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Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation Part 2 (1 of 8) The Hindrances

Good morning and welcome to part two of the Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation. Some of you participating now, I hope, have done part one—the nine-day introduction to mindfulness meditation that we did a couple of weeks ago, which is archived on YouTube if you're interested or haven't seen it. Hopefully, this part two can also be a standalone for those of you who haven't had part one. I hope that I give enough instructions in mindfulness that you can follow along and understand what we're doing, maybe even more so than if you hadn't taken the first one.

Teaching mindfulness and sharing it with people is one of my favorite things to do. I put a tremendous amount of value on our ordinary human capacity to be attentive, to pay attention, and to bring a careful quality of noticing to our life as we live it. It allows us to enter into the lived experience of our life in a way that we can't if we are too caught up in the spinnings of our mind, our ruminations, and our ideas of the future and the past. If we're too much in the grip of our emotions, or distracted by fantasy, it takes us away from ourselves and our lived experience of the moment.

Being able to discover how to be mindful and bring clarity of attention to the present moment makes everything else go better. It tends to improve the quality of life, making us wiser and more capable of engaging in the world in a nice way. It also provides tremendous support for people who want to do other forms of religious practices, even from other religions. Many people have come and learned the basics of mindfulness, and they're able to practice their own religion in a much more effective and meaningful way because of their capacity to pay careful attention and recognize how to work with what takes them away from their experience.

That is the topic for this part two of the introduction to mindfulness: how to practice with and bring mindfulness to the very things that make it a challenge to be mindful. The wonderful alchemy and magic of mindfulness practice is that whatever is a distraction or a challenge becomes itself the object of mindfulness. As soon as you bring mindfulness to something, you are being mindful. The very things that are distractions are only distractions if we are not clearly mindful of them. Once we turn our attention to these challenges—and some are really huge for people—they become the practice. They are no longer distractions; they become the food and basis upon which to develop mindfulness.

Sometimes we say in mindfulness practice that there are no distractions, just something else to pay attention to. This is important because many people, as they try to be in the present moment, get quite frustrated by the tendencies of the mind to leave the present. They get caught up in thoughts, ideas, reactivity, judgments, and all kinds of things that make it hard to be present. The idea is to find a way to practice where we are not critical or upset with what's going on, where we compost everything into one more thing to be aware of. We say there are no distractions, just something else to pay attention to.

However, because there are forces that make it quite difficult for us to be present, we want to have a lot of respect for them. To casually say that we're going to turn our attention to the difficulties and that's the end of it doesn't respect how challenging some of these mental and emotional forces are. Some of these challenges are tapping into the deepest places inside of us: unresolved places, places of pain, uncertainty, deep doubt, and questions of purpose and value. Turning towards the very things that make it difficult needs to be done with care and attention. Over these eight days, we will talk about how to work with the difficulties of the practice.

Today, mostly on an introductory level, we will do some meditation—perhaps even a couple of times. Hopefully, the meditation will give you an experience of working with some of the things I'm talking about.

The reference point for what we'll be talking about is a Buddhist list called the Five Hindrances^[1]. These are the five primary tendencies the Buddha mentioned as obstacles for developing concentration and going more deeply into meditation practice. There are lots of distractions, but for the Buddha, these five are the primary human tendencies that are obstacles to going deep. The Buddha also called these five hindrances obstacles for becoming wise. When in the grip of these five, it's hard for our clear-seeing, wise eyes to see what's going on in ourselves and the world around us.

I'll be talking about these five, and we'll go through them over the coming days, focusing today mostly on their introductory nature. Some of them are paired, making seven total objects. The first and second, and the third and fourth, are somewhat opposite to each other. The fifth is such a significant thing that it doesn't really have an opposite—not in terms of a beneficial opposite, but a challenging one.

The first is sensual desire, and its opposite is aversion or hostility. These are powerful forces inside of us. We feel compelled by our desires, which take over in ways that make it hard to be mindful. We get pulled into the gravitational force of our desires or our aversions and hostilities. The first is a desire for something, and the second is a desire away from something—a desire not to have something.

The third is usually translated into English—perhaps by Victorian translators—as sloth and torpor. I'll talk more about what this is later. The fourth is restlessness and worry, or restlessness and regret. The third represents a dropping of energy and becoming dull, while the fourth is being over-activated, highly energetic, and agitated. The pendulum can swing between low energy and heightened, hyper energy.

The fifth is doubt—uncertainty, questioning, being perplexed, and being unsure of what to do or where to go. It can be a huge trap to be caught up in doubt regarding mindfulness, questioning what to pay attention to and what we are doing here.

So, the five qualities are: sensual desire; ill will, aversion, or hostility; sloth and torpor; restlessness and worry; and doubt.

