Five hindrances

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the Buddhist tradition, the Five Hindrances (Sanskrit: पञ् �नवारण pañca nivāraṇa;
Pali: पञ् नीवरणा�न pañca nīvaraṇāni) are identified as mental factors that hinder
progress in meditation and in our daily lives.[1]

In the Theravada tradition, these factors are identified specifically as

obstacles to the jhānas (stages of concentration) within meditation practice.

Within the Mahayana tradition, the five hindrances are identified as obstacles
to samatha (tranquility) meditation.

Contemporary Insight Meditation teachers identify the five hindrances as

obstacles to mindfulness meditation.

The five hindrances are:[1][2][3][web 1][dead link][web 2]

1. Sensory desire (kāmacchanda): the particular type of wanting that seeks for
happiness through the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and
physical feeling.
2. Ill-will (vyāpāda; also spelled byāpāda): all kinds of thought related to wanting
to reject; feelings of hostility, resentment, hatred and bitterness.
3. Sloth-and-torpor (thīna-middha): heaviness of body and dullness of mind
which drag one down into disabling inertia and thick depression.
4. Restlessness-and-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca): the inability to calm the mind.
5. Doubt (vicikicchā): lack of conviction or trust.

Overview
Within the Buddhist traditions
The five hindrances are identified in the major Buddhist traditions of
Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism, as well in the contemporary
Insight Meditation tradition. But the hindrances are presented differently
within these different traditions, depending upon the way each tradition
teaches the practice of meditation.
Contemporary Insight Meditation
Contemporary Insight Meditation teacher Gil Fronsdal describes the
hindrances as "a very important list of mental states that have a big impact
on meditation practice and people’s daily lives."
Fronsdal emphasizes that it is important not to see the hindrances as personal
failings. All human beings have them. A big part of mindfulness meditation
is to learn about these hindrances in order to become free of them. Therefore,
Fronsdal states, the goal is to not dismiss them, but to study them and
understand them really well.[1]
Contemporary teacher Jack Kornfield described the five hindrances as
"difficult energies which arise in the mind and in one's life as a part of
meditation practice."[web 3]

Theravada tradition
Contemporary Theravada scholar Nina van Gorkom states: "The hindrances
are obstructions, overwhelming the mind, weakening insight.[...] The
hindrances obstruct the development of what is wholesome."[web 4]
Within the Theravada tradition, the five hindrances are identified specifically
as obstacles to the jhānas (stages of concentration) within meditation. For
example, contemporary Theravada teacher Ajahn Brahmavamso states:[web 1]
The deliberate idea of overcoming these five hindrances is important because it is
the five hindrances that block the door to both the jhānas, and wisdom. It’s the
five hindrances that fuel avijjā. The Buddha said that they’re the nutriments, the
food of delusion.

Ajahn Brahmavamso emphasizes that any obstacle that arises in meditation

can be identified as one of the five hindrances; he states:[web 2]
Any problem which arises in meditation will be one of these Five Hindrances, or
a combination. So, if one experiences any difficulty, use the scheme of the Five
Hindrances as a 'check list' to identify the main problem. Then you will know the
appropriate remedy, apply it carefully, and go beyond the obstacle into deeper
meditation. When the Five Hindrances are fully overcome, there is no barrier
between the meditator and the bliss of Jhana. Therefore, the certain test that
these Five Hindrances are really overcome is the ability to access Jhana.
Mahayana tradition
Within the Mahayana tradition, the five hindrances are typically identified as
obstacles to samatha meditation (also referred to as tranquility meditation).[2]

Overcoming the Hindrances

All of the Buddhist traditions emphasize that the hindrances are overcome by
investigating and understanding them. For example, contemporary
Theravada teacher Ajahn Sumedho states:[web 5]
In meditation one develops an understanding of the Five Hindrances -- how,
when one of them is present, you investigate it, you understand it, you accept
its presence and you learn how to deal with it. Sometimes you can just tell it to
go away and it goes; sometimes you just have to allow it to be there till it
wears out.

