Get Five Blocks away(concentration meditation practice)

1. Internal desire
As well as being tempted by a plethora of external desires on a daily basis, we also have to deal with the desires that come from within. These are different to external desires but no less harmful and need to be dealt with in order to overcome the block of grasping desire. The mind of internal desire is forever continuing, in a single second uncountable desires whizz past the minds eye closely one after the other. These desires block the mind of mercy and kindness and so cause a serious obstacle for the trainee. With understanding of this, he should leave away from the mind of desire. When the trainee reaches Samadhi he feels real joy, the joy that comes from the truth, at this time he quickly loses all the desires which attack and confuse him.
2. Hate
Leave away from the block of hate. Hate makes us lose sight of the principles of Buddhism and is the basic reason why people are lost in this world. The paths of base desires, harsh words, pain and suffering are often instigated by hate and should therefore be avoided. Hate is the opposite of dharma which gives us joy. Hate is the enemy of the merciful, kind and compassionate mind. In Zen we are taught that there are 9 kinds of hate. 1-people who hate me, 2-people who hate my family, 3-people who stand with my enemy, these occur in the past, present and future, in all 9 kinds. In these situations we are given reason to hate back in return. Anger can also quickly turn into hate, hate turns into a block and the block covers our true, right mind. Once this has been understood, it should be left away from quickly and not given the chance to grow. In the beginning, hate starts off as a tiny seed and as such is easy to toss away, for if we don’t, it will quickly grow and gain control of the trainee. Once hate has been rooted it can cause serious emotional problems for the trainee and left untreated can lead to madness.
3. Sleep
Leave away from the block of sleep. There are 2 kinds of sleep
1, lost mind- not being awake, alert, walking around in a constant day dream
2, sleeping like a corpse
People who study Dharma wish to obtain and realize true joy. The desire of sleep can block this and also block us from going to paradise or reaching nirvana. Sleep is the worst desire. Why? Because other bad desires can be recognized and dealt with, but sleep is deathlike and so is hard to know about, it creeps up on us.


4. Regret
Leave away from the block of regret which is caused by the instability of body, mind and tongue. Unstable body- ever moving, sitting, standing, lying, walking. Unstable mind- letting the mind wonder freely, letting it grasp at ideas without control, thinking about culture, arts, skills, observations, learning, research of bad teachings. Unstable tongue- mindless, meaningless talk, small talk, quarrels, sayings etc.
There are 2 kinds of regret;
1, When we follow the correct path, regret arises from within. We regret the unstable things done in the past.
2, People who have done really bad things in the past, these people are very fearful for they understand the seriousness of their sins.
So…….we should regret our mistakes, and then promise not to make these same mistakes again in the future. We shouldn’t be forever clinging to this mind of regret as it will only cause a block for us. If we can do this our minds will be joyful and full of delight.
5. Doubt
Let the block of doubt leave away from us. The doubt blocks our mind. When being given a Dharma teaching, if we doubt and have no confidence, we cannot receive it, like going to a mountain full of treasure with no arms.
There are 3 types of doubt;
1, no self confidence
I’m foolish, I have many bad habits, my sins are heavy, my reason to train is not good, I’m not the right material for Zen training, Samadhi cannot become a truth. The trainee of Samadhi needs to have confidence in himself because the fact that he is training in Zen and is reading this is proof enough that the reason to train and attain Samadhi was established in past lives.
2, no confidence in the teacher
Look at his face, body and mind, he has not been enlightened, how can he help me? With doubt of this nature one will surely meet a block for Samadhi training. The Chinese say that if you want to reach the gold from within your body, you must first go through the smelly pack of skin covering it. In the same way, although the teacher may not be fully lucid, if we want to follow the path to enlightenment, we must think him to be Buddha.

3, no confidence in Dharma
People have doubt in the Dharma because they have high opinions of themselves, pride, big ego, narcissism, all this blocks him from receiving the training. No trust in the Dharma equals no reason to get a path to enlightenment.
With so many other types of troubles, why do we only discuss 5? Because the others are included within these 5.
So…………we need to leave away from bad habits, get rid of our heavy debt, and just like a starving child who comes across an empty house stocked to the ceiling with all kinds of delicious treats we will find safety, stillness, stability and joy, like cool shade on a scorching day, like looking up on a winter’s night, with no clouds or fumes obscuring the sky, the stars appear easily and naturally.