193: Unwholesome Mental Factors (Part 3) Sloth/Torpor & Doubt

In this episode, we continue exploring the mental factors (cetasikas) with a focus on the final group of unwholesome mental factors — sloth (thīna), torpor (middha), and doubt (vicikicchā). These states weaken the mind, hinder meditation, and obstruct the development of wisdom.

Sayadaw explains how sloth dulls the mind, torpor slows down the mental factors, and spiritual doubt wavers between belief and disbelief in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Through clear examples and reflections, we learn how these factors arise through unwise attention and how diligent effort and mindfulness can overcome them.

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Nammo tasabhagavato rahato samma sambudasa nammo tasabhagato rahato samma sambudasa nammo tasabhagavado rahato samma sambudasa Tiravara Buddhism series Dhamma talk number sixteen today's topic is mental factors Jasika Part three. I have been talking about the specific nature of mind and matter lately. I would like to let listening yogis know I'm simply repeating what the Buddha said in accordance with the explanation of the Buddha's teaching by the elders so that we can understand what Buddha meant easily. I emphasize especially what my teacher late Sayadoji Usilananda Bivansa Agat Mahapandita taught us regarding Abhidhamma. I also read over thirty years ago Abhidhamata Sangaha written by Naradathi Rat should say translated by Naradathi Rat. I am like a parrot repeating what I have heard, what I have read and understood. I am not a scholar, have never attended any formal Buddhism courses. I am sharing with those who want to listen online via SMSc YouTube Mindfulness Insight Channel. If there is an error in my Dharma talks, it is solely my own. Okay, today we are going to talk about the last section of the unwholesome mental factors. There are three of them tina, meida, and wichike. Three mental factors. Unwholesome mental factors. The first one tina. It is translated as sloth in English. It is the sluggishness of mind. The mind is dull. One sloth is present. Its characteristic is a lack of driving power. People with no drive are always in a state of sloth. Its function is to dispel energy. Persons with no drive always keep energy and effort away or apart from them. It manifests as a sinking state of mind. Manifests as a sinking state of mind. It creates an unambitious, not ambitious attitude in a person. Its proximate cause is unwise attention to boredom. Yogi Sus attitude to observing the rising and falling movement or lifting and dropping movement, stretching and bending movement. If the yogi's attitude to these are boring or non-stimulating, the yogi is pain, unwise attention to boredom, unwise attention to boredom. That is the proximate cause, immediate cause of why. Slot arises. Tina slot. The next one is Migda M I D D H A. It is translated as Torbo T-O-R P-O-R. It is a morbid state or sluggishness of mental factors, JDCA. It drastically slowed down the activities of all other mental factors that are associated with it. Its characteristic is unwieldiness. It creates a non-harmonious mental environment with a breakdown in communication amongst the mental factors. Its function is to smoother, to make the functions of associated mental factors lazy and slow. It manifests as drooping, nodding, or sleepy. That is his manifestation. Once topa's present, the yogis droop the body, nod the heads, become a lizard yogi, ignoring the heads and sleepy. Its proximate cause is paying unwise attention to boredom. It is the same as slot, unwise attention. Ah yoni samanasikara. So that is topper. These two are two entirely different mental factors. Sloth and topper. Sloth is a state of consciousness. Or it's a state of mind. It is referring to consciousness or mind, jita. And topper is the state of the associated mental factors, jitasika. Slot is for the consciousness, jita, and topper is referring to mental factors, jitasika. However, these two always arise together and as such is presented as the conjoined pair, always as a pair. They talk as a pair, we talk as a pair. Something we are trying to abandon. And are opposed to varya effort. And this varya is what? It's one of the five controlling mental faculties. Faculties we are trying to develop. In meditation, variya can be seen as applying the mind to the object. Objects are always arising one after the other at the present moment. And the mind darts out to these objects that are arising. And that is the job of witakat or application of mental application. The mind to the object. Everybody or every part has its own function. And that is called vitaka. And that vitaka is one of the jhanic factors. If you want to develop jhana absorption, this is one of the factors you are developing as well. Sloth is the sickness of mind, sickness of consciousness, and torpor is the sickness of mental factors, sickness of jedasika, and both inhibits the development of jhana absorption. Even though we try to split hair between slot and topper, this is for the mind, this is for the mental factors, it is very varying or I would say impossible for us to know the distinction precisely in operation. Only the Buddha can see piece by piece. This is consciousness, this is mental factors, this is what mental factors, and how they are operating, how they are functioning, and so on. So we simply know about these things because the Buddha had explained it to us. With our mind, whether even one of our greatest meditators would not be able to discern these two. You always call our tina metha as a pair, not one or the other. We explain individually because they are different. This slot and topper are commonly known as laziness and sleepiness. We talk about oh this guy is very I'm very lazy, I'm very sleepy. In other words, we are referring to slot and topper, tina meta. Once this slot and topper exhibit the minds and its associated mental factors become inert, not alert. One doesn't want to do anything and feel sleepy. In meditation, when slot and topper are riding on a yogi, the head, the body will droop, the head will nod, and sleepiness take over. You can't do anything. Some yogis even snore in the meditation hall. Can't help it when they are totally unaware. When you're asleep, to overcome the slot and torpor, yogi has to exit double, triple the energy one usually puts, and that