Contemporary Insight Meditation teacher Gil Fronsdal emphasizes that to be

a good student of the hindrances, you must be very patient with them and not
be dismissive of them. When they arise, you must stop for them. Fronsdal
states that a bumper sticker for this type of training could be “I stop for the
hindrances.” You don’t indulge them, Fronsdal states, you become interested
and study them.[1]
The Insight Meditation tradition teaches the RAIN formula for investigating
the hindrances:[web 6][web 7]
• R: Recognize it.

• A: Accept it.

• I: Investigate it, be curious. What is it like?

• N: Non-identification. This is just a passing process that comes & goes,

not who we are.

The Five Hindrances Individually

1. Sensory desire (kamacchanda)
The hindrance of sensory desire (kamacchanda) is latching onto thoughts or
feelings based on the pleasures of the five senses.
• Ajahn Brahmavamso (1999) states: "Sensory desire refers to that particular
type of wanting that seeks for happiness through the five senses of sight, sound,
smell, taste and physical feeling. It specifically excludes any aspiration for
 happiness through the sixth sense of mind alone. In its extreme form, sensory
desire is an obsession to find pleasure in such things as sexual intimacy, good
food or fine music. But it also includes the desire to replace irritating or even
painful five-sense experiences with pleasant ones, i.e. the desire for sensory
comfort."[web 2]
• Ajahn Brahmavamso (2001) states: "[...] kāma chanda are anything from
the extremes of lust to just being concerned with how the body is doing. Thinking
about the letter that you have to write afterwards, about the rain pattering on
your roof, about your kutī [monk's hut], or what needs to be built next, or where
you are going to next, that’s all in the kāmaloka, the world of the senses, that’s
all kāma chanda. It’s also kāma vitakka, or the thoughts about those things,
about family, about health, about coming here, going there, and thoughts about
words.[web 1]
• Traleg Kyabgon states: "This term alludes to the mind's tendency to latch on
to something that attracts it--a thought, a visual object, or a particular emotion.
When we allow the mind to indulge in such attractions, we lose our concentration.
So we need to apply mindfulness and be aware of how the mind operates; we
don't necessarily have to suppress all these things arising in the mind, but we
should take notice of them and see how the mind behaves, how it automatically
grabs onto this and that."[4]

Analogy of sensory desire

The hindrance of sensory desire is compared to taking out a loan – any
pleasure one experiences through these five senses must be repaid through
the unpleasantness of separation or loss which invariably follow when the
pleasure is used up. There is also interest to be repaid on the loan. Thus, the
Buddha said that the pleasure is small compared to the suffering repaid.[web 2]
Antidote for sensory desire
In order to overcome the hindrance of sensory desire (kamacchanda), the
meditator must first apply mindfulness and recognize that the hindrance is
present.[4][web 8] Then one must look at the hindrance, analyze it, make it the
object of our meditation, experience it fully. The meditator can then apply
specific techniques such as contemplating the impermanence of the pleasant
desire.[web 8]
Ajahn Brahmavamso emphasizes the technique of letting go of concern for
the body and the five senses completely; he states:[web 2]
 In meditation, one transcends sensory desire for the period by letting go of
concern for this body and its five sense activity. Some imagine that the five senses
are there to serve and protect the body, but the truth is that the body is there to
serve the five senses as they play in the world ever seeking delight. Indeed, the
Lord Buddha once said, "The five senses ARE the world" and to leave the world,
to enjoy the other worldly bliss of Jhana, one must give up for a time ALL
concern for the body and its five senses.

Etymology
Kamacchanda can be compared to giving your approval for kāma-based
thoughts and emotions to remain in your mind. It is allowing these thoughts
to occupy your mind. Ajahn Brahmavamso explains:[web 1]
In the Pāli term kāma chanda, chanda is what you have to do if you cannot attend
a meeting of the community of monks, and you want to give approval and
agreement to what’s happening there, you give your chanda to go ahead in your
absence. It’s agreement, approval, consent, and it’s much more subtle than mere
desire. This means that you are buying into, giving in to this, you want it, you
approve of it, and you allow it to happen. In the same way that we have chanda in
the Vinaya, we have that kāma chanda. It’s as if you give your approval for the
sensory world to be in your consciousness, in your mind, you accept it, approve
of it, and you play with it, that’s all chanda. It’s letting it completely occupy the
mind, and it’s much more subtle than just mere desire. The kāma part of kāma
chanda, that’s all that is comprised in kāmaloka, the world of the five senses,
which goes from the hell realms, the animal realms, the ghost realms, the human
realm, and the Deva realms, to everything that is concerned with those kāmaloka
realms. Kāma Chanda is acceptance, agreement, and consent for that world to
occupy you.

