11 obstructions

Last updated Feb 11, 2023 Edit Source

to spiritual growth for a monk:

1. There is the case where a monk is not well-versed in forms.
2. He is unskilled in characteristics.
3. There is the case where a monk acquiesces with an arisen thought of sensuality or to ill-will. He does not abandon it, dispel it, demolish it, or wipe it out of existence.
4. There is the case where a monk, on seeing a form with the eye, grasps at themes or details by which — as he dwells without restraint over the faculty of the eye — evil, unskillful qualities such as greed or distress might assail him. Or he grasps through any of the other sense doors.
5. There is the case where a monk does not teach others in detail the Dhamma as he has heard and mastered it.
6. There is the case where a monk does not go time and again to the monks who are learned, well-versed in the tradition.
7. There is the case where a monk, when the Dhamma-Vinaya proclaimed by the Tathagata is being taught, doesn’t gain knowledge of the meaning, doesn’t gain knowledge of the Dhamma, doesn’t gain joy connected with the Dhamma.
8. There is the case where a monk does not discern, as it actually is, the noble eightfold path.
9. There is the case where a monk does not discern, as they actually are, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
10. There is the case where a monk — when faithful householders invite him to accepts gifts of cloth, alms food, lodgings, and medicinal requisites for curing the sick — knows no moderation in taking.
11. There is the case where a monk shows no extra respect for the elder monks with seniority, who have been ordained long, who are leaders of the Community.

(from Anguttara Nikaya 11.18)