Page 30 - Suffering

‘‘ Facing Reality? ‘‘

_______________________________________________________________
* Pali: Panca Nivaranani – The 5 Hindrances are identified as mental factors that
hinder progress in meditation and in our daily lives and are identified specifically
as obstacles to the jhanas (stages of concentration) within meditation practice.
The five hindrances are:
1. Sensory desire (kamacchanda): the particular type of wanting that seeks for
happiness through the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and physical
feeling.
2. Ill-will (vyapada): all kinds of thought related to wanting to reject; feelings of
hostility, resentment, hatred and bitterness.
3. Sloth-and-torpor (thina-middha): heaviness of body and dullness of mind
which drag one down into disabling inertia and dense depression.
4. Restlessness-and-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca): the inability to tame and calm
the mind.
5. Doubt (vicikiccha): lack of conviction or trust in the Buddha Dhamma.
** Pali: Kesamutti Sutta, or commonly known as the Kalama Sutta, states:
– Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing (anussava),
– nor upon tradition (parampara),
– nor upon rumour (itikira),
– nor upon what is in a scripture (pitaka-sampadana)
– nor upon surmise (takka-hetu),
– nor upon an axiom (naya-hetu),
– nor upon specious reasoning (akara-parivitakka),
– nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over (ditthi-nijjhan-
akkh-antiya),
– nor upon another’s seeming ability (bhabba-rupataya),
– nor upon the consideration, The monk is our teacher (samano no garu)

Kalamas, when you yourselves know: “These things are good; these things are
not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed,
these things lead to benefit and happiness,” enter on and abide in them.’

30