Satipatthana (establishment or arousing of mindfulness)

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Translations of Satipaṭṭhāna
Pali	सतिपट्ठान (satipaṭṭhāna)
Sanskrit	स्मृत्युपस्थान (smṛtyupasthāna)
Chinese	念處
Japanese	念処 (nenjo)
Khmer	សតិបដ្ឋាន (Satepadthan)
Glossary of Buddhism

Satipaṭṭhāna is the establishment or arousing of mindfulness, as part of the Buddhist practices leading to detachment and liberation.

Traditionally, mindfulness is thought to be applied to four domains, "constantly watching sensory experience in order to prevent the arising of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths," namely mindfulness of the body, feelings/sensations, mind/consciousness, and dhammās.

The modern Theravadan Buddhism and the Vipassana or Insight Meditation Movement promote satipatthana as key techniques for achieving mindfulness, promoting "mindfulness" as meaning careful attention instead of the recollection of the dhamma.

Etymology

Satipaṭṭhāna is a compound term that has been parsed (and thus translated) in two ways, namely Sati-paṭṭhāna and Sati-upaṭṭhāna. The separate terms can be translated as follows:

• Sati - Pali; Sanskrit smṛti. Smṛti originally meant "to remember," "to recollect," "to bear in mind," as in the Vedic tradition of remembering the sacred texts. The term sati also means "to remember." In the Satipațțhāna-sutta the term sati means to remember the wholesome dhammās, whereby the true nature of phenomena can be seen, such as the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening-factors, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the attainment of insight.
• Upaṭṭhāna (Sanskrit: upasthāna) - "attendance, waiting on, looking after, service, care, ministering"
• Paṭṭhāna - "setting forth, putting forward;" in later Buddhist literature also "origin," "starting point," "cause."

The compound terms have been translated as follows:

• Sati-upaṭṭhāna - "presence of mindfulness" or "establishment of mindfulness" or "arousing of mindfulness," underscoring the mental qualities co-existent with or antecedent to mindfulness.
• Sati-paṭṭhāna - "foundation of mindfulness," underscoring the object used to gain mindfulness.

While the latter parsing and translation is more traditional, the former has been given etymological and contextual authority by contemporary Buddhist scholars such as Bhikkhu Analayo and Bhikkhu Bodhi.

Anālayo argues from an etymological standpoint that, while "foundation [paṭṭhāna] of mindfulness" is supported by the Pāli commentary, the term paṭṭhāna (foundation) was otherwise unused in the Pāli nikayas and is only first used in the Abhidhamma. In contrast, the term upaṭṭhāna (presence or establishment) can in fact be found throughout the nikayas and is readily visible in the Sanskrit equivalents of the compound Pāli phrase satipaṭṭhāna (Skt., smṛtyupasthāna or smṛti-upasthāna). Thus Anālayo states that "presence of mindfulness" (as opposed to "foundation of mindfulness") is more likely to be etymologically correct.

Like Anālayo, Bodhi assesses that "establishment [upaṭṭhāna] of mindfulness" is the preferred translation. However, Bodhi's analysis is more contextual than Anālayo's. According to Bodhi, while "establishment of mindfulness" is normally supported by the textual context, there are exceptions to this rule, such as with SN 47.42 where a translation of "foundation of mindfulness" is best supported. Soma uses both "foundations of mindfulness" and "arousing of mindfulness."

Four domains or aspects

Traditionally, mindfulness is thought to be applied to four domains, "constantly watching sensory experience in order to prevent the arising of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths." The four domains are

• mindfulness of the body (kaya);
• mindfulness of feelings or sensations (vedanā);
• mindfulness of mind or consciousness (citta); and
• mindfulness of dhammās.

Mindfulness of dhammas

"Dhammā" is often translated as "mental objects". According to Anālayo translating dhamma as "mental object" is problematic for multiple reasons. The three prior satipatthāna (body, sensations, mind) can become mental objects in themselves, and those objects, such as the hindrances, aggregates and sense bases, identified under the term dhamma are far from an exhaustive list of all possible mental objects. Anālayo translates dhammā as "mental factors and categories," "classificatory schemes," and "frameworks or points of reference to be applied during contemplation".

Anālayo quotes Gyori as stating that contemplation of these dhammā "are specifically intended to invest the mind with a soteriological orientation." He further quotes Gombrich as writing that contemplating these dhammā teaches one "to see the world through Buddhist spectacles."

