How does Lethargy & Laziness Suppress Mind?
A Brahmin Priest once asked the Blessed
Buddha:
Master Gotama, what is the cause
of being unable to remember even
something that
has been memorized over a long period & also that which
has not been memorized?
Brahmin,
when mind is retarded by lethargy & laziness, dimmed, detained
& dominated
by lethargy and laziness, and one does not understand any
actual safe escape
from this
arisen lethargy and laziness, in that very
moment, one can neither see, nor
understand,
what is advantageous,
neither for oneself, nor for others, nor for both oneself
and others.
Consequently, whatever have been memorized, cannot be remembered…
Why is this neglect so? Imagine a bowl of water covered with moss,
water plants
and algae.
If a man with good eye-sight were to inspect
the reflection of his own face
in it, he would
neither see, nor recognize
it, as it really is! So too, brahmin, when mind is
slowed down by
lethargy
and laziness, dimmed, detained and handicapped by lethargy & laziness,
on such
occasions even texts long memorized do not recur to the mind,
not to speak of
those texts,
events and information, that have not been
actively memorized at all…
How
to cure Laziness:
Attention to these 3 elements of:
initiative, launching and endurance!
More on curing this common mental defilement:
Laziness (Thīna-middha):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Curing_Lethargy_and_Laziness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/s_t/thiina_middha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Arousal_Get_Up_and_Going.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Suitable_Substitution.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Enthusiastic_is_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.3-4.htm
Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya.
Book [V:122-3] section 46: The Links. 55: To Sangarava...
