Dhamma-Sangani - THE DIVISION ENTITLED ELIMINATION - The Group of the Hindrances

A BUDDHIST MANUAL
Psychological Ethics,
FROM THE PALI
OF THE
DHAMMA-SANGANI

Translated by CAROLINE A. F. RHYS DAVIDS, M.A.

[Chapter IX.
The Group of the Hindrances (nivarana-goccha-
kam).]
[1162] Which are the states that are Hindrances?
The six Hindrances, to wit, the Hindrance of sensual
desire, the Hindrance of ill will, the Hindrance of stolidity
and torpor, the Hindrance of excitement and worry, the
Hindrance of perplexity, the Hindrance of ignorance.^
In this connexion
[1153] What is the Hindrance of sensual desire '^
Answer as for the '
Intoxicant of sensuality,' § 1097.^
[1154] What is the Hindrance of ill will?
Answer as for the '
Tie of ill will,' § 1137.
[1155] What is the Hindrance of stolidity and torpor?
First distinguish between stolidity and torpor.^
^ In the Sutta Pitaka, the Hindrances form a category of
five, ignorance (avijja) being excluded. See the descrip-
tion in D. i. 71-74, and cf D. i. 246 ; M. i. 60, 144, 181,
269, 294, etc. ; A. iii. 63 ; S. v. 60, 94-98. This dis-
crepancy is not noticed by Buddhaghosa. See also § 1112,
etc. The Hindrances are to be understood as states which
muffle, enwrap or trammel thought. States, again, which
are nivaraniya are to be understood analogously to those
which are sannojaniya. Asl. 49.
2 '
Sensual thirst ' is again omitted, as in the description
of the corresponding Fetter, § 1114.
^ It is interesting to note that whereas the text calls
thinam (stolidity) a morbid state of the cittam and
middham a morbid state of the kayo, Buddhaghosa, in


In this connexion,
[1156] What is stolidity ?
That which is indisposition/ unwieldiness^ of intellect ;
adhering and cohering ; clinging, cleaving to, stickiness
;
stolidity, that is, a stiffening, a rigidity of the intellect^
—
this is called stolidity.
[1157] What is torpor .?*
That which is indisposition and unwieldiness of sense,
a shrouding, enveloping,^ barricading within^ ; torpor that
his Cy. on the Digha Nikaya (Sum. 211), speaks of
thinam as citta-gelaiinam (sickness or affection of
the mind), and of middham as cetasikagelannam.
The apparent inconsistency, however, will vanish if the
predominantly psychological standpoint of the Dhamma
Sangani be kept in mind. By kayo, as Buddhaghosa
reminds us (Asl. 378 ; see above, p. 43, n. 3), is meant
'
the three skandhas ' of feeling, perception and syntheses,
that is to say, the three through which we have subjective
experience of bodily states objectively conceived. And
cetasiko is the adjective corresponding to kayo taken
in this sense (§ 1022). Hence stolidity is confined to the
vinnana-skandha, which = c it tarn = (approximately) re-
presentative intellection, while torpor is a corresponding
affection of mind on its presentative and emotional side.
^ Akalyata, equivalent to gilanabhavo, Asl. 377,
where Maha Vibhanga, i. 62, is quoted.
2 See § 47.
^ '
The (stolid) mind cannot be maintained in any required
attitude or deportment. It is as inert as a bat hanging
to a tree, or as molasses cleaving to a stick, or as a lump
of butter too stiff for spreading' (Asl., ^M.). 'Attached
to' (linam) is paraphrased by avippharikataya pati-
kutitam, lit., bent back without expansion, where the
notion, as conceived by the Commentator, has something
akin to katukaficukata or niggardliness. See § 1122, n^ 2.
* Middham, derived by the Cy. from medhati ( ^med,
*
be fat ') ; there is a cognate notion in our * torpor,' cf.
repireiv, to be sated, and V^^-^P-
5 Onaho, pariyonaho. See Mil. 300; D. i. 246. In
the latter work, the a is short. In the Cy. (Asl. 378) the


is sleep, drowsiness; sleep,^ slumbering, somnolence—this
is called torpor.
Now this is the stolidity and this is the torpor which are
called *
the Hindrance of stolidity and torpor. '^
[1159] What is the Hindrance of excitement and worry ?
First distinguish between *
excitement ' and *
worry.'
In this connexion,
[1160] What is excitement P
That excitement of mind which is disquietude, agitation
of heart, turmoil of mind—this is called excitement.
[1161] What is worry 9^
simile is 'enveloping the senses (kayo) as a cloud the
sky.' In Sum. i. 135 the latter of the two terms is applied
to '
covering ' a drum.
^ Anto-samorodho. The Cy. explains that, as men
cannot get out of an invested city, so dhamma, blockaded
by torpor, cannot get out by expansion or diffusion).
^ There is no comment on this repetition of soppam.
^ The Commentator in his general remarks on this
Hindrance is at pains to point out that for the khina-
savo, or arahat, a periodical torpor or repose has ceased
to engender bad karma. The Buddha allowed an after-
dinner nap, for instance, at certain seasons (see M. i. 249),
as not in itself conducive to a bemuddling of the mind.
So powerful, however, is the Hindrance to the non-adept,
that its influence is not rooted out till the arahat Path is
gained. The arahat is fain to rest his frail body (lit., his
fingernail-kayo), but to him it is as unmoroX an act as the
folding up of leaves and blossoms at night. On overcom-
ing torpor see A. iv. 86.
3 See § 429.
* In its primary meaning kukkuccam is fidgeting, bad
deportment of hands and feet. See Jat. i. 119 ; ii. 142
;
also Sum. i. 1, 2. Hence mental fidget, the worry of
scruple (lit., *
the little sharp stone in a man's shoe.'
See Skeat's English Dictionary), the over-sensitive, over-
scrupulous conscience. In the frequent cases of kukkuc-
cam, respecting the keeping of the rules of the Order,
given in the Vinaya
—
'tassa kukkuccam ahosi'—or
kukkuccayanto—no blame seems to have attached to
the person m question. There was weakness in the anxiety


