Lethargy

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Lethargy (Skt. styāna; Tib. རྨུག་པ་, mukpa, Wyl. rmug pa or rmugs pa) — one of the fifty-one mental states defined in Abhidharma literature. According to the Compendium of Abhidharma, it belongs to the subgroup of the twenty subsidiary destructive emotions.

Definitions

In the Khenjuk, Mipham Rinpoche says:

  • Tib. རྨུགས་པ་ནི་གཏི་མུག་གི་ཆར་གཏོགས་པ་ལུས་སེམས་ལྕི་བའི་རྣམ་པས་དམིགས་པ་ལ་འཇུག་མི་ནུས་པར་ནང་དུ་སྡུད་ཅིང་སེམས་ལས་སུ་མི་རུང་བ་ཉོན་མོངས་པའི་རྟེན་བྱེད་པའོ།
  • Lethargy makes the mind unserviceable, caved in, and prevents one from focussing on an object, because of heaviness of body and mind. It forms the support for the disturbing emotions and belongs to the category of delusion. (Rigpa Translations)
  • Lethargy belongs to the category of delusion. It means to be withdrawn, mentally incapable, and unable to focus on an object because of heaviness of body and mind. It forms the support for the disturbing emotions. (Erik Pema Kunsang)

Alternative Translations

  • Dullness (Padmakara, Gyurme Dorje, Tony Duff)
  • Torpor (David Karma Choepel)