2. Ill will (vyapada)

The hindrance of ill will (vyapada) is latching onto thoughts or feelings
based on anger, resentment, hostility, bitterness, etc.
• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "Ill will refers to the desire to punish, hurt

or destroy. It includes sheer hatred of a person, or even a situation, and

it can generate so much energy that it is both seductive and addictive.
At the time, it always appears justified for such is its power that it
easily corrupts our ability to judge fairly. It also includes ill will
towards oneself, otherwise known as guilt, which denies oneself any
possibility of happiness. In meditation, ill will can appear as dislike
 towards the meditation object itself, rejecting it so that one's attention is
forced to wander elsewhere."[web 2]
• Traleg Kyabgon states: "The second hindrance is ill will; it is the
opposite of the first hindrance, being brought about by aversion rather
than attraction. Ill will refers to all kinds of thought related to wanting
to reject, feelings of hostility, resentment, hatred and bitterness. When
they arise, we should take note of them, not necessarily suppressing
them, but seeing how they arise."[4]
Analogy of ill will
The hindrance of ill will is compared to being sick. Just as sickness denies
one the freedom and happiness of health, so ill will denies one the freedom
and happiness of peace.[web 2]
Antidote for ill will
The antidote to the hindrance of ill will (vyapada) is meditation on loving
kindness (metta). Ajahn Brahmavamso states:[web 2]
Ill will is overcome by applying Metta, loving kindness. When it is ill will
towards a person, Metta teaches one to see more in that person than all that
which hurts you, to understand why that person hurt you (often because they
were hurting intensely themselves), and encourages one to put aside one's
own pain to look with compassion on the other. But if this is more than one
can do, Metta to oneself leads one to refuse to dwell in ill will to that person,
so as to stop them from hurting you further with the memory of those deeds.
Similarly, if it is ill will towards oneself, Metta sees more than one's own
faults, can understand one's own faults, and finds the courage to forgive
them, learn from their lesson and let them go. Then, if it is ill will towards
the meditation object (often the reason why a meditator cannot find peace)
Metta embraces the meditation object with care and delight. For example,
just as a mother has a natural Metta towards her child, so a meditator can
look on their breath, say, with the very same quality of caring attention.
Then it will be just as unlikely to lose the breath through forgetfulness as it
is unlikely for a mother to forget her baby in the shopping mall, and it would
be just as improbable to drop the breath for some distracting thought as it is
for a distracted mother to drop her baby! When ill will is overcome, it
allows lasting relationships with other people, with oneself and, in
meditation, a lasting, enjoyable relationship with the meditation object, one
that can mature into the full embrace of absorption.
3. Sloth-torpor (thina-middha)
See also: thīna and middha

Sloth-torpor is a dull, morbid state that is characterized by unwieldiness, lack

of energy, and opposition to wholesome activity.

• Traleg Kyabgon states: "When this hindrance is present, we lose our focus in
meditation. We may not be agitated in any perceptible way, but there is no mental
clarity. We gradually become more and more drowsy, and then eventually go to
sleep."[5]
• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "Sloth and torpor refers to that heaviness of body
and dullness of mind which drag one down into disabling inertia and thick depression.
[...] In meditation, it causes weak and intermittent mindfulness which can even lead
to falling asleep in meditation without even realising it!"[web 2]
• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "The mind has two main functions, 'doing' and
'knowing'. The way of meditation is to calm the 'doing' to complete tranquility while
maintaining the 'knowing'. Sloth and torpor occur when one carelessly calms both the
'doing' and the 'knowing', unable to distinguish between them."[web 2]
• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "Sloth and torpor is an unpleasant state of body and
mind, too stiff to leap into the bliss of Jhana and too blinded to spot any insights. In
short, it is a complete waste of precious time."[web 2]