Within Buddhist teachings

In the Satipatthana Sutta the term sati means to remember the dharmas, whereby the true nature of phenomena can be seen. According to Paul Williams, referring to Erich Frauwallner, mindfulness provided the way to liberation, "constantly watching sensory experience in order to prevent the arising of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths." According to Vetter, dhyāna may have been the original core practice of the Buddha, which aided the maintenance of mindfulness.

The four foundations of mindfulness are one of the seven sets of "states conducive to enlightenment" (Pāli bodhipakkhiyādhammā) identified in many schools of Buddhism as means for progressing toward bodhi (awakening). In the Noble Eightfold Path, they are included in sammā-sati and, less directly, sammā-samādhi. Sati is recommended as a "one-way path" for the purification from unwholesome factors, and the realization of Nibbana.

In the Pāli Canon, this framework for systematically cultivating mindful awareness can be found in the Mahasatipatthana Sutta ("Greater Discourse on the Foundation of Mindfulness," DN 22); the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta ("Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness," MN 10), and throughout the Satipaṭṭhāna-samyutta (SN, Chapter 47). The Satipaṭṭhāna-samyutta itself contains 104 of the Buddha's discourses on the satipaṭṭhānas including two popular discourses delivered to the townspeople of Sedaka, "the Acrobat" and "the Beauty Queen".

The Sutta Pitaka contains texts in which The Buddha is said to refer to the fourfold establishment of mindfulness as a "direct" or "one-way path" for purification and the realisation of nirvana.

The Chinese Tripitaka also contains two parallels to the Satipatthana sutta; Madhyama Āgama No. 26 and Ekottara Agama 12.1. The four foundations of mindfulness are also treated in various Abhidharma works in the major Buddhist traditions such as the Abhidharmakosha, the Yogacarabhumi-sastra and the Visuddhimagga.

Contemporary exegesis

The four establishments of mindfulness are regarded as fundamental in modern Theravadan Buddhism and the Vipassana or Insight Meditation Movement. In this approach the emphasis is on mindfulness itself, as bare attention, instead of on the objects, mental states to be guarded, and the teachings to be remembered. The four establishments (Satipaṭṭhāna) meditation practices gradually develop the mental factors of samatha ("calm") and vipassana ("insight"). Thanissaro Bhikkhu notes that "satipatthana practice is often said to be separate from the practice of jhana," but argues that mindfulness is also an aid in the development of concentration.

Buddhadasa rejected the reliance on the Satipatthana sutta as being "vague and muddled," instead relying on the Anapanasati Sutta. According to Buddhadasa, the aim of mindfulness is to stop the arising of disturbing thoughts and emotions, which arise from sense-contact. According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā have been misunderstood by the developing Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to refer to four different foundations. According to Polak, the four upassanā do not refer to four different foundations of which one should be aware, but are an alternate description of the jhanas, describing how the samskharas are tranquilized:

• the six sense-bases which one needs to be aware of (kāyānupassanā);
• contemplation on vedanās, which arise with the contact between the senses and their objects (vedanānupassanā);
• the altered states of mind to which this practice leads (cittānupassanā);
• the development from the five hindrances to the seven factors of enlightenment (dhammānupassanā).

Five hindrances

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In the Buddhist tradition, the five hindrances (Sanskrit: पञ्च निवरण pañca nivāraṇa; Pali: पञ्च नीवरणानि pañca nīvaraṇāni) are identified as mental factors that hinder progress in meditation and in our daily lives. In the Theravada tradition, these factors are identified specifically as obstacles to the jhānas (stages of concentration) within meditation practice. Within the Mahayana tradition, the five hindrances are identified as obstacles to samatha (tranquility) meditation. Contemporary Insight Meditation teachers identify the five hindrances as obstacles to mindfulness meditation.

The five hindrances are:

1. Sensory desire (kāmacchanda): the particular type of wanting that seeks for happiness through the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and physical feeling.
2. Ill-will (vyāpāda; also spelled byāpāda): all kinds of thought related to wanting to reject; feelings of hostility, resentment, hatred and bitterness.
3. Sloth-and-torpor (thīna-middha): heaviness of body and dullness of mind which drag one down into disabling inertia and thick depression.
4. Restlessness-and-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca): the inability to calm the mind.
5. Doubt (vicikicchā): lack of conviction or trust.

