Purification - 5

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

Continuing our discussions on Purification/Purity .. here is

something I found on the web regarding the five hindrances to mental

purity and an interesting simile used by Buddha.

 

Jai Maa

Latha

My thanks to the unknown author

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PURITY LEADS TO CLARITY

 

 

For clarity of vision, the mind has to be cleansed of the five

mental hindrances.

 

They are - 1. lust, 2. ill-will, 3. sloth and torpor, 4.

restlessness and worry, 5. doubt.

 

Freedom from these hindrances is basic for all levels of

concentration and insight. Therefore one who wishes to attain the

calm of concentration and the clarity of insight, has to go on

purifying the mind from these hindrances.

 

The Buddha once used the simile of a bowl of water to illustrate how

these hindrances impair calm and clarity of the mind

 

If one wishes to use a bowl of water as a mirror to see one's face

in it, the water in the bowl has to be clear enough to reflect it.

When some colour like red, yellow, blue or brown has already been

mixed into the water, it will lack the clarity to mirror the face.

Even so lust is a colouring agent in the case of the mind.

 

When the water in a bowl is boiling and bubbling, it can hardly

reflect one's face in it. The fire of ill-will keeps the mind

boiling, hindering its reflective capacity.

 

A bowl of water covered with moss will never serve as a mirror. A

mind inert and drowsy with sloth and torpor cannot reflect properly.

 

If a bowl of water is shaken by the wind so that the water is

rippling, disturbed and unsteady, it will not be possible to see

clearly one's face in it. Restlessness and worry affect the mind in

a similar way.

 

A bowl of muddy water placed in a dark corner lacks the property of

reflection. A mind in the grip of doubt and wavering is likewise

muddled and murky. It lacks the property of proper reflection.

 

When the mind is free from these five hindrances, memory,

mindfulness, concentration, calm and insight come in unhindered. One

sees things as they are in the mirror of the mind. So let us purify

our minds !