Seeing the hindrances as stress, helps the mind let go of them

[manas]

Greetings all,
this might be 'old news' for those accomplished in jhana (I'm not one of them), but in case anyone hasn't encountered this passage before: there is a set of analogies the Buddha gave, that I find useful when a particular mental hindrance is afflicting the mind, during sitting meditation. I find that, making the mental effort to see the hindrance as stress, seems to help the mind let go of that hindrance, or at least diminish it's influence at that time.

Abandoning the Hindrances

"Endowed with this noble aggregate of virtue, this noble restraint over the sense faculties, this noble mindfulness and alertness, and this noble contentment, he seeks out a secluded dwelling: a forest, the shade of a tree, a mountain, a glen, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, a jungle grove, the open air, a heap of straw. After his meal, returning from his alms round, he sits down, crosses his legs, holds his body erect, and brings mindfulness to the fore.

"Abandoning covetousness with regard to the world, he dwells with an awareness devoid of covetousness. He cleanses his mind of covetousness. Abandoning ill will and anger, he dwells with an awareness devoid of ill will, sympathetic with the welfare of all living beings. He cleanses his mind of ill will and anger. Abandoning sloth and drowsiness, he dwells with an awareness devoid of sloth and drowsiness, mindful, alert, percipient of light. He cleanses his mind of sloth and drowsiness. Abandoning restlessness and anxiety, he dwells undisturbed, his mind inwardly stilled. He cleanses his mind of restlessness and anxiety. Abandoning uncertainty, he dwells having crossed over uncertainty, with no perplexity with regard to skillful mental qualities. He cleanses his mind of uncertainty.

"Suppose that a man, taking a loan, invests it in his business affairs. His business affairs succeed. He repays his old debts and there is extra left over for maintaining his wife. The thought would occur to him, 'Before, taking a loan, I invested it in my business affairs. Now my business affairs have succeeded. I have repaid my old debts and there is extra left over for maintaining my wife.' Because of that he would experience joy and happiness.

"Now suppose that a man falls sick — in pain and seriously ill. He does not enjoy his meals, and there is no strength in his body. As time passes, he eventually recovers from that sickness. He enjoys his meals and there is strength in his body. The thought would occur to him, 'Before, I was sick... Now I am recovered from that sickness. I enjoy my meals and there is strength in my body.' Because of that he would experience joy and happiness.

"Now suppose that a man is bound in prison. As time passes, he eventually is released from that bondage, safe and sound, with no loss of property. The thought would occur to him, 'Before, I was bound in prison. Now I am released from that bondage, safe and sound, with no loss of my property.' Because of that he would experience joy and happiness.

"Now suppose that a man is a slave, subject to others, not subject to himself, unable to go where he likes. As time passes, he eventually is released from that slavery, subject to himself, not subject to others, freed, able to go where he likes. The thought would occur to him, 'Before, I was a slave... Now I am released from that slavery, subject to myself, not subject to others, freed, able to go where I like.' Because of that he would experience joy and happiness.

"Now suppose that a man, carrying money and goods, is traveling by a road through desolate country. As time passes, he eventually emerges from that desolate country, safe and sound, with no loss of property. The thought would occur to him, 'Before, carrying money and goods, I was traveling by a road through desolate country. Now I have emerged from that desolate country, safe and sound, with no loss of my property.' Because of that he would experience joy and happiness.

"In the same way, when 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. Seeing that they have been abandoned within him, he becomes glad. Glad, he becomes enraptured. Enraptured, his body grows tranquil. His body tranquil, he is sensitive to pleasure. Feeling pleasure, his mind becomes concentrated.

("Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life" (DN 2), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html .)

[paul]

covetousness (desire) ---debt
ill will ---sickness
sloth and drowsiness ---prison
restlessness and anxiety---slavery
doubt ---road through desolate country

[Sam Vara]

Greetings all,
this might be 'old news' for those accomplished in jhana (I'm not one of them), but in case anyone hasn't encountered this passage before: there is a set of analogies the Buddha gave, that I find useful when a particular mental hindrance is afflicting the mind, during sitting meditation. I find that, making the mental effort to see the hindrance as stress, seems to help the mind let go of that hindrance, or at least diminish it's influence at that time.

I have also found it very useful to see the hindrances in terms of the discernment which the Buddha recommends we adopt towards that which can preoccupy us: what is its origin, what is its passing away, what is the allure, what is the danger or drawback, and what is the escape from it?