Overview

Within the Buddhist traditions

The five hindrances are identified in the major Buddhist traditions of Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism, as well in the contemporary Insight Meditation tradition. But the hindrances are presented differently within these different traditions, depending upon the way each tradition teaches the practice of meditation.

Contemporary Insight Meditation

Contemporary Insight Meditation teacher Gil Fronsdal describes the hindrances as "a very important list of mental states that have a big impact on meditation practice and people’s daily lives." Fronsdal emphasizes that it is important not to see the hindrances as personal failings. All human beings have them. A big part of mindfulness meditation is to learn about these hindrances in order to become free of them. Therefore, Fronsdal states, the goal is to not dismiss them, but to study them and understand them really well.

Contemporary teacher Jack Kornfield described the five hindrances as "difficult energies which arise in the mind and in one's life as a part of meditation practice."

Theravada tradition

Contemporary Theravada scholar Nina van Gorkom states: "The hindrances are obstructions, overwhelming the mind, weakening insight.[...] The hindrances obstruct the development of what is wholesome."

Within the Theravada tradition, the five hindrances are identified specifically as obstacles to the jhānas (stages of concentration) within meditation. For example, contemporary Theravada teacher Ajahn Brahmavamso states:

The deliberate idea of overcoming these five hindrances is important because it is the five hindrances that block the door to both the jhānas, and wisdom. It’s the five hindrances that fuel avijjā. The Buddha said that they’re the nutriments, the food of delusion.

Ajahn Brahmavamso emphasizes that any obstacle that arises in meditation can be identified as one of the five hindrances; he states:

Any problem which arises in meditation will be one of these Five Hindrances, or a combination. So, if one experiences any difficulty, use the scheme of the Five Hindrances as a 'check list' to identify the main problem. Then you will know the appropriate remedy, apply it carefully, and go beyond the obstacle into deeper meditation. When the Five Hindrances are fully overcome, there is no barrier between the meditator and the bliss of Jhana. Therefore, the certain test that these Five Hindrances are really overcome is the ability to access Jhana.

Mahayana tradition

Within the Mahayana tradition, the five hindrances are typically identified as obstacles to samatha meditation (also referred to as tranquility meditation).

Overcoming the hindrances

All of the Buddhist traditions emphasize that the hindrances are overcome by investigating and understanding them. For example, contemporary Theravada teacher Ajahn Sumedho states:

In meditation one develops an understanding of the Five Hindrances -- how, when one of them is present, you investigate it, you understand it, you accept its presence and you learn how to deal with it. Sometimes you can just tell it to go away and it goes; sometimes you just have to allow it to be there till it wears out.

Contemporary Insight Meditation teacher Gil Fronsdal emphasizes that to be a good student of the hindrances, you must be very patient with them and not be dismissive of them. When they arise, you must stop for them. Fronsdal states that a bumper sticker for this type of training could be “I stop for the hindrances.” You don’t indulge them, Fronsdal states, you become interested and study them.

The Insight Meditation tradition teaches the RAIN formula for investigating the hindrances:

• R: Recognize it.
• A: Accept it.
• I: Investigate it, be curious. What is it like?
• N: Non-identification. This is just a passing process that comes and goes, not who we are.

The five hindrances individually

1. Sensory desire (kamacchanda)

The hindrance of sensory desire (kamacchanda) is latching onto thoughts or feelings based on the pleasures of the five senses.

• Ajahn Brahmavamso (1999) states: "Sensory desire refers to that particular type of wanting that seeks for happiness through the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and physical feeling. It specifically excludes any aspiration for happiness through the sixth sense of mind alone. In its extreme form, sensory desire is an obsession to find pleasure in such things as sexual intimacy, good food or fine music. But it also includes the desire to replace irritating or even painful five-sense experiences with pleasant ones, i.e. the desire for sensory comfort."
• Ajahn Brahmavamso (2001) states: "[...] kāma chanda are anything from the extremes of lust to just being concerned with how the body is doing. Thinking about the letter that you have to write afterwards, about the rain pattering on your roof, about your kutī [monk's hut], or what needs to be built next, or where you are going to next, that’s all in the kāmaloka, the world of the senses, that’s all kāma chanda. It’s also kāma vitakka, or the thoughts about those things, about family, about health, about coming here, going there, and thoughts about words.
• Traleg Kyabgon states: "This term alludes to the mind's tendency to latch on to something that attracts it--a thought, a visual object, or a particular emotion. When we allow the mind to indulge in such attractions, we lose our concentration. So we need to apply mindfulness and be aware of how the mind operates; we don't necessarily have to suppress all these things arising in the mind, but we should take notice of them and see how the mind behaves, how it automatically grabs onto this and that."