Analogy of sloth-torpor
The hindrance of sloth-torpor is compared to being imprisoned in a cramped,
dark cell, unable to move freely in the bright sunshine outside.[web 2]
Antidote for sloth-torpor
Ajahn Brahmavamso states:[web 2]
"Sloth and torpor is overcome by rousing energy. Energy is always available but
few know how to turn on the switch, as it were. Setting a goal, a reasonable goal,
is a wise and effective way to generate energy, as is deliberately developing
interest in the task at hand. A young child has a natural interest, and consequent
energy, because its world is so new. Thus, if one can learn to look at one's life, or
one's meditation, with a 'beginner's mind' one can see ever new angles and fresh
possibilities which keep one distant from sloth and torpor, alive and energetic.
Similarly, one can develop delight in whatever one is doing by training one's
perception to see the beautiful in the ordinary, thereby generating the interest
which avoids the half-death that is sloth and torpor. [...] Sloth and torpor is a
common problem which can creep up and smother one slowly. A skilful meditator
keeps a sharp look-out for the first signs of sloth and torpor and is thus able to
 spot its approach and take evasive action before it's too late. Like coming to a
fork in a road, one can take that mental path leading away from sloth and
torpor."
Traleg Kyabgon states: "When this happens, instead of persisting with the
meditation, it is better to try to refresh ourselves by getting up and going for a walk or
[2]
washing our face, after which we return to our meditation."

4. Restlessness-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca)
See also: uddhacca and kukkucca

The hindrance of restlessness-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca) refers to a mind

that is agitated and unable to settle down.
• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "Restlessness [uddhacca] refers to a mind which
is like a monkey, always swinging on to the next branch, never able to stay long
with anything. It is caused by the fault-finding state of mind which cannot be
satisfied with things as they are, and so has to move on to the promise of
something better, forever just beyond. [...] Remorse [kukkucca] refers to a
specific type of restlessness which is the kammic effect of one's misdeeds."[web 2]
• Traleg Kyabgon states: "The fourth hindrance is restlessness and worry,
which refers to all the mental activities that go on in our mind due to its restless
nature."[5]
• Gil Fronsdal states: "The discomfort of restlessness creates an outward
looking [tendency] – what can I do to fix this? What can I do to settle this? [...]
So the challenge in restlessness is how to turn towards it and be present for it and
engage it."[web 9]

Analogy of restlessness-worry
Restlessness (uddhacca) is compared to being a slave, continually having to
jump to the orders of a tyrannical boss who always demands perfection and
so never lets one stop.[web 2]
Antidote for restlessness-worry
[web 2]
• Ajahn Brahmavamso states:
o Restlessness [uddhacca] is overcome by developing contentment, which is the
opposite of fault-finding. One learns the simple joy of being satisfied with little,
rather than always wanting more. One is grateful for this moment, rather than
picking out its deficiencies. For instance, in meditation restlessness is often the
impatience to move quickly on to the next stage. The fastest progress, though is
 achieved by those who are content with the stage they are on now. It is the
deepening of that contentment that ripens into the next stage.
o Remorse [kukkucca] refers to a specific type of restlessness which is the
kammic effect of one's misdeeds. The only way to overcome remorse, the
restlessness of a bad conscience, is to purify one's virtue and become kind,
wise and gentle. It is virtually impossible for the immoral or the self-indulgent
to make deep progress in meditation.
• Gil Fronsdal states: "[There are] a variety of ways to engage restlessness, be
present for it. [...] [One is] learning, reflecting, meditating and contemplating
what the nature of restlessness is. [...] There might be a really good cause for you
to be restless. [...] Maybe you haven't paid your taxes in ten years. [...] [In this
case] you don't need meditation, you need to pay your taxes. You don't use
meditation to run away from the real issues of your life. [...] Sometimes what's
needed is to really look and understand are there root causes for being
restless."[web 9]

