2022-03-17 Satipaṭṭhāna (46) Hindrances Restlessness
IInsight Meditation CenterMar 17, 2022 at 3:21 pm12min
GGil Fronsdal00:01
We come to the fourth of the five hindrances. These hindrances, when they are strong for us, are like tailgating the car in front of us on the freeway. We do not have to stop the hindrances, but we want to end their hindering quality.
GGil Fronsdal00:38
For example, restlessness – agitation – can hinder our ability to see, calmly recognize, and calmly consider what is going on. It hinders our ability to be wise, to be clear, about what is happening. We do not have to stop being restless, but the idea is not to have the restlessness interfere anymore. One way to do that is to practice mindfulness.
GGil Fronsdal01:12
Today, I am referring to mindfulness as the practice of stopping in order to recognize what is happening. Perhaps, if we do not appreciate the stopping, this recognition is done quickly, automatically, part and parcel of the usual ways the mind works. It is not really stepping out of the stream of restlessness – agitation – to take a look at it.
GGil Fronsdal01:38
Something inside stops enough to take a good look, or a good recognition, "Oh. This is what's happening. I'm restless. I'm agitated." But let the recognition be calm and learn how you can have agency in one particular area. And that is the agency to take the time to recognize what is happening, calmly. Take your time. Restlessness can be like that in your mind. Restlessness. Restlessness is happening. The mind might be going ninety miles an hour. But the recognition is like a person who is driving in the slow lane, or standing on the side of the road, "Look at that! Speed. A car going by fast."
GGil Fronsdal02:33
To recognize calmly. The act of recognition is where we take some agency. Then, in the agency, in that recognition, we can pause afterwards to register, to take in, that experience. What that can mean is to register – take in – the experience of restlessness in a deeper, fuller way. We can make space for it and really feel it in the space that has been created by the recognition.
GGil Fronsdal03:01
It could also be taking in the impact, the effect, that recognition has – that stopping and recognizing has. It might create more space, more calm. It might slow down the restlessness and agitation we might have. Restlessness – agitation – is part of life.
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