04/10/2026
Ajahn Suchart Abhijato explains the five hindrances
Q: Can you explain about the five hindrances?
Than Ajahn: The five hindrances are the conditions in your mind that create obstruction to your meditation.
The first hindrance is the doubt in the Buddha, the Dhamma or the Saṅgha. You doubt whether they can help you find peace and happiness. You doubt whether there is a real Buddha, whether his teaching is effective.
When you have doubt, you need to talk to someone who has experienced the results from the teachings of the Buddha. This person is usually an enlightened person. An enlightened person is someone who knows. He is similar to a person who knows whether a car dealer sells good cars or bad cars.
For example, if you want to buy a car from a bad dealer, this person can convince you to go to a good car dealer. He’ll convince you, ‘Go to this dealer. He’s good. He’s not going to lie you.’ In the same way, you have to talk to an enlightened person because an enlightened person will vouch for the teachings of the Buddha. An enlightened person will guarantee that the teachings of the Buddha are real and they are good for you.
If you cannot find any enlightened person, then you have to rely on the teachings of the Buddha which are recorded in the Tipiṭaka. You can use the recording as something to help you to gain faith in his teachings to get rid of your doubt. But, the most important thing to entirely get rid of your doubt is to apply his teachings to yourself.
Once you can apply the teachings and see the result from your practice, you won’t have any more doubt. This happens to an enlightened person, the sotāpanna. Once a sotāpanna has applied the Four Noble Truths to himself, he can see clearly that his suffering arises from his desire. When he sees that thing he desires for is impermanent, then he stops his desire for things. When he stops his desires, his mind becomes calm, peaceful and happy. Then, he’ll have no doubt in the Four Noble Truths. He’ll have no doubt in the teacher who taught the Four Noble Truths. And he has no doubt in the Buddha, the Dhamma or the Saṅgha because he himself becomes a Saṅgha. He becomes a noble disciple. So, this is the way to get rid of doubt.
There are two steps to get rid of your doubt:
1. First, by studying or listening to an enlightened person. This will get rid of your doubt partially.
2. Then, you’ll have to practice and apply his teachings until you see the result in your mind. This will get rid of your doubt 100%.
The second hindrance is sensual desire. When you have the desire to watch television, you cannot concentrate on your meditation. So, you have to force yourself to stop going after your sensual desire. Cut down your social activities or your entertainment activities. The best way to curb your sensual desire is to live in a place where there is no entertainment or no movies to watch like staying in a forest monastery. Then, this sensual pleasure will not arise because there is nothing for you to see or do, except to meditate.
The third hindrance is anger. Sometimes when you meditate, you are angry. It’s because before you meditate, you’ve quarrelled with someone, or had an issue with somebody, and therefore you cannot concentrate on your meditation. So, you have to get rid of this anger first. One way to get rid of anger is by using loving-kindness or compassion – forgiving the person who has caused your anger. Instead of hating that person, you love that person. You switch your mind from hate to love by forgiving that person, by using reasoning – that whatever happened, it has already happened. A glass is already broken, you cannot bring it back by being angry. Anger only causes you to have restlessness. So, if you want to get rid of anger and restlessness, you have to forgive and forget.
Fourth hindrance is sloth and torpor. It means being lazy and feeling sleepy all the time. One of the causes of sleepiness is eating too much. The portion that you normally eat is too much for a meditator. If you want to be a meditator, you have to reduce your food consumption drastically. At most, you’re recommended to eat just two meals, and you have to have your meals before lunch. After lunch you shouldn’t eat anything so that your body becomes light and you can meditate. Because if you continue on with having meals in the evening, you’ll find that you have no time to mediate. Even if you have time to meditate, you’ll be sleepy or drowsy and lazy. So, you have to reduce your food consumption.
The Buddha has recommended monks to eat once a day. But for laypeople, as they might not be strong enough yet, the Buddha has recommended laypeople not to eat after midday. This will help to get rid of your drowsiness or sleepiness. But if you still feel sleepy, you might have to fast. You stop eating for a day or two. If fasting is not suitable for you, you can use another method which is staying in a scary place, like in a cemetery or in a forest where you have to be alone. Then, you will not be sleepy.
The last hindrance is restlessness and agitation. You are restless and agitated because you are not focusing on something to stop you from thinking. Your restlessness and agitation arise from your thoughts. You think about this and that. So, to overcome your restlessness, you have to use mindfulness. You have to be constantly mindful, by reciting a mantra or focusing on what your body is doing at the moment. Do this all the time, not just during meditation. If you don’t do that all the time, when you sit, your mind will still be restless. So, you have to get rid of restlessness before you sit in meditation.
So, these are the 5 hindrances and how to deal with them.
“Dhamma in English, Nov 9, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
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