The Five Hindrances to Meditation: "Armies of Māra"

[@DougsDharma]

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[@That_Freedom_Guy]

While listening to you, the thought arose that hinderinces are competitors to the energy of attention. Thank you for making these videos, they are very helpful. 👍

[@DougsDharma]

Yes absolutely, they keep our attention off of our meditation object, so we remain unmindful.

[@asia9188]

Love from Malaysia, ❤️

[@DougsDharma]

🙏

[@xiaomaozen]

❤

[@peace7582]

Thanks Doug🙏

[@DougsDharma]

You're very welcome Wolverine! 🙏

[@UnthinkingMachine]

Excellent video as always, Doug. Thank you so much for all of your helpful and insightful content. :)

[@DougsDharma]

You're very welcome Benjamin, my pleasure!

[@andregonzalez1496]

Doug do you have a video on the history of Buddhism in America ? 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@DougsDharma]

I don't, that would require a huge amount of research! Maybe someday I can get to it ... 😄

[@SuzyQzyful]

As someone that is very new to meditation and trying to learn the dharma I feel this video hits home, especially the last once. I'm trying out walking meditation and i keep wondering if I'm doing it right like if my eyes should be closed if i step right, ect. So yeah looking forward to the next video! Thanks for all you do! Nameste!

[@DougsDharma]

You're very welcome Suzy! I have a couple of earlier videos related to walking meditation that might interest you. For example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYGooIqbe5x2oqc

[@Pantoffla]

There is no right ore wrong way to meditate. Only inportant thing is right intention and concentration, and there are manny buddhist tools to use for that. Find what works 4 you. :)

[@Pantoffla]

4 example when you walk meditate you can focus on the sensation, senses of walking. You can allso say to your self in your head, left foot, right foot Ore walking, walking, stoping, turning. :)

[@SuzyQzyful]

@@Pantoffla Thanks! I'll try those out and be sure to remember that! 😃

[@Pantoffla]

@@SuzyQzyful Do so :)

[@Margo5050]

Thank you 🙏🏻.

[@DougsDharma]

You're very welcome Margo! 🙏

[@ethan-youtubetips5420]

Congrats on your growth. Thumbs up 👍

[@DougsDharma]

Much appreciated Ethan, thanks!

[@EliseSecond]

Useful topic and great timing. I'm starting a MBSR course tomorrow ^_^

[@DougsDharma]

Glad to hear it Elise, that's a great way to gain some practical insights.

[@EliseSecond]

@T-1000 WizOh'd mindfulness based stress reduction course. It runs for 8 weeks.

[@prashantlakhera6156]

Oh, now I remember there are four kinds of Mara, the last being Devaputa Mara, ruler of 6th heaven of desire heaven. These are the five hindrances which must be removed to attain nirvana

[@alakso777]

🙏🏼

[@catherinelee7183]

Hi Doug, in reference to sensual desire is it OK to use calming meditative music to do meditation? I find it helps me to calm the restless mind. Also, I do some chanting to help calm restlessness. Is this OK?

[@DougsDharma]

Thanks for the question Catherine. I did an earlier video where I discussed music during meditation: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHO9kqOZnsSXr5Y . As for chanting, that can be a very calming practice, if you find it works for you then by all means. But you may also want to do some meditation without chanting as well, just to practice both.

[@jamie-sims]

Hi Doug, really enjoying your videos! I'm wondering if you've come across Sam van Schaik's recent work on Buddhist magic? I recently listened to his interview on Tricycle and am reading his book on the topic now. I think it poses interesting questions about taking early Buddhism to be a more 'rational' or 'secular' religion (related to debates around Buddhist modernism and exceptionalism), since he argues that magic practices like healing, divination, and spellcasting go back very early in Buddhism and were likely practiced by monastics.

[@DougsDharma]

Thanks Jamie! I haven't read that book, no. FWIW the Buddha did mention such practices as "wrong livelihood" for monastics in several early suttas. This most likely means it was going on, but wasn't considered acceptable.

[@jamie-sims]

@@DougsDharma yes, I think he also mentions some other collections of rules for monastics to that effect. His take on this issue is based on the idea that scholarship on Buddhism needs to look at the social history and practice and not assume that the Pali canon tells us fully what early Buddhists were doing. And he marshals quite a lot of documentary evidence that these practices have been quite ubiquitous across Buddhist history. In a sense having suttas condemning a practice contributes to evidence that it did happen, as you suggest. The most interesting thing he talks about is a Buddhist spell book which was found walled up with loads of manuscripts in China along the Silk Road. It has stuff like spells to break up lovers and kill enemies, so without a doubt wrong livelihood but likely things that did go on historically within the sangha.

[@fleur_cambodge]

❤️🙏🏻

[@DougsDharma]

🙏🙂

[@prashantlakhera6156]

I think you forgot Devaputta Mara, the ruler of paranimitavasavawati devaloka

[@Pantoffla]

Dhammapada :)

[@hhschrader8067]

I always found mara an interesting but maybe misunderstood concept. Everything that comes to my mind when I meditate I consider mara. Another word would be "rubbish", "nonsense", "things I will never know", "imaginations". When I meditate, there will (almost) always be mara. Since I just try to sit and breathe everytime I notice it, I concentrate again on just sitting and breathing. Is there another technique how to get rid of mara? I wouldn't know. But I am quite sure that "getting it under control" is useless since it would just constitute the 6th version of mara. Well let's see how we should "handle" it. 😀 Maybe I misunderstood here what mara really is...

[@prashantlakhera6156]

You didn't mention about Devaputta Mara

[@DougsDharma]

To my knowledge, in early Buddhism there is only one Māra.

[@prashantlakhera6156]

@@DougsDharma Devaputa Mara is the one who frequently visited Buddha after enlightenment to dissuade him from teaching dhamma. So we can say that Devaputta Mara is a real being since Buddha eliminated all the internal Maras

[@user-uv6ci6qo7d]

Jay Bhim namo buddhay ☸️🙏🙏☸️

[@DougsDharma]

🙏🙂

[@NicNico]

About subscriptions: I was subscribed to this channel with the bell notification engaged and everything. However, today I discovered I was not subscribed to the channel. Folks, please check to make sure you are still subscribed.

[@DougsDharma]

Very weird! Maybe you subscribed under a different KZbin account?

[@prashantlakhera6156]

Hi doug, When I meditate I began to hear voices of other beings and a couple of times I also saw them and their realm, and this greatly disturbed my meditation practice. I wasn't able to get deeper because of the fear that these beings might harm me. Is there any teaching that says that they are harmless.

[@DougsDharma]

Well take a look at my video on anxiety and fear for one approach: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpa0qJ5qhKqYfbc

[@prashantlakhera6156]

@@DougsDharma The only source of this fear is these hideous beings that make me afraid. Is there any particular teaching that could repel these beings

[@santiagokaderian544]

Doubt and fantasies....all the time xDDD

[@DougsDharma]

Yes, normal really! 😄

[@jamieyoung9206]

@@DougsDharma Hi Doug will you do a video on avidya (ignorance of Reality), which where our suffering does stem from and why we make unconscious, rash exploits, and some reasons why we do harm in the world, because we push some of our ideologies and views onto others

[@fa18superhornt46]

Sir please vidio to Bamiyan (afganistan, pakistan) Gandharva culture of budhijam Jai bhim

[@DougsDharma]

That's a later kind of Buddhism than I usually deal with, but I might do so eventually!