Hindrances

I first came to the Monastic Academy to sit a meditation retreat. When you do so as a first time guest, you’re invited to come a few days earlier to learn how things are done there and to have an introductory conversation with the teacher before the retreat begins. In my first conversation or “interview” with Forall, he asked me what my goal was in my meditation practice. I said I aimed to enter samadhi. He said this was a very good goal. The conversation continued and we discussed the hindrances to wisdom, which I had been studying in the sutras and grappling with in my practice. I had some frustration around how persistent they were and asked if he had any advice. What he said took me by surprise. I remember very clearly, although it was several years ago now, that he began by remarking, “You know, we’re not stupid.” The hindrances, he said, were the best tools we could come up with to cope with suffering if we didn’t have the practice. They didn’t have to be an enemy to the practice. The practice just does what we want them to do. In fact, he suggested, if I could learn to notice them as they arose, I could slip off of them and land in the present moment, which was just where I wanted to be. This was very helpful advice to carry into a ten-day retreat, especially since I had never sat a retreat before.