Pursuing the development of a more integrated personality prior to spiritual transcendence, Peter described sentient beings as “energy transformation” beings, emphasizing that the five hindrances (sense desire, aversion and ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and skeptical doubt) are “energy dumps”. The first steps on the path involve developing the ability to focus attention on breath awareness to concentrate and calm the mind, combined with the ability to be mindful of distractions away from breath awareness and to turn attention away from the distractions and back to the breath. Each hindrance was described as to characteristics and impact on the body/mind processes. Classical antidotes for the hindrances were also described. The freed up energy from ongoing breath awareness can then be available for cultivating vipassana, which is the ability to note the emergence, fulfillment, and dissolution of self states, in order to further personality integration.
Five Hindrances
On this second night of the retreat, pancanivarana, the five hindrances, were described; their causes and their antidotes.
This is the last of the talks about the five hindrances in our series of dialogues reviewing the Satipatthana Sutta. Skeptical Doubt is perplexity and a lack of confidence as a condition of the mind. In the discussion, the role of the Five Powers was also reviewed.