Consciousness of what is lawful in something that is un-
lawful ; consciousness of what is unlawful in something that
is lawful ; consciousness of what is immoral in something
that is moral ; consciousness of what is moral in something
that is immoral^—all this sort of worry, fidgeting, over-
scrupulousness, remorse of conscience, mental scarifying^
—this is what is called Worry.
Now this is the excitement and this is the worry which
are what is called *
the Hindrance of excitement and
worry.'
[1162] What is the Hindrance of ignorance ?
Answer as for 'dulness,' § 1061.
[1163] Which are the states that are not Hindrances?
Every state, good, bad and indeterminate, which is not
included in the foregoing [six] states, whether it relates to
the worlds of sense, of form, or of the formless, or to the
life that is Unincluded ; in other words, the four skandhas
;
all form also, and uncompounded element.
Which are the states that are
[1164] (a) favourable to the Hindrances P
felt by the non-robust conscience as to the letter of the
law ; on the other hand, there was loyalty to the Master's
decrees. Even the great Sariputta was not above such
scruples, when, on falling ill at a rest-house, he declined
to take food, in accordance with the 31st Pacittiya rule
(Vin. iv. 70). But Buddhaghosa quotes this as an instance
of praiseworthy scruple, to be distinguished, as *
Vinaya-
kukkuccam,' from the after-flush of burning anguish
(anutapo) accompanying the consciousness of having
done amiss, a feeling that is no longer possible for an
arahat. Asl. 384. Cf below, § 1304.
1 Things lawful (kappiyam) and unlawful are explained
as here referring merely to rules of routine in the Order,
e.g., to kinds of food, the dinner-hour, etc. By things
moral and immoral (avajjam, etc.) are meant acts of
virtue and of vice. Asl. 383.
2 See p. 117, n. 7.
^Nivaraniya, to be understood as analogous to
sannojanlya. Asl. 49.


Co-Intoxicant states, good, bad and indeterminate,
whether relating to the worlds of sense, form or the
formless ; in other words, the five skandhas.
[1165] (b) unfavourable to the Hindrances ?
The Paths that are the Unincluded and the Fruits of
the Paths, and uncompounded element.
Which are the states that are
[1166] {a) associated with the Hindrances ?
[1167] (h) disconnected with the Hindrances ?
Answers identical with those given to corresponding ques-
tions respecting the Intoxicants, §§ 1105, 1106.
Which are the states that are
[1168] {a) Hindrances themselves and favourable to the
Hindrances ?
The Hindrances themselves are both.
[1169] (6) favourable to the Hindrances, but not themselves
Hindrances ?
The states which are favourable to the Hindrances afore
named; that is to say, with the exception of the Hin-
drances, all co-Intoxicant states whatever, good, bad and
indeterminate, whether they relate to the worlds of sense,
form or the formless ; in other words, the five skandhas.
Which are the states that are
[1170] (a) both themselves Hhidrances and associated with
Hindrances ?
The following pairs are both themselves Hindrances and
associated with Hindrances : Sensual desire in conjunction
with ignorance, and conversely. Ill-will in conjunction
with ignorance, and conversely.
Stolidity and torpor,
Excitement,
Worry,
Perplexity,
taken successively, in conjunction with
ignorance, and conversely.


Sensual desire,
Ill-will,
Stolidity and torpor.
Excitement,
Worry,
Perplexity,
taken successively, in conjunction with
ignorance, and conversely.
[1171] {h) associated with Hindrances, hut not themselves
Hindrances ?
The states which are associated with the [six afore-
mentioned] states, the latter themselves being excepted ; in
other words, the four skandhas.
Which are the states that are
[1172] (a) disconnected with the Hindrances, hut favour-
able to them ?
The states which are disconnected with those [six] states
afore-named, that is to say, co-Intoxicant states, good, bad
and indeterminate, whether they relate to the worlds of
sense, form or the formless ; in other words, the five
skandhas.
[1173] (b) disconnected with the Hindrances and unfavour-
able to them ^
The Paths that are the Unincluded, and the Fruits of
the Paths, and uncompounded element.-^
1 Worry and perplexity are discarded in the First Path ;
sensual desire and ill-will in the Third Path; stolidity,
torpor and ignorance in the Fourth. Asl. 384. Insight
into the presence or absence of the (five) Hindrances is
termed, in A. i. 272, manosoceyyam.