Eight antidotes
Eight antidotes or remedies (Skt. aṣṭapratipakṣasaṃskāra; Tib. འདུ་བྱེད་བརྒྱད་, du ché gyé, Wyl. 'du byed brgyad) — the antidotes to the five faults or obstacles to shamatha meditation.
The first four of these are antidotes to laziness:
- Aspiration, or interest (Tib. མོས་པ་, möpa)
- Exertion (Tib. རྩོལ་བ་, tsolwa)
- Faith (Tib. དད་པ་, dépa)
- Pliancy, or flexibility (Tib. ཤིན་སྦྱངས་, shinjang)
- The fifth antidote, which is the antidote to the second fault, forgetting the instructions or the object of focus, is mindfulness (Tib. དྲན་པ་, drenpa).
- The sixth antidote, which is the antidote to dullness and agitation, is awareness (Tib. ཤེས་བཞིན་, shé shyin).
- The seventh antidote, which is the antidote to the fourth fault, under-application, is attention (Tib. སེམས་པ་, sempa).
- The eighth antidote, which is the antidote to the fifth fault, over-application, is equanimity (Tib. བཏང་སྙོམས་, tang nyom).
Further Reading
- Sogyal Rinpoche, A Treasury of Dharma (Lodeve: Rigpa, 2005), pages 191-205.