Understanding the Five Hindrances in Mindfulness

...mountain.

In the Shaolin Temple, we refer to them

as the five hindrances.

The five hindrances are describing

different states of the mind.

In those states of the mind, it becomes very hard

to see clearly,

and therefore engage in the right decisions.

The first hindrance is called sensual desire.

Sensual desire arises

in the moment when you are paying attention to something

that is giving you a positive emotion.

This positive emotion can originate

from five gates of your body:

seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling.

So in your mind,

you climb up that mountain.

After one mile of walking,

you discover a beautiful restaurant

surrounded by beautiful people.

You smell delicious food and the great variety of beverages.

When you follow that temptation,

you have already lost your track.

When this temptation

becomes so strong

that you don't want to leave that place anymore,

then the sensual desire has turned into an obsession.