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Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c17.s1: (i) The Ten Palibodhas

Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c17.s1

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(i) The Ten Palibodhas

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The obstructions to one practising meditation may be of a varied nature.¹ Buddhaghosa puts them in a nutshell thus: *Āvāso ca kulaṃ lābho gaṇo kammañ ca pañcamam* *addhānaṃ ñāti ābādho gantho iddhi ti te dasā ti.*

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¹ See *Milindapañha*, pp. 365-399. Cf. Pātañjala, I, 30: व्याधिस्त्यानसंशयप्रमादालस्याविरतिभ्रान्तिदर्शनालब्धभूमिकत्वानवस्थितत्वानि चित्तविक्षेपास्तेऽन्-तरायाः।

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These ten, Buddhaghosa explains, act as hindrances not to all but only to those who has got mental weaknesses as pointed out below:

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(i) *Āvāsa* or dwelling places of monks. This affects those monks who take interest in the construction of monasteries, stūpas, and so forth.

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(ii) *Kula* or family. It affects those who care more for the welfare of his relatives or of the families of his lay-devotees than that of his own spiritual gain.

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(iii) *Lābha* or gain of food and clothes. It sometimes becomes a source of distraction to the monks of repute, for greater demand is made upon their time by people for the privilege of giving them food and clothes, and not unoften these demands are created by his fellow-brethren who take advantage of his company and receive gifts along with him.

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(iv) *Gaṇa* or members of the congregation. There are some monks whose time is taken up in teaching the texts of the Sutta or Abhidhamma piṭakas and hardly find time to be alone and practise meditations.

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(v) *Kamma* or works. Buddhaghosa takes it to mean *navakamma* (construction or repair of buildings). He says that much of a monk's time who supervises the building works is taken up in calculating wages of labourers or the works done or to be done.

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(vi) *Addhāna* or wayfaring. There are occasions when a monk has got to go to a place to give ordination to a person or to procure any requisite. By leaving it undone, he tries to gain concentration of mind but fails to do so.

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(vii) *Ñāti* or relatives including in this case the teachers, disciples or fellow-brethren of the church. Sickness of any of the *ñātis* is a source of distraction to some monks.

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(viii) *Ābādha* or one's own sickness which requires medicine to be cured.

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(ix) *Gantha* or scriptures. Some are so absorbed in studying the scriptures that they do not find time or feel inclined to practise meditation.

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(x) *Iddhi* or miraculous powers. These are attained as one advances in meditation but their use causes hindrance to the development of insight (*vipassanā*) and so these also are treated as one of the palibodhas.¹

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¹ *Vism.*, p. 122.

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There are some other palibodhas enumerated by Buddhaghosa, for instance, long hairs and nails which should be trimmed off; old robes which should be repaired; discoloured robes which should be dyed; unclean bowls which should be cleansed and weak beds which should be strengthened.

Cites (3)