5. Doubt (vicikicchā)
See also: vicikicchā

The hindrance of doubt (vicikicchā) refers to doubt about one's ability to

understand and implement the meditation instructions, as well as about the
teacher and Buddhist teachings in general.
• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "Doubt refers to the disturbing inner questions
at a time when one should be silently moving deeper. Doubt can question one's
own ability 'Can I do This?,' or question the method 'Is this the right way?,' or
even question the meaning 'What is this?.' It should be remembered that such
questions are obstacles to meditation because they are asked at the wrong time
and thus become an intrusion, obscuring one's clarity."[web 2]
• Traleg Kyabgon states: "When we meditate in the presence of this hindrance,
we have a constant nagging feeling: 'How do I know what I am doing is right?
How do I know if this thing really works and if I am not just wasting my time?
How do I know what the Buddhist teachings say is true? How do I know if that
what the meditation teachers have taught me is right and that they are not
deluded?'"[5]

Analogy of doubt
Doubt is compared to being lost in a desert, not recognising any landmarks.
Antidote for doubt
Ajahn Brahmavamso states:[web 2]
 • Such doubt is overcome by gathering clear instructions, having a good map, so
that one can recognise the subtle landmarks in the unfamiliar territory of deep
meditation and so know which way to go. Doubt in one's ability is overcome by
nurturing self-confidence with a good teacher. A meditation teacher is like a
coach who convinces the sports team that they can succeed.
• The end of doubt, in meditation, is described by a mind which has full trust in the
silence, and so doesn't interfere with any inner speech. Like having a good
chauffeur, one sits silently on the journey out of trust in the driver.

Mental Factors that Counteract the Five Hindrances

B. Alan Wallace identifies five mental factors that counteract the five
hindrances, according to the Theravada tradition:[3]
1. Coarse examination (vitakka) counteracts sloth-torpor (lethargy and
drowsiness)
2. Precise investigation (vicāra) counteracts doubt (uncertainty)
3. Well-being (pīti) counteracts ill-will (malice)
4. Bliss (sukha) counteracts restlessness-worry (excitation and anxiety)
5. Single-pointed attention (ekaggatā) counteracts sensory desire
These five counteracting factors arise during the first jhāna (stage of concentration).

In Pali Literature

In the Pali Canon

In the Pali Canon's Samyutta Nikaya, several discourses juxtapose the five
hindrances with the seven factors of enlightenment (bojjhanga).[a] For
instance, according to SN 46.37, the Buddha stated:
"Bhikkhus, there are these five obstructions, hindrances, corruptions of
the mind, weakeners of wisdom. What five? Sensual desire... ill will...
sloth and torpor ... restlessness and remorse... doubt....
"There are, bhikkhus, these seven factors of enlightenment, which are
nonobstructions, nonhindrances, noncorruptions of the mind; when
developed and cultivated they lead to the realization of the fruit of true
knowledge and liberation. What seven? The enlightenment factor of
mindfulness... [discrimination of states... energy... rapture...
tranquility... concentration...] equanimity....[6][b][c]
In terms of gaining insight into and overcoming the Five Hindrances,
according to the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha proclaimed:
How, monks, does a monk live contemplating mental objects in
the mental objects of the five hindrances?
Herein, monks, when sense-desire is present, a monk knows,
"There is sense-desire in me," or when sense-desire is not
present, he knows, "There is no sense-desire in me." He knows
how the arising of the non-arisen sense-desire comes to be; he
knows how the abandoning of the arisen sense-desire comes to
be; and he knows how the non-arising in the future of the
abandoned sense-desire comes to be.[7]
Each of the remaining four hindrances are similarly treated in subsequent
paragraphs.
The Buddha gives the following analogies in the Samaññaphala Sutta (DN 2,
"The Fruits of the Contemplative Life"):
"... [W]hen these five hindrances are not abandoned in himself,
the monk regards it as a debt, a sickness, a prison, slavery, a
road through desolate country. But when these five hindrances
are abandoned in himself, he regards it as unindebtedness,
good health, release from prison, freedom, a place of
security."[8][d]
Similarly, in the Saṅgārava Sutta (SN 46.55), the Buddha compares sensual
desire with looking for a clear reflection in water mixed with lac, turmeric
and dyes; ill will with boiling water; sloth-and-torpor with water covered
with plants and algae; restlessness-and-worry with wind-churned water; and,
doubt with water that is "turbid, unsettled, muddy, placed in the dark."[9]

