Thank you, bhante, for detailing and clarifying the five hindrances or monkey mind distractions (desire or lust, anger or hatred, fatigue, or drowsiness, restlessness or agitation, and confusion or doubt) and how they warp, distort and blur the mind and attention. We are grateful for your guidance.
Does anybody have a copy of Bhikkhu Bodhi's comedy cassette?.... Doesn't exist?.... I suppose we're all blessed to have him dressed in a robe, in this life 😉
This is the second time I come across an inference that is made between American politics and Buddhist teachings by the teacher. In this teaching, the inference is made on the nature of statements given by Carl Rowe, a former adviser to George W Bush, during a public hearing. While the context of these statements may contain some allegorical symbolism that illustrates a relevant point made by Gautama to the Brahmin Sangaravo, I cannot help but detect a biased opinion on the part of the teacher in selecting this particular analogy to illustrate a point contained in the sutta. While it is completely natural for the teacher to hold personal opinions on any subject matter, it comes across as odd when such opinions make their slippery way into the teaching, which one can only wish could live up to a standard of non-judgment and neutrality on all conditioned phenomena. It is rather fitting that we would be reviewing the nature of the five hindrances being discussed by way of a simile of muddled water containing hindering particles that obscure clear vision, that we should find our teacher expressing opinions that are illustrative of such hindrances. The Buddhist worldview certainly encompasses and encourages a more profound understanding of ethics and morality which leads to revision of one’s political and social views at an individual level, however expression of such subjective opinions is very off-putting in the context of a Buddhist teaching, especially from such a revered teacher.