Dhammapal's latest offering from Ajahn Thanisaro has a nice passage on this:

After you’ve fed the mind well on concentration, you begin to look at all the other things that would pull you out of concentration, and you see that there’s greed or aversion or delusion involved in going after those things. So, to get past them, the first step is to see, when the greed or the anger comes, how does it come? What’s its origination? What’s causing it? Then the second step is to see, when it goes away, how does it go away? But you don’t just stop there though, just watching it coming and going away.

Once you see the cause, the third step is to ask yourself, “Why do you go for that? What’s the allure? What’s the flavor? What’s the sense of being fed that you get off of that?” And then the fourth step is to compare the allure with the drawbacks. “If you feed off this, what are the long-term consequences?” It’s a lot easier to see this in all fairness when you’ve fed the mind well with concentration, because otherwise it’s going to go for whatever hit it can find. And it’s going to lie to itself about what the allure actually is. But when the mind is still, you’re more likely to see the real allure; when it’s well fed, you can see that the allure is very meager compared to the drawbacks. That’s when you can drop it. You develop dispassion for it, which is the fifth step: the escape.

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Medit ... n0046.html

I find this works well in formal sittings, as that is the time when the mind is concentrated, yet can be pulled away by hindrances.

[manas]

I have also found it very useful to see the hindrances in terms of the discernment which the Buddha recommends we adopt towards that which can preoccupy us: what is its origin, what is its passing away, what is the allure, what is the danger or drawback, and what is the escape from it?

thank you , I will look into that also.

[paul]

States of mind:
I don’t practice meditation on the breath but rather on the skeleton, however I often observe the instructions from the Anapanasati sutta with respect to the third foundation of mindfulness to steady the mind:

“He trains himself , ‘I will breathe out gladdening the mind.’ He trains himself, “I will breathe in steadying the mind.’

The ten recollections can be divided into either of these two categories, and some function for both.

10 recollections (anussati, q.v.): of the Buddha (buddhánussati), the Doctrine (dhammánussati), the Brotherhood of the Noble Ones (sanghánussati), morality, liberality, the heavenly beings, death (maranasati, q.v. ), the body (káyagatásati, q.v.), in-and-outbreathing (ánápána-sati, q.v.) and peace (upasamánussati, q.v.). —-“Buddhist Dictionary”, Nyanatiloka.

[Sam Vara]

I have also found it very useful to see the hindrances in terms of the discernment which the Buddha recommends we adopt towards that which can preoccupy us: what is its origin, what is its passing away, what is the allure, what is the danger or drawback, and what is the escape from it?

I'm curious as to how others practice this. For example, this morning, the mind was somewhat dull, and not well focussed. I perceived 'boredom', and pondering that a moment, realized the mind had sensual desire - and the boredom was simply aversion to 'not getting what it wanted', ie, sensuality (as opposed to renunciation). So I brought to mind the disadvantages of sensuality, the fact that we could die at any moment, etc, and reminded myself that "I'm not here to get pleasure, but to practice for the ending of suffering & stress". Only after this exercise, did the mind begin to calm down, and could stay with the breath with any stability. Is this in essence, what you meant, to bring such things to mind during the actual sitting? I find that discernment actually leads the way, in that the mind will often only begin calm down, after it's had a bit of a talking to about the facts, so to speak. Is this what you meant?

Exactly, yes. If the mind wants to run after other things which are not the meditation object, then reflection is often helpful along the lines of

1) Noticing the hindrance as something the mind wants to do. Try to see the contact which triggers it.
2) Noticing the ending of the hindrance, normally because another contact starts something else off
3) Acknowledging how desirable the hindrance looks
4) Reminding myself of where it would lead to if indulged
5) Allowing myself to become disenchanted or disgusted with the hindering tendency.

This also works very well for when there is some concentration, but the mind begins to drift away a bit. The concentrated mind is more easily able to recall this advice, and the more I do it, the easier it gets.

[Saengnapha]

The moment any hindrance is observed with mindfulness, full attention, the hindrance will drop away. This restores the natural light and nimble concentrative focus of the stable observer. Knowing what is arising, cognizing it, is central to this process.

[dharmacorps]

Good post. One of the ways I have been able to see the hindrances more clearly is sometimes just sitting and noticing every impulse I have to stop meditating and get up/do something else and seeing how those are all hindrances. After a while of doing that, you begin to see how pervasive they are, and tricky. At least then you can see them-- usually in my experience they are harder to see.

