Ties, Hindrances, and Stumps
Three more named affliction-schemes, each defined by a specific functional criterion: the four ties, which disrupt concentration through four distinct kinds of mental agitation; the five hindrances, which specifically prevent wholesome qualities from ever becoming clearly visible; and the three stumps, so deeply set through long habituation that a being struggles to uproot them at all.
1. Four Ties
繫有四種，謂貪欲身繫、瞋恚身繫、戒禁取身繫、此實執取身繫。此實執取身繫，以能障礙定意性身，故名為繫。所以者何？能為四種心亂因故。謂由貪愛財物等因令心散亂，於鬪諍事不正行為因令心散亂，於難行戒禁苦惱為因令心散亂，不如正理推求境界為因令心散亂。
There are four bodily ties: the tie of sensual desire, the tie of hatred, the tie of clinging to rules and rituals, and the tie of grasping something as "this alone is true." This last is called a tie because it is capable of obstructing the very body of settled, concentrated mental focus. Why? Because it serves as the cause of four distinct kinds of mental agitation: agitation caused by craving for wealth and possessions; agitation caused by wrongful conduct in disputes and contention; agitation caused by distress over difficult ascetic vows and rules; and agitation caused by pursuing an object through incorrect, unreasoned speculation.
Each of the four ties matches directly to one of the four causes of agitation named: the tie of sensual desire is what generates agitation over wealth and possessions; the tie of hatred generates agitation through wrongful conduct in dispute; the tie of clinging to rules and rituals generates agitation through the distress of pointless, difficult austerity; and the tie of dogmatic attachment — "this alone is true," clinging fixedly to one's own speculative conclusion — generates agitation through incorrect, unreasoned pursuit of an object. All four are named "bodily" ties (身繫) because they are specifically what a meditator, still embodied and actively engaged in concentration practice, must contend with in order to actually settle the mind.
2. Five Hindrances
蓋有五種，謂貪欲蓋、瞋恚蓋、惛沈睡眠蓋、掉舉惡作蓋、疑蓋。能令善品不得顯了，是蓋義，謂於樂出家位，覺邪行位，止舉捨位。
There are five hindrances: the hindrance of sensual desire, of hatred, of torpor-and-sleep, of restlessness-and-regret, and of doubt. Preventing wholesome qualities from ever becoming clearly manifest is what "hindrance" means — specifically at the stage of delighting in renunciation, at the stage of recognizing wrongful conduct, and at the stage of settling, uplifting, and steadying the mind in equanimity.
T1606 matches each hindrance to the specific stage of practice it obstructs: sensual desire obstructs one's very ability to delight in renunciation in the first place, since attachment to sensual pleasure makes leaving it behind feel like a loss rather than a relief; hatred obstructs the stage of recognizing wrongful conduct clearly, since an agitated, resentful mind cannot see its own faults with any clarity; torpor-and-sleep and restlessness-and-regret, paired together as opposite failure modes, obstruct the settling, uplifting, and equanimity that meditation itself requires — the first two errors from deficiency of energy, the latter two from its excess; and doubt obstructs the whole endeavor at its root, since a mind still hesitating over whether the path is even worth pursuing cannot commit fully enough to progress through any of the preceding stages at all.
3. Three Stumps
株杌有三，謂貪株杌、瞋株杌、癡株杌。由依止貪瞋癡先所串習為方便故，成貪等行，心不調順，無所堪能難可解脫。令諸有情難斷此行，故名株杌。
There are three stumps: the stump of craving, of hatred, and of delusion. Relying on craving, hatred, and delusion as the deliberate means already long habituated to, craving-driven and similar conduct becomes fixed, leaving the mind unyielding, incapable, and difficult to free. Because this conduct becomes so hard for sentient beings to sever, it is called a stump.
The image behind "stump" (株杌) is a tree cut down but left with its root still firmly embedded in the ground — the visible trunk is gone, yet the root remains, difficult to dig out and still capable, given the chance, of sending up new growth. T1606's point in applying this image to long-habituated craving, hatred, and delusion is that repeated indulgence over time does more than simply produce individual afflicted moments — it carves a deep, entrenched groove into a being's own disposition, so that even after any given episode has passed, the underlying tendency remains stubbornly rooted and unusually resistant to being fully uprooted, unlike an affliction encountered only occasionally or for the first time.
Part 35 Complete
Three more named affliction-schemes — the four ties, five hindrances, and three stumps — are now examined, each defined by a distinct functional criterion. Part 36 continues the catalogue with stains, burning, harm, and arrows — four further named groupings, each illustrating a different way affliction wounds the being it afflicts.
Continue to Part 36 — Stains, Burning, Harm, and Arrows →