Five Enemies of Meditators!

Hello Kind Mindful Steemians!

Enemies? We thoughts meditators and mindful people have no enemies, no? Ahh........we are not talking here about personal enemies here. I meant the enemies within which hinders our practice or prevent us from going deeper within ourselves or delay us to be one with the breath. So, the enemies are the hindrances or barriers for progress in meditation. So what are these 5 enemies of meditators?

Buddha talked about these five enemies or hinderances to meditation regularly in his sermons. Without knowing the enemies it would be almost impossible to defeat them. So, understanding those enemies and how they work is quite important for an ardent meditator or meditation enthusiasts. It is worth pointing out that work to defeat these enemies is a gradual process. Arhat i.e the one who has killed all his/her enemies is an ultimate statement of enlightenment just before the Buddhahood so don't beat yourself if you haven't defeated these enemies yet. But, we should try to understand them so it is much easier to work with them. So, let's look at them.

1.Kamachand (Craving for sensual pleasures)
This is a craving for a pleasant experience through our 5 senses in particular. For example, craving for tasty food, pleasant scenarios or feeling, good news and so on. As we meditate, this hinderance prevent us from one pointed concentration on our meditation object such as breath, mind, body sensation etc. Kamachand has been considered a major hindrance in the path of meditator since ancient times. Hence ascetic practices and penances were prevalent at times and in some tradition. Buddha himself practised this for many months but he realised that mind purification needs middle path - not too much craving nor too much aversion toward sensual pleasures. The middle path then became a moderation in concept so to speak. So when the craving for sensual desires come during meditation, we don’t fight with it by suppressing it nor should we jump to fulfil our sensual desire. Instead, realize that sensual desire is there, observe it without craving and aversion and as if magic, it would disappear - yes, may take a long time and depend on our individual clinging. But as Buddha points out, everything that arises within the mind and body passes away - everything is impermanent. Recognising this, we observe arising of desire for sensual pleasure with equanimity and we will also witness the passing away of such desire equanimously.

2.Ill will
Another hinderance is ill will toward self and others. Or we could call it lack of self-love and lack of compassion. As one enters the meditation, when joy arises ill will toward oneself creates thoughts like "I'm not worthy of such joy, why am I feeling blissful.....". While ill will towards would come up as anger towards others, jealousy and so on. It is suggested to be the opposite of first hinderances in the sense that it is aversion/hatred whereas the first one is attraction/desire.

3.Sloth and mental torpor
It is a lack of energy due to tiredness or simply being lazy. I remember the story of an executive in a meditation retreat trying to focus on the breath but keep noding off and sometimes snoring. Being an executive he had been working many hours lacking sleep and rest for the body. So when he went to retreat he needed the sleep. And the meditation teacher told him to sleep as much as he wants. He then slept most hours first 3 days and from the 4th day, he was so focused on the breath that he reached to the deep state quite easily. So, bodily unrest and tiredness can be a barrier to meditation. But, lack of zeal or effort despite full rest can also be hindrances presenting as mental dullness.

4.Remorse and restlessness
Sometimes during meditation one can dwell into remorse. Remorse for what one has done in the past or what has done to him/her. Thoughts such as "oh...I should not have done that....he is not supposed to do such things...and so on" can occur and prevent us from going deeper into meditation. Similarly, restlessness or the opposite of contentedness can be a significant barrier. Restlessness can arise in the form mind wandering off in many different directions, wanting to finish the meditation and so on. In a way, this enemy can be referred to as opposite of sloth and torpor in the sense that the former is too much energy and the latter is lack of energy.

5.Doubt
The last enemy that keeps coming during the meditation is doubt. Doubt about teaching, technique, guide or doubt about self. Thoughts like "...I've been doing this meditation for so long but not sure if its working....I think I should try different techniques.....maybe meditation is not for me....I just don't seem to be able to focus and so on....." These types of doubts are not infrequent. Such doubt may prevent us from real continuous practice of meditation. But, we know, as many current and former learned teachers keep saying - "continuous practice is the secret to success".

So, these 5 enemies can be significant barriers to develop in meditation. To defeat these 5 enemies Buddha gives us 5 friends too - we'll talk about that in next post. But for the time being, let us be aware of the rising of these enemies/hindrances during meditation and observe it equanimously. Let us meet our enemies in our meditation and let us know them well - to do that join us in the Meditation Hall on @naturalmedicine Discord Server twice weekly.

(Source: reddit.com/r/Buddhism)

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(Thanks to @riverflows for the gif)

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