’t have any more doubt.
This happens to an enlightened person, the Sotāpanna. Once a Sotāpanna has
applied the Four Noble Truths to himself, he can see clearly that his suffering
arises from his desire. When he sees that things he desires for are
impermanent, then he stops his desire for things. When he stops his desire, his
mind becomes calm, peaceful and happy. Then, he’ll have no doubt in the Four
Noble Truths. He’ll have no doubt in the teacher who taught the Four Noble
Truths. And he has no doubt in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Saṅgha because he
himself becomes a Saṅgha. He becomes a noble disciple. So, this is the way to
get rid of doubt.
There are two steps to get rid of your doubt. First, by
studying or listening to an enlightened person. This will get rid of your doubt
partially. Then, you’ll have to practice and apply his teachings until you see
the result in your mind. This will get rid of your doubt 100%.
The second hindrance is sensual desire. When you have the
desire to watch television, you cannot concentrate on your meditation.
Therefore, you have to force yourself to stop going after your sensual desire.
Cut down your social activities or your entertainment activities. The best way
to curb your sensual desire is to live in a place where there is no entertainment
or no movies to watch like staying in a forest monastery. Then, this sensual
pleasure will not arise because there is nothing for you to see or do, except
to meditate.
The third hindrance is anger. Sometimes when you meditate,
you are angry. It’s because before you meditate, you’ve quarreled with someone,
or had an issue with somebody, and therefore you cannot concentrate on your
meditation. So, you have to get rid of this anger first. One way to get rid of
anger is by using loving-kindness or compassion – forgiving the person who has
caused your anger. Instead of hating that person, you love that person. You
switch your mind from hate to love by forgiving that person, by using reasoning
– that whatever happened, it had already happened. A glass has already broken.
You cannot bring it back by being angry. Anger only causes you to have
restlessness. So, if you want to get rid of anger, you have to forgive and
forget.
Fourth hindrance is sloth and torpor. It means being lazy
and feeling sleepy all the time. One of the causes of sleepiness is eating too
much. The portion that you normally eat is too much for a meditator. If you
want to be a meditator, you have to reduce your food consumption drastically.
At most, you’re recommended to eat just two meals, and you have to have your
meals before lunch. After lunch you shouldn’t eat anything so that your body
becomes light and you can meditate. Because if you continue on with having
meals in the evening, you’ll find that you have no time to mediate. Even if you
have time to meditate, you’ll be sleepy or drowsy and lazy. So, you have to
reduce your food consumption.
The Buddha has recommended monks to eat once a day. But for
laypeople, as they might not be strong enough yet, the Buddha has recommended
laypeople not to eat after midday. This will help to get rid of your drowsiness
or sleepiness. However, if you still feel sleepy, you might have to fast. You
stop eating for a day or two. If fasting is not suitable for you, you can use
another method which is staying in a scary place, like in a cemetery or in a
forest where you have to be alone. Then, you will not be sleepy.
The last hindrance is restlessness and agitation. You are
restless and agitated because you are not focusing on something to stop you from
thinking. Your restlessness and agitation arise from your thoughts. You think
about this and that. So, to overcome your restlessness, you have to use
mindfulness. You have to be constantly mindful, by reciting a mantra or by
focusing on what your body is doing. Do those all the time, not just during
meditation. If you don’t do those all the time, when you sit, your mind will
still be restless. You have to get rid of restlessness before you sit in
meditation.
So, these are the 5 hindrances and how to deal with them.
Youtube: “Dhamma in English, Nov 9, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com
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