Wakefulness vs. Drowsiness (sutra)

The Buddha of Gandhara (1st cent.)

At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī at Jeta’s Grove, in the millionaire’s monastery.

Late in the afternoon, he came out of seclusion, went to the assembly hall, and sat on a seat prepared for him.

Likewise Venerable Sāriputta came out of seclusion, went to the assembly hall, bowed, and sat respectfully to one side. The great venerables Mahā Moggallāna, Mahā Kassapa, Mahā Kaccāna, Mahā Koṭṭhita, Mahā Cunda, Mahā Kappina, Anuruddha, Revata, and Ānanda did the same.

 

[As an example] the Buddha spent much of the night sitting in meditation, then rose from his seat and entered his dwelling. Soon after, the venerables each went to their dwellings.

But the junior monastics who had only recently gone forth from the home life to the left-home life, new to this Teaching and Training, slept until the sun came up and snored.

The Buddha perceived this with his clairvoyant vision which is purified, surpassing the human. He entered the assembly hall, sat on a prepared seat, and addressed them:

“Meditators, where is Sāriputta? Where are Mahā Moggallāna, Mahā Kassapa, Mahā Kaccāna, Mahā Koṭṭhita, Mahā Cunda, Mahā Kappina, Anuruddha, Revata, and Ānanda? Where have these senior disciples gone?”

They replied, “Soon after the Buddha left, those venerables went to their own dwellings.”

“Meditators, when those senior monks left, why did you sleep until the sun came up as you snored?

Vajrapani, Protector of the Buddha

“How do you see it, meditators? Have you ever seen or heard of an anointed warrior king, who rules his whole life and is dear and beloved by his kingdom, indulge in the pleasures of sleeping, laying around as drowsy as he likes?”

“No, venerable sir.”

“Good, meditators, nor have I ever seen or heard of such a thing.

“How do you see it, meditators? Have you ever seen or heard of an appointed officer… a hereditary officer… a general… a village chieftain … or a head of a guild who runs a guild his whole life, who is dear and beloved by his guild, indulge in the pleasures of sleeping, laying around as drowsy as as he likes?”

Is there a best way to sleep to get great rest?

“No, venerable sir.”

“Good, meditators, nor have I ever seen or heard of such a thing.

“How do you see it, meditators? Have you ever seen or heard of a wandering ascetic or Brahmin priest who indulges in the pleasures of sleeping, laying around as drowsy as he likes?

• Sense doors unguarded,
• eating too much,
• not dedicated to wakefulness,
• unable to bring forth skillful qualities,
• unable to pursue the cultivation and development of qualities that produce awakening into the evening and before dawn

Kushan, Brahma, Indra (Greco-Buddhist art)

who yet realize an undefiled freedom of the heart, freedom by wisdom, in this very life? Or that they live having realized the truth through their own direct knowledge and vision (insight) due to their destruction of the defilements?”

“No, venerable sir.”

“Good, meditators, nor have I ever seen or heard of such a thing.

“So train yourselves: ‘We will guard our sense doors, restrain ourselves in eating, and dedicate ourselves to wakefulness (mindfulness), bringing forth skillful qualities, pursuing the cultivation and development of qualities that produce awakening into the evening and before dawn.’ This is how to train yourselves.” More

• Adorable Sleeping Monks (BuzzFeed)
• Attānuvāda Sutta: Discourse on Four Types of Fear
• Dhr. Seven (ed.), based on Bhikkhu Sujato (trans.), SuttaCentral.net, Soppa Sutta: "Warm-Hearted: On Sleep"  (Numerical Discourses, AN 6.17.2), Wisdom Quarterly

Antidotes to Meditation's "Five Hindrances"

Dharmachari Seven (for WQ)

Buddhist tradition specifies particular obstructions that prevent enlightenment. These "Five Hindrances" (pancha nivarana) retard progress in meditation, often making it impossible. So it is an excellent thing to be able to recognize them from afar and employ antidotes or at least engage evasive maneuvers. What five?

1. sensual desire
2. anger
3. restlessness
4. drowsiness
5. doubt

LUST: Sense desire (craving, gluttony, five strand sensuali-ty) is a great distraction from serenity, mindfulness, and en-lightenment. Concentration is the antidote. When the mind is strong enough to (seemingly) effortlessly stay on a single object, there is no danger of falling into the trap of discomfitting lust, greed, and yearning.

ANGER: Ill-will is a miserable tendency that destroys calm, cool, collected states of mind in a blinding instant -- like an explosive hot flash reducing everything to cinders. Not all but most people recognize anger as anathema and unpleasant.

Most people do not realize how much annoyance, irritation, and ill directed resentment they're carrying around -- that is, until they try to sit peacefully and silently for a few minutes. The antidote is cultivating kindness (metta), compassionate recognition (karuna), and joy-in-others-happiness (mudita). These give rise to a sublime state of looking on (upekkha) with acceptance and understanding. One becomes unflappable but perfectly able to respond. "Warm detachment" -- not to be confused with cold indifference. Try it, taste it, and you'll agree. Think about it, prejudge, and you'll argue.

RESTLESSNESS and worry, or being scattered, results from inattention to the object and too much effort. More effort makes one more awkward. inartful, and inarticulate. The more one wants something, the LESS one is able to get it. Think dating. Less apparent concern with the outcome, more confidence, paradoxically, MORE success. And with more success, more confidence.

Every Hollywood teen romance tells us so. The relaxed sports star, not the uptight scholar, gets all the dates. And more thinking won't make it otherwise. The same is true in meditation and teasing out the light of a concentrated mind coupled with a pacified heart (appeasement). Too much effort quickly leads to dissatisfaction and prematurely giving up.

