【Refuting Misconceptions About Meditation】- laxity and excitement are the two obstacles

So now we wish to learn [meditation], but there are two obstacles or unfavorable conditions that are contradictory [to meditative concentration]. Primarily, there are “two principal conditions,” they are the main ones. What are the two? They are laxity and excitement. “Laxity” is what we usually know as lethargy. “Excitement” is attached to distraction. So what is laxity? What is excitement? Lethargy is the force of the mind that gradually, gradually becomes weaker, that is when “the mind becomes not serviceable.” For example, usually, when you see an object or hear something, if you really want to listen, the attention will be focused on it explicitly and clearly. Up to a point, the mind will no longer want to listen to you – this is laxity. This laxity does not necessarily mean that you sit here and, when you doze off, that is laxity.

When you are reading a book, in the beginning, you are quite sharp but, later even though your eyes are still reading and the mind is still working, you are confused about what the book says. That is when you are already in laxity. We should know for this laxity, that the subtler level of laxity is something we are totally unable to detect. Actually, while applying meditative concentration, by then your mind feels great, abide on it. In fact, you have already entered into laxity. In the usual practice of seated meditation, the eyes do not need to be shut; the eyes can be slightly open. However, you will feel that the eyes seem to be shut, and the feeling of shutting the eyes is more comfortable. By then, actually, the mind is already falling into laxity.

SOURCE 来源 :

29A 19’03” Vol 4 of Master Jih-Chang’s Discourse P158 L8
English Lamrim Vol 1 P114

日常师父法语📡29A 19’03”手抄稿第4册P158 L8

破除此中邪妄分别: 沉掉两障碍

那么现在我们想学，这个东西它有两种障碍、违缘，跟它违背的，主要的[要有二种]，最主要的，有哪两种呢？沈跟掉。[沈]通常我们叫昏沈，[掉]叫掉举。那么昏沈是什么呢？掉举是什么呢？昏沈就是他那个心里边这个力量慢慢、慢慢地就差了，叫[心不堪能性]。平常譬如说你看一个什么东西、听什么东西，你要想听的话，精神贯注在这里清清楚楚、明明白白，到了一个时候这个它心里面就不一定听你招呼了，这个就是沈相。

这个沈相不一定是说你坐在这里，等到你打瞌睡就是沈相。当你看书的时候，刚开始的时候非常利，看到后来尽管你眼睛还在那儿、脑筋还在动，它那个书上说的什么东西，你迷迷糊糊了，那时候已经沈了。我们要晓得这个沈，细微的沈相我们根本察觉不到。实际上就是学定的时候，到那个时候你心里面还是觉得很好，安住在这里，实际上已经进入了沈相了。所以经常正式学打坐的眼睛不必闭，眼睛微微地张开，但是你会觉得这个眼睛好像要闭下来，觉得闭下来才舒服，那个时候实际上那个心已经开始沈相了。