From post-canonical Pali literature

According to the first-century CE exegetic Vimuttimagga, the five
hindrances include all ten "fetters": sense desire includes any attachment to
passion; ill will includes all unwholesome states of hatred; and, sloth and
torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt include all unwholesome states of
infatuation. The Vimuttimagga further distinguishes that "sloth" refers to
mental states while "torpor" refers to physical states resultant from food or
time or mental states; if torpor results from food or time, then one diminishes
it through energy; otherwise, one removes it with meditation.
In addition, the Vimuttimagga identifies four types of doubt:
• doubt regarding self is a hindrance to tranquility;

• doubt regarding the Four Noble Truths & three worlds is hindrance to insight;

• doubt regarding the Triple Gem is a hindrance to both tranquility & insight;

• doubt regarding places & people is a hindrance to "non-doctrinal" things;

[10]
• doubt regarding the Discourses is a hindrance to solitude.

According to Buddhaghosa's fifth-century CE commentary to the Samyutta

Nikaya (Sāratthappakāsinī), one can momentarily escape the hindrances
through jhanic suppression or through insight while, as also stated in
the Vimuttimagga, one eradicates the hindrances through attainment of one
of the four stages of enlightenment.[f]
Method of suppression Path of eradication
Sensual Desire First jhana based on Bodily Foulness Non-returning or Arahantship
Ill Will First jhana based on Metta Non-returning
Sloth & Torpor Perception of Light Arahantship
Restlessness & Worry Serenity Arahantship & Non-returning
Doubt Defining of Phenomena (dhammavavatthāna) Stream-entry
The Pali commentary's methods and paths for escaping the hindrances.

Etymology
According to Gil Fronsdal, the Pali term nīvaraṇa means covering. Fronsdal
states that these hindrances cover over: the clarity of our mind, and our
ability to be mindful, wise, concentrated, and stay on purpose.[1]
According to Rhys Davids, the Pali term nīvaraṇa (Sanskrit: nivāraṇa) refers
to an obstacle or hindrance only in the ethical sense, and is usually
enumerated in a set of five.[11]
See also
• Five faults and eight antidotes
• Seven factors of enlightenment
• Ten fetters
• The paramitas (virtues), either six or ten

Notes
1. For example, in Samyutta Nikaya chapter 46, Bojjhanga-samyutta, discourses 46.31 through 46.40 are based on this
juxtaposition (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 1589-94).
2. Bodhi (2000) elides the middle five factors of enlightenment, inserted here in square brackets, since all seven factors
of enlightenment are identified previously multiple times in Bodhi's text.
3. Anālayo (2006), pp. 239-40, underlines:
"To overcome the hindrances, to practise satipatthana, and to establish the awakening factors are, indeed, according to
several Pali discourses, the key aspects and the distinctive features common to the awakenings of all Buddhas, past,
present, and future."
Anālayo further supports this by identifying that, in all extant Sanskrit and Chinese versions of the Satipatthana Sutta,
only the five hindrances and seven factors of enlightenment are consistently identified under
the dhamma contemplation section; contemplations of the five aggregates, six sense bases and Four Noble Truths are
not included in one or more of these non-Pali versions.
4. Some correlate each individual hindrance with its sequentially matched metaphor, so that covetness is likened to being
in debt, having ill will to sickness, sloth and torpor to imprisonment, having restlessness and anxiety to slavery, and
doubt to traveling through uncertain terrain.
5. Upatissa et al. (1995), p. 316, identifies that sense-desire is "destroyed through the Path of Non-Return." In the
context of commenting on sutta SN 46.55, Bodhi (2005), p. 440, n. 14, states that sensual desire is "eradicated by the
path of arahantship (since kāmacchanda is here interpreted widely enough to include desire for any object, not only
sensual desire)".
6. Regarding the Sāratthappakāsinī commentary, see Bodhi (2005), p. 440, n. 14. Regarding
the Vimuttimagga commentary, see Upatissa et al. (1995), p. 316.