energy is used to apply the mind to the object, application of mind to the object. That's the only way to overcome. I shouldn't say only way, the Buddha has taught us eleven ways, but this is the way. With great effort, you keep your mind alive and alert, and then applied it towards the object. And these twos are classified as the fourth subgroup of the unwholesome mental factors. We are talking about fourteen unwholesome matter mental factors. They are divided into five subdivision, and these two belong to the fourth subgroup. The fifth subgroup is of these unwholesome mental factors. It's a standalone mental factor called wijchet. Translated word doubt. It associates with one of the two delusion rooted consciousness. There are only two types of consciousness that associate with Moha delusion because that's why they are called delusion rooted consciousness. And one of the delusion rooted consciousness associate with this doubt. But you have to remember when we say doubt, what does it mean? It is not the doubt that we always casually use. I doubt this, I doubt that. Not the general sense we understand. Let's say you are in a hiking in a forest on a mountain and can't across her. The path split into two directions, one to the left, one to the right. You don't know which part to take. You have doubt. Should I take left? Should I take right? That's a doubt. But that doubt is not witchige. That doubt is not unwholesome mental factor. That is simply a doubt. Not knowing what to do, and decisiveness. That is the ordinary daily doubt. But the doubt we are talking here is a spiritual doubt. Spiritual doubt. But it is not right out disbelief in something. If one is right out disbelief in something that is not doubt, that is the wrong view. If you are totally and entirely don't believe in it, it is called wrong view, not doubt. And it is about not having full confidence. In other words, you are partly confident about it, not hundred percent confident about it. About the Buddha. In short, it's the nine attributes of the Buddha. To give a little slice on it, you don't fully believe that Buddha knows all these things on his own. Somebody must have taught him something like that. That is doubt in Buddha. And also doubt in Dharma. Don't have a full confidence in Dharma. A little bit not sure about it. Such as the six attributes or the qualities of the Dharma. A little more specific will be you don't fully agree with the five aggregates or the six basis or six elements. Or the explanation of the connection of the dots that is shown in the dependent origination. That is doubt and dharma and also of course doubt in Ariya Sangha. What does it mean? In general, is you have doubt of the nine attributes of the Ariya Sangha. Or you even doubt, are there really such person as Ariya? Are there really four types of noble persons? As such, you doubt. Not totally, but partly. You can't decide one way or the other. You can't jump into it. Also, you doubt about the three trainings. Those are the trainings for all Buddhists, all practicing yogis. One is sila, morality or precepts. How to do, what to do, what are the results, what are the consequences? Second, samadhi, concentration, mental concentration. Is it as good as it sounds? Can you really experience these things? Can you get into absorption? If you have not been there, you have some doubt. Only when you got there you your doubt is dispelled. You cannot jump ahead into the concept of samadhi. And also you have some doubt about insight and wisdom. Those kind of doubts are wichike, spiritual doubt. And the characteristics of wichikea is doubting. Its characteristics is doubting. Its function is to waver. You waver. Once you have doubt, you can't make a decision. You cannot choose this or that. That's waver. It manifests as undecisiveness. Like moving forward and backward between two belief systems, between three belief systems. That is its manifestation. Going back and forth, back and forth, round and round. Sounds good. But is it really good? Maybe the other is good. No, no, no. There are some good points here. There are some bad points here. That is the manifestation of wijchigea. Doubt. Its proximate cause is unwise attention. So that is regarding wichetya. If one bears doubt, it harms the practice of that person in Sila precepts. It harms the precepts, it harms the vina or the duties and responsibility of a monk, of a nun, or serious practitioner. And also it harms your meditation itself, bhavana, mental development. One doesn't progress at all, or one doesn't progress as fast as it could be, as it should be. Because doubt is drawing back. With that we concluded the unwholesome mental factors. Akuchala Jasika unwholesome mental factors. Altogether there are fourteen of them. And that fourteen is subdivided into five groups. That arises with all unwholesome consciousness. That's group one, four of them. If you remember, they are called in Pali, Moha, Ahrika, Anotha, and Udija Delusion, moral shamelessness, moral fearlessness, and restlessness. Second group consists of three greed rooted mental factors Loba, Deity and Mana. Wanting, wrong view, and conceit. The third group consists of four hatred rooted mental factors. Dosa, Ita, Michriya, and kukucha, aversion, jealousy and envy, miserliness and not wanting to share with others, not wanting to have others what you have or more than what you have. Group three is two sickness based mental factor Tina and Meita, slot and torpor. Slot is the sickness of mind. Torpor is the sickness of mental factors. And the group number four is the standalone mental factor wichike spiritual tao. That covers the fourteen unwholesome mental factors. We have discussed the anyat samanyat, which is more or less mental factors that are neutral in nature, and it can be wholesome or unwholesome due to the conditions they associate with. Sevens are universal, six is particulars, thirteen. That is one major group. Second major group is unwholesome akusala mental factors. There are fourteen of them. So altogether we have discussed twenty seven mental factors out of the fifty-two. Mental factors. We will carry on with the remaining in Later Dhamma talks. May all of you be able to understand this unwholesome mental factors which we are experiencing all the time every day. And may we be able to subdue them, eliminate them, and get rid of them as soon as possible. Sa tu sad.