[paul]

While identification of whatever hindrance is present is important, recognition alone is not enough to eradicate the hindrance in all instances, and in cases of regularly arising unwholesome states of mind, exertion of a strategy is necessary:
“So he exerts a fabrication against the cause of stress for which dispassion comes from the fabrication of exertion, and develops equanimity with regard to the cause of stress for which dispassion comes from the development of equanimity.”—-MN 101

"If, on examination, a monk knows, 'I usually remain covetous, with thoughts of ill will, overcome by sloth & drowsiness, restless, uncertain, angry, with soiled thoughts, with my body aroused, lazy, or unconcentrated,' then he should put forth extra desire, effort, diligence, endeavor, relentlessness, mindfulness, & alertness for the abandoning of those very same evil, unskillful qualities. Just as when a person whose turban or head was on fire would put forth extra desire, effort, diligence, endeavor, relentlessness, mindfulness, & alertness to put out the fire on his turban or head; in the same way, the monk should put forth extra desire, effort, diligence, endeavor, relentlessness, mindfulness, & alertness for the abandoning of those very same evil, unskillful qualities."---AN 10.51

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Manas,

Seeing the hindrances as stress, helps the mind let go of them

Very good insight. As you point out, there are suttas that tell us to do just this.

For some reason, in the West, meditators generally seem to have it back-to-front and think something to the effect that "If you do [x] meditation technique, you'll develop insight, and then, and only then, can you see the truth of what's in the suttas".

It's actually the other way around... see as instructed by the suttas, and then you'll become proficient in meditation. This is incidentally, perfectly in accordance with the sequencing of the Noble Eightfold Path.

Metta,
Paul.

[Saengnapha]

While identification of whatever hindrance is present is important, recognition alone is not enough to eradicate the hindrance in all instances, and in cases of regularly arising unwholesome states of mind, exertion of a strategy is necessary:
“So he exerts a fabrication against the cause of stress for which dispassion comes from the fabrication of exertion, and develops equanimity with regard to the cause of stress for which dispassion comes from the development of equanimity.”—-MN 101

From which translation did you quote the above MN101?

[paul]

Thanissaro:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html

Even "when equanimity is employed instead of the fabrication of exertion, it's used with a particular purpose in mind: to abandon unskillful qualities. This means that it has an underlying agenda, the agenda of right effort " ---"Right Mindfulness", Thanissaro.

[Saengnapha]

Thanissaro:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html

Even "when equanimity is employed instead of the fabrication of exertion, it's used with a particular purpose in mind: to abandon unskillful qualities. This means that it has an underlying agenda, the agenda of right effort " ---"Right Mindfulness", Thanissaro.

Is this Thanissaro's personal take/interpretation on this sutta or are you quoting the Buddha's own words in this sutta. I can't tell. If you are quoting the Buddha's actual words, I don't see where they appear in the actual sutta. Can you direct me to passages you are quoting within the sutta, please.

[paul]

"In the same way, the monk, when not loaded down, does not load himself down with pain, nor does he reject pleasure that accords with the Dhamma, although he is not infatuated with that pleasure. He discerns that 'When I exert a [physical, verbal, or mental] fabrication against this cause of stress, then from the fabrication of exertion there is dispassion. When I look on with equanimity at that cause of stress, then from the development of equanimity there is dispassion.' So he exerts a fabrication against the cause of stress where there comes dispassion from the fabrication of exertion, and develops equanimity with regard to the cause of stress where there comes dispassion from the development of equanimity. Thus the stress coming from the cause of stress for which there is dispassion through the fabrication of exertion is exhausted & the stress resulting from the cause of stress for which there is dispassion through the development of equanimity is exhausted."

[Saengnapha]

"In the same way, the monk, when not loaded down, does not load himself down with pain, nor does he reject pleasure that accords with the Dhamma, although he is not infatuated with that pleasure. He discerns that 'When I exert a [physical, verbal, or mental] fabrication against this cause of stress, then from the fabrication of exertion there is dispassion. When I look on with equanimity at that cause of stress, then from the development of equanimity there is dispassion.' So he exerts a fabrication against the cause of stress where there comes dispassion from the fabrication of exertion, and develops equanimity with regard to the cause of stress where there comes dispassion from the development of equanimity. Thus the stress coming from the cause of stress for which there is dispassion through the fabrication of exertion is exhausted & the stress resulting from the cause of stress for which there is dispassion through the development of equanimity is exhausted."

Can you give me an example of a fabrication against the cause of stress?