References
1. Fronsdal 2008, The Five Hindrances: Introduction; 2008-10-13.
2. Traleg Kyabgon 2001, p. 26.
3. Wallace 2006, pp. 158-159.
4. Traleg Kyabgon 2001, p. 25.
5. Traleg Kyabgon 2001, pp. 25-26.
6. Bodhi (2000), pp. 1591-92
7. Nyanasatta (1994).
8. Thanissaro (1997).
9. Bodhi (2000), pp. 1611-15; Walshe (1985), sutta 60, pp. 73-75.
10. Upatissa et al. (1995), pp. 91-92.
11. Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 376, entry for "Nīvaraṇa."

Web references
1. The Five Hindrances, by Ajahn Brahmavamso (2001)
2. The Five Hindrances, by Ajahn Brahmavamso (1999)
3. The Five Hindrances-2 by Jack Kornfield Archived 2012-10-26 at the Wayback Machine.
4. Different Groups Of Defilements Part II, Nina van Gorkom
5. The Five Hindrances, by Ajahn Sumedho
6. Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation: The Five Hindrances (study notes)
7. How to Meditate: A Guide to Formal Sitting Practice, by Tara Brach
8. Five Hindrances Bodhi Cards Archived August 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
9. The Five Hindrances: Restlessness and Worry audio talk by Gil Fronsdal

Sources
1. Bhikkhu Analayo (2006), Satipatthāna: The Direct Path to Realization, Birmingham: Windhorse, ISBN 1-899579-54-
0
2. Bhikkhu Bodhi (translator) (2000), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta
Nikaya, Boston: Wisdom, ISBN 0-86171-331-1
3. Bhikkhu Bodhi (editor) (2005), In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pāli Canon, Boston:
Wisdom,ISBN 0-86171-491-1
4. Fronsdal, Gil (2008), Online Course: Five Hindrances Series, Audio Dharma
5. Guenther, Herbert V.; Kawamura, Leslie S. (1975), Mind in Buddhist Psychology: A Translation of Ye-shes rgyal-
mtshan's "The Necklace of Clear Understanding, Dharma Publishing. Kindle Edition
6. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (1993), The Practice of Tranquility & Insight: A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation,
Snow Lion, Kindle Edition
7. Kunsang, Erik Pema (2004), Gateway to Knowledge, Vol. 1, North Atlantic Books
8. Nyanasatta Thera (trans.) (1994), Satipatthana Sutta: The Foundations of Mindfulness, Access To Insight
9. Piya Tan (2010), Nīvaraṇa: Mental Hindrances (PDF), The Dharmafarers
10. Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali
Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.
11. Sakyong Mimpham (2003), Turning the Mind into an Ally, Riverhead Books
12. Traleg Kyabgon (2001), The Essence of Buddhism, Shambhala
13. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997), Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life, Access To Insight
14. Upatissa, Arahant and N.R.M. Ehara (trans.), Soma Thera (trans.) and Kheminda Thera (trans.) (1995). The Path of
Freedom (Vimuttimagga). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society. ISBN 955-24-0054-6.
15. Wallace, B. Alan (2006), The Attention Revolution, Widsom
16. Walshe, Maurice O'C. (1985), Samyutta Nikaya: An Anthology (Part III), Access To Insight

External links
1. Nyanaponika Thera (1993), The Five Mental Hindrances and Their Conquest (Wheel No. 26). Kandy: Buddhist
Publication Society. Retrieved 08-09-2008 from "Access to Insight" (1994)
at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel026.html.
2. Ajahn Dhiravamso (2008), The Five Hindrances [Dhamma talk video]. Serpentine: Bodhinyana Monastery. Retrieved
December 8, 2008 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xpcD0Y3x7Y
3. Gil Fronsdal (2008), The Five Hindrances Courses
4. The Five Hindrances, by Ajahn Sumedho
5. Dealing with the Five Hindrances, by Sayalay Susila