As we spend these two weeks together, I hope you will be delighted, amused, inspired, and tremendously encouraged in your practice. I want you to appreciate that the very things that make practice difficult become folded in to become part of the practice itself. It's a way of starting to become free of these places—we become free of the very things that keep us from being free. The mind, the heart, and our attention keep getting caught up and captured by these things. But rather than getting rid of them, you can turn around, look at them, and truly recognize that they are there. Recognizing aspects of them and beginning to work with them is a great pleasure.

Sometimes when these hindrances come up for me, I turn around, recognize them, and think, "Oh, look at that! There they are." With just that recognition, I sometimes get a smile on my face. I might even be amused. I don't know exactly what your reactions will be, but I hope as you get the hang of this, you find the real value in what we're talking about.

Working With Distractions

We sit in practice and try to be present with our experience, recognizing and being mindful of what's happening as it's happening. Sooner or later, we get distracted and preoccupied. Sometimes the challenges are part of the present moment experience itself, like strong discomfort in the body or welling emotions that are so strong it's hard to stay mindful. Mindfulness is a relaxed, open awareness that allows things to be as they are with a lot of equanimity and balance.

During the meditation, I asked you to notice if getting distracted represented a movement toward being for or against something. These are very deep, fundamental movements of the mind. It's quite normal for the mind to want things and not want things. However, when these movements become strong, we lose our freedom. When they take over, we lose our wisdom and can act compulsively or unconsciously.

Beginning to look at these distractions from the simple perspective of being for or against something gives you a sense that you don't have to get caught up in the details. You don't have to analyze the story deeply or figure things out. It's possible to go beneath the mental concerns of the story to something more fundamental about the experience—a basic desire, a wanting, an aversion, a pulling away. These simple movements explain something about our relationship to what's going on.

These five hindrances, these obstacles, come from a basic place in the human operating system. Because they are so basic, we don't have to take them personally. The difficulties in meditation don't define you as a good meditator or a bad meditator, a good person or a bad person. You're not wrong or right for having them; they are just something more to pay attention to. Recognizing this basic level of "for and against" removes some of the ideas of self and right and wrong. We're trying to stay very simple with our experience. Find clarity in the simple recognition: "Oh, this is what's happening. I don't have to be so concerned or analytical. I can just be with the simplicity of the experience."

This moves us in the direction of turning our attention toward the distractions and difficulties, rather than recoiling from them or getting confused and reactive.

The Hindrances as Black Holes

The five hindrances don't cover every possible difficulty, but they cover a wide range. Learning how to practice with them teaches us how to practice with other obstacles.

One of the metaphors the Buddha uses for a human being is a river of experience. There is a flow, movement, vitality, and energy. If the river isn't drained or diverted into side tributaries, it flows quietly, fully, and freely. But if the water starts getting diverted, the river slowly diminishes, dries out, and eventually, there's no water downstream.

The five hindrances are forces that divert our life force and energy, drying us up. When caught up in them, we lose touch with the fullness and flow that we are, feeling drier, more disconnected, fragile, and tense.

The discomfort we feel from the hindrances often leads to further reactivity. We try to push the discomfort away, destroy it, or go into fantasy to distract ourselves. Sometimes we want to give up entirely—which is sloth and torpor. Or we get restless, spinning around agitated and worried about what's going to happen. When there is a lot of discomfort, it can breed a lot of doubt. We start with discomfort, react against it, add hindrances on top of it, and build up more tension and distress in a spiraling progression.

The Pali word for the hindrances is nīvaraṇa^[2], which literally means "to cover over." They cover over what is vital and important in us, the depth and fullness of who we are. Ultimately, they cover over our inner beauty. These preoccupations make it harder to connect to the depth of who we are. Uncovering what is wonderful about us is a beautiful process. We explore these hindrances and become wise about them so we can uncover our beauty and the value of our life's river.

A very important principle regarding the five hindrances is that these are universal human tendencies. You don't have to take them personally at all. Whether you have strong desires, addictions, or strong tendencies toward ill will and hostility, it is not a personal failing. Rather, we say, "This is my version of a basic human tendency." The task is to become wise about it and bring mindfulness to it so we are not caught in it, allowing us to be free.

Another metaphor I like is comparing the hindrances to black holes of the mind. A black hole is a collapsed star with such strong gravitational force that any light passing by gets sucked in and never escapes. There is no light; it's just black. The five hindrances can become so strong that they pull in the light of awareness and attention. The sad thing is that our presence and attentiveness get pulled into the gravitational force of desire, ill will, sloth, restlessness, and doubt so deeply that we have no presence of mind left to see clearly. We get pulled into stories, ideas, and emotions.

