{"id":328,"date":"2008-11-20T16:19:27","date_gmt":"2008-11-20T16:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2008\/11\/hardcore-dharma-the-5-hindrances.html"},"modified":"2008-11-20T16:19:27","modified_gmt":"2008-11-20T16:19:27","slug":"hardcore-dharma-the-5-hindrances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/11\/hardcore-dharma-the-5-hindrances.html","title":{"rendered":"Hardcore Dharma: The 5 Hindrances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen I know.\u00a0 If there\u2019s anything more annoying than the holiday\u2019s themselves, it\u2019s the inevitable deluge of \u201cwhy the holiday\u2019s are annoying in this way and that\u201d pieces that pervade every newspaper, radio segment and blog that pass through our liberal-minded orbits.\u00a0 Of course it\u2019s always irritating to feel like your emotional state is pre-decided by cultural mandate.\u00a0 And there are, undeniably, just too gosh darn many things to do.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t there a way to enjoy all the good parts of the holidays \u2013 the peoples, the celebrations and the pervasive scent of nutmeg without getting oppressed by the stressing, spending and massive over-eating that tags along like the extra gregarious friend of a friend whose charm wears off faster than you can say \u201caquavit?\u201d
\nI couldn\u2019t tell you, I\u2019m already a little stressed out.\u00a0 Guess what are annoying?\u00a0 The holidays!\u00a0 My day job is all, \u201cit\u2019s the end of the year and we need you to actually work\u201d My graduate school applications are all, \u201cdue.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019ve got a performance I\u2019m not prepared for that\u2019s like, \u201cin three weeks\u201d and parents who want me sedated on the couch in New Jersey by \u201cMonday evening\u201d.
\nAll in all, I think it\u2019s a good time to talk about the 5 hindrances, HC Dharma\u2019s topic de semaine from our special Friday, Novemeber 14th class.\u00a0 A Theravaden teaching, the hindrances (or 5 nivarana) are basically the schmutzy stuff that gets in the way of our practice.\u00a0 The Theravaden\u2019s specifically talk about the hindrances in terms of how it affects our sitting meditation practice, but as we are, in a way, practicing all the time, they\u2019re equally applicable in our waking lives.
\nThe Five Hindrances are:
\n1.\u00a0Sensual Desire
\n2.\u00a0Aversion
\n3.\u00a0Sloth or Torpor
\n4.\u00a0Restlessness
\n5.\u00a0Doubt.
\nOkay.\u00a0 So in this burgeoning period of holiday stresses, when obligations and responsibilities seem to merge into a blinding silver river threatening to woosh one straight from Thanksgiving through January I\u2019ve learned that there are three activities that will save me:\u00a0 1.\u00a0 Meditation. 2. Exercise and 3.\u00a0 Finishing things.\u00a0 In essence, the first two are only support systems for the last, most important, most crucially time-saving, health-saving, sanity rectifying activity: staying with a task with single pointed focus until it is finished.\u00a0 Now when I\u2019m all calm and loose and have a few things on my plate rather than a thousand I find this to be no problem.\u00a0 But when I\u2019ve got work stuff and creative stuff and social stuff and family stuff all at the same time this gets harder.\u00a0 Email starts getting checked when it shouldn\u2019t be.\u00a0 Text messages get sent in the middle of conversations.\u00a0 While working on my play I\u2019ll succumb to urges to watch Beyonce\u2019s \u201cSingle Girls (Put A Ring on It)\u201d on youtube.\u00a0 (Sorry \u2013 that dancing is good.\u00a0 And ridiculous.\u00a0 And good).
\nThat\u2019s why in times of over activity, thinking about the five hindrances can be so helpful.\u00a0 Yesterday I had to tailor my personal statements for each individual graduate school I\u2019m applying to.\u00a0 I hate this task.\u00a0 I love writing plays and prose but a statement about \u201cwho I am and what are my goals as a writer\u201d \u2013 well don\u2019t they know I\u2019m a Buddhist and have no solid sense of self?\u00a0 Can\u2019t they just read my play?\u00a0 Why do I have to talk about myself in that kind of serious, bullshit kind of way?\u00a0 Should I go cutesy and risk not seeming serious?\u00a0 Should I go serious and risk sounding florid?\u00a0 Whatever I just need to get it done.\u00a0 Right, Jules?\u00a0 In the words of she-who-shall-not-be-named, let\u2019s just, ahem, gedderdone.
\nSo I sit down to write.\u00a0 I\u2019ve meditated.\u00a0 I\u2019m caffeinated.\u00a0 I will not stand up from this chair until I finish this f&*#er.\u00a0 I got MS Word open.\u00a0 My fingers are caressing the keys, they\u2019re\u00a0fingering the ridges, they’re\u00a0running over their edges in a kind of sensitive, exploratory anticipation and\u00a0 \u2026shit.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking about sex.\u00a0 Okay no problem, just sensual desire.\u00a0 Notice, let it go.\u00a0 Okay, get some sentences in and it\u2019s a little boring and you know now that I think about it why the hell do I always have to call her?\u00a0 You think she could call me once in a while?\u00a0 And like, asked me some questions every once in a \u2013 okay – A little aversion there, Jules. Notice.\u00a0 Release.\u00a0 Notice.\u00a0 Little distraction – just let it go.\u00a0 Back to the thing- typety- type-type-type and goodness this is so not at all good!\u00a0 Why would I even think that anyone will ever pay me to string words together when I can\u2019t even (DOUBT) you know forget it I just have to check my email (RESTLESS) and actually I am so \u2026.(SLOTH) tired.\u00a0 So very very tired.
\nI did end up staying with and finishing the statement.\u00a0 And while those 5 Nivarana kept nuzzling up to me like underfed reindeer, naming them seriously undercut their power.\u00a0 In a way, it\u2019s like by naming them you do that thing that Jennifer Connelly does to David Bowie at the end of Labyrinth that causes his MC Escher castle to dissolve and Toby to plop\u00a0back into her arms.
\nHindrances: You have no power over me.
\n