Five Hindrances

I think we naturally long for inner peace. My own list of habits that keep me from a settled sense of well being has at times been rather long. I'm happy just to have a shorter list. For several millennium, Buddhist have had a short list of five hindrances that keep most people from enjoying serenity and stillness. Zen practice isn't about putting on handcuffs or making them going away, but recognizing them, watching them, exploring them, and then discovering how they perhaps lesson their hold on your mind and life as you become friends with them. This is the beginning of learning to make friends with 'enemies', which the world needs if ever there is to be peace.

Sensual desire is hard wired into our brain and cells. It is natural to have longings and desires. To make them all go away would make us less than human. The questions are do they run us, can we exercise restraint when appropriate, and are we healthy in our relationship to desire?

Anger and ill will mask our disappointments and keep us from loving kindness. In Zen we learn to see everyone as Buddha, to respect their dignity and realize their lives are intertwined with ours. Sometimes meditation means being on fire with your own anger, and pondering how to acknowledge it and transform it into beneficial action.

Sloth and Torpor mean more than just being lazy of body and mind, they also mean being lazy about seeking the truth, spirituality, and ethical conduct. How curious are we about the nature of mind, loving kindness, compassionate action, our inner development, healing the troubles of the world?

Restlessness and Worry can be an inner plague, insidiously inhabiting the nooks and crannies of our being. We can worry about the past, present, and future obsessively. I have found that much of worry is about wanting to be in control of things, or having shame and anxiety. The extent of the worry seems proportional to how far distant I am from the present moment. Restlessness of body and mind can be a lifestyle. Sitting still clarifies how it happens and can cultivate deep abiding calm.

Skeptical Doubt is the naysayer within, the guardian of self centeredness that keeps trust, faith, surrender, spirit at bay. Perhaps it symbolic of the war between mind and heart, body and mind, and all the neurotic anxiety and depression that keeps us from committing to a life of wholeness, intimacy, and love.