DROWSINESS (sloth and torpor) occurs for two reasons. The truth will out on the cushion. Making too little effort -- whether from a lack of rest, lack of confidence, indiffer-ence, or stressed adrenals from an exhausting ("modern") lifestyle -- is one reason.

The other is a habit of delusion (moha) or foolishness (bala): If in the past (as now) one was not keen to hear the Truth, not interested in things as they are, but negligent, heedless, inattentive, then mindfulness, diligence, and one-pointedness leading to insight will take more time. Rest well before sitting, and persevere. Persistence and regularity are antidotes to pernicious drowsiness. Sporadic drowsiness is easier to deal with:

Get up. Walk around. Go somewhere cooler. Look up into the sky or at bright lights. Exercise. Splash water. Get rested up. Cup your eyes. Breathe fully. Tug on your earlobes. One yoga move, and there are many, was recently co-opted by a famous teacher and dubbed Superbrain Yoga. It's called thoppu karanam: pull your left ear with your right hand, and your right ear with your left while staring straight ahead and repeatedly squatting. It's good for autism and mental wandering (Hinduism Today, Summer 2009). For more simple solutions to boost vitality and energy instantly, see the work of Donna Eden.

DOUBT or nagging, distracting uncertainty (a lack of confi-dence in the Teaching, the Teacher, or the Taught) is overcome in two ways. Simply set it aside for now and meditate. Or get up and get your questions answered. There are many books, many teachers, many ways of explaining.

Entangled, caught in an All-Embracing Net of Views, one will not find a way out. Discursive thinking is a crutch. The way to meditation (kammatthana), to enlightenment (bodhi), or to skill in concentration (samadhi) is NOT thinking. It is not.

Thinking does many amazing things, but it does not lead to the goal (nirvana) nor even mundane accomplishments. Take the first route: suspend disbelief, lay down the doubting mind, abandon reasoning from a position of faulty assumptions. The Truth is true; your thinking won't make it otherwise. The Truth is here to see and inviting. There's a time to argue, a time to study, a time to investigate and question. That time is certainly not when you sit on a mat and cushion.

MEDITATION
Sitting is the time to practice -- like an idyllic childhood spent spinning a wheel with a stick -- mindful, seemingly effortless, accepting what comes along and overcoming simply with peace and persistence. To discouraged Hindus and Christians, this epoch is the dreaded Kali Yuga and the End Times, a dark age but in no way the end in the cycling of time and history. Ultimately and with each decision, we create our world. "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right!"

Things are what they are. More importantly, a world is what I make of it. Meditation, like life, is a canvass. And any painting is possible. Since things are not directly under our control, we influence and guide our lives. Our decisions and deeds lead to results and fruits, some immediate and some eventual. No one looks back and regrets meditating. But those who regret never starting or not starting sooner are twenty cents for two dozen.

The Five Hindrances (definition)

The Five Hindrances (nivarana) are obstacles to the mind. They blind our mental vision. In the presence of them, we cannot reach Neighborhood-Concentra-tion (upacara-samadhi), Full- Concentration (appana-sama-dhi), or clearly discern the truth.

.

They are:

1. Sensuous Desire (kamacchanda)
2. Ill-will (vyapada)
3. Sloth and Torpor (thina-middha)
4. Restlessness and Scruples (uddhacca-kukkucca)
5. Sceptical Doubt (vicikiccha)

In the beautiful similes in A.V. 193,

• Sensuous Desire is like water mixed with manifold colors;
• Ill-will with boiling water;
• Torpor with water covered by mosses;
• Restlessness with agitated water whipped by wind;
• Sceptical Doubt with turbid and muddy water.

Just as in such water one cannot perceive one's own reflection, so in the presence of these Five mental Hindrances, one cannot clearly discern one's own benefit, nor that of others, nor of both.

Regarding the temporary suspension of the Five Hindrances on entering the first absorption [jhana], the stereotype sutra text (e.g., A. IX. 40) runs as follows:

"One has cast away Sensuous Desire; one dwells with a heart free from sensuous desire; from desire one cleanses one's heart.

"One has cast away Ill-will; one dwells with a heart free from ill-will, cherishing love and compassion toward all living beings, one cleanses one's heart from ill-will.

"One has cast away Sloth and Torpor; one dwells free from sloth and torpor; loving the light, with watchful mind, with clear consciousness, one cleanses one's mind from sloth and torpor.

"One has cast away Restlessness and Scruples; dwelling with mind undisturbed, with heart full of peace, one cleanses one's mind from restlessness and scruples.

"One has cast away Sceptical Doubt; dwelling free from doubt, full of confidence in the good, one cleanses one's heart from doubt.

"One has put aside these Five Hindrances and come to know these paralyzing defilements of the mind. And far from sensual impressions, far from unwholesome things, one enters into the first absorption [jhana], and so on."

The overcoming of these Five Hindrances by the absorptions [jhanas] is, as already pointed out, a merely temporary suspension, called "Overcoming through Repression" (vikkhambhana-pahand).

They disappear forever on entering the Four Supermundane Paths (ariya-puggala): That is,

• Sceptical Doubt disappears forever upon reaching Stream-entry;
• Sensuous Desire, Ill-will and Mental Worry on reaching Non-returning;
• Sloth, Torpor, and Restlessness on reaching full enlightenment (Arahatship).

—For the origination and overcoming of the Five Hindrances, see A. I, 2; VI, 21; S. XLVI, 51. See also The Five Mental Hindrances by Ven. Nyanaponika (BPS, Wheel 26).