Mindfulness is the antidote. We try to step back from that gravitational force and clearly recognize what's happening. A helpful tool is the mental note. You can note, "Oh, desire, desire," or "Ill will, aversion, aversion." The art of making a mental note is to do it in a relaxed and calm way, without adding more aversion or desire. Just use an easygoing tone of voice. Doing this clearly and repeatedly is the mental equivalent of stepping back and seeing something from a distance. Like walking away from a group of arguing people until you are far enough back to simply observe them, noting helps you step back. "Oh, strong desire. That's what's happening."

If you are caught in the grip of a distraction, you can also use the three-breath journey. Say to yourself, "I'm caught up in this. Let me take the three-breath journey." For three breaths, give yourself over fully to breathing and use the counting to fill your thinking mind. This helps you stop feeding the preoccupation and reduces the intensity of the distraction, allowing you to settle. After three breaths, you might stay with the breathing, or you might turn your mindfulness back to the distraction—but now with the ability to clearly recognize it.

If there is tension connected to the distraction, see if you can relax it. Often, the very thing fueling the hindrance is the tension and pressure in our system. As I've noted before, if you take the top off a toothpaste tube and squeeze, toothpaste will keep coming out no matter how many times you wipe it away. You have to stop squeezing. The physical and mental tension that accompanies distractions keeps the thoughts pouring out. Notice if there's tension in your shoulders, face, belly, or mind, and soften it. Then you might not be so caught in the gravitational web of these hindrances.

Tomorrow, I will introduce an acronym and a set of five approaches to practicing with the hindrances called BELLA—Italian for "beautiful." I will go through that overview and then we'll start going into each hindrance in detail. Different people often have one predominant hindrance in their lives. For some it's desire, for others it's ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness, or doubt. Sometimes it's all of the above.

Short Closing Meditation

As a way of ending, I thought we could do a short meditation again to make some space for these words to be digested, and as a nice transition to whatever you are doing next.

Take your meditation posture again and perhaps close your eyes. If it's difficult to sit upright, it's fine to sit back, use a backrest, sit in a comfortable chair, or even lie down. Take a few long, slow, gentle breaths, relaxing and settling in as you exhale.

Let your breathing return to normal. Look around your body. Is there any place with tension or hardness? Can you, as you exhale, relax that tension? Sometimes it's hard to completely relax it, so the word "soften" is helpful. Soften around the tension. Create a little mental space around it, or feel that its boundaries are held by a softer attitude.

Sitting quietly right now, is there—or is there close by—any one of these five hindrances? Is there any feeling of desire for something, wanting something, even wanting to be present or wanting to get away? Is there any aversion or hostility, not liking something that's happening? Is there any collapse, lethargy, or tiredness—like "enough already, this is too much"? Is there any agitation or restlessness because we're coming to the end and you're thinking about what's next, or because you're energized trying to figure things out? Or do you have doubt, feeling perplexed and uncertain?

If any of those are true for you, take a step back and recognize that's what's happening. Recognize it permissively. It's okay to be this way, provided you can recognize it. Using a mental note to name it is like seeing someone you know, remembering their name, and saying it to them so they can relax. "Oh, I know now. This is good."

Now, in the middle of it all, become aware of your breathing. It can be as simple as doing the three-breath journey.

Then, very gently take a few slightly deeper breaths to bring more oxygen and energy to your torso and lungs. It is an affirmation of being here. An affirmation of value, of caring for yourself, of truly being present for this life of ours. Breathe in gently, fully: "Here. Yes." This "Here and Yes" is the opposite movement of being caught up in the hindrances. With this fuller "Here, Yes," I will ring the bell to end the sitting.

Closing Thoughts and Mara

I have two things to say to end this. First is a story from the Buddha's time. The obstacles in meditation are often anthropomorphized as a trickster, a devilish opponent to the Buddha named Mara^[3]. Mara's job description was to prevent people from getting enlightened by getting them caught up in the hindrances. The Buddha had to overcome Mara to become enlightened.

Interestingly, even after the Buddha was enlightened, Mara would still come to visit him. I love this story because enlightenment doesn't necessarily mean we are finished having inner difficulties; it means we have a different relationship to them. We are free with their presence rather than needing to not have them at all. When Mara came to see him, the Buddha didn't chase him away or get angry. He also didn't invite him in for tea to hang out. All the Buddha did was look at Mara and say kindly and clearly, "Mara, I see you."

Whenever Mara is seen, he runs away. So, don't invite the hindrances in for tea, and don't chase them away in anger. The approach is simply, "I see you. Here you are again, my old friend. I see you." In doing that, you might find that you are more freed from them.

The second thing is that I have a workbook on the five hindrances called Unhindered. Reading it might be a helpful support. Some of the things I'm saying are in the book, along with questions, reflections, and practices around each hindrance. You can also find a series of articles I've written on each of the five hindrances on the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) website under the "Written Dharma" resources. If you want to supplement this series with readings, my book or those articles might be nice.

Thank you very much for being part of this, and I look forward to our time tomorrow.