Analogy

The hindrance of sensory desire is compared to taking out a loan – any pleasure one experiences through these five senses must be repaid through the unpleasantness of separation or loss which invariably follow when the pleasure is used up. There is also interest to be repaid on the loan. Thus, the Buddha said that the pleasure is small compared to the suffering repaid.

Antidote

In order to overcome the hindrance of sensory desire (kamacchanda), the meditator must first apply mindfulness and recognize that the hindrance is present. Then one must look at the hindrance, analyze it, make it the object of our meditation, experience it fully. The meditator can then apply specific techniques such as contemplating the impermanence of the pleasant desire.

Ajahn Brahmavamso emphasizes the technique of letting go of concern for the body and the five senses completely; he states:

In meditation, one transcends sensory desire for the period by letting go of concern for this body and its five sense activity. Some imagine that the five senses are there to serve and protect the body, but the truth is that the body is there to serve the five senses as they play in the world ever seeking delight. Indeed, the Lord Buddha once said, "The five senses ARE the world" and to leave the world, to enjoy the other worldly bliss of Jhana, one must give up for a time ALL concern for the body and its five senses.

Etymology

Kamacchanda can be compared to giving your approval for kāma-based thoughts and emotions to remain in your mind. It is allowing these thoughts to occupy your mind. Ajahn Brahmavamso explains:

In the Pāli term kāma chanda, chanda is what you have to do if you cannot attend a meeting of the community of monks, and you want to give approval and agreement to what’s happening there, you give your chanda to go ahead in your absence. It’s agreement, approval, consent, and it’s much more subtle than mere desire. This means that you are buying into, giving in to this, you want it, you approve of it, and you allow it to happen. In the same way that we have chanda in the Vinaya, we have that kāma chanda. It’s as if you give your approval for the sensory world to be in your consciousness, in your mind, you accept it, approve of it, and you play with it, that’s all chanda. It’s letting it completely occupy the mind, and it’s much more subtle than just mere desire. The kāma part of kāma chanda, that’s all that is comprised in kāmaloka, the world of the five senses, which goes from the hell realms, the animal realms, the ghost realms, the human realm, and the Deva realms, to everything that is concerned with those kāmaloka realms. Kāma Chanda is acceptance, agreement, and consent for that world to occupy you.

2. Ill will (vyapada)

The hindrance of ill will (vyapada) is latching onto thoughts or feelings based on anger, resentment, hostility, bitterness, etc.

• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "Ill will refers to the desire to punish, hurt or destroy. It includes sheer hatred of a person, or even a situation, and it can generate so much energy that it is both seductive and addictive. At the time, it always appears justified for such is its power that it easily corrupts our ability to judge fairly. It also includes ill will towards oneself, otherwise known as guilt, which denies oneself any possibility of happiness. In meditation, ill will can appear as dislike towards the meditation object itself, rejecting it so that one's attention is forced to wander elsewhere."
• Traleg Kyabgon states: "The second hindrance is ill will; it is the opposite of the first hindrance, being brought about by aversion rather than attraction. Ill will refers to all kinds of thought related to wanting to reject, feelings of hostility, resentment, hatred and bitterness. When they arise, we should take note of them, not necessarily suppressing them, but seeing how they arise."

Analogy

The hindrance of ill will is compared to being sick. Just as sickness denies one the freedom and happiness of health, so ill will denies one the freedom and happiness of peace.

Antidote

The antidote to the hindrance of ill will (vyapada) is meditation on loving kindness (metta). Ajahn Brahmavamso states:

Ill will is overcome by applying Metta, loving kindness. When it is ill will towards a person, Metta teaches one to see more in that person than all that which hurts you, to understand why that person hurt you (often because they were hurting intensely themselves), and encourages one to put aside one's own pain to look with compassion on the other. But if this is more than one can do, Metta to oneself leads one to refuse to dwell in ill will to that person, so as to stop them from hurting you further with the memory of those deeds. Similarly, if it is ill will towards oneself, Metta sees more than one's own faults, can understand one's own faults, and finds the courage to forgive them, learn from their lesson and let them go. Then, if it is ill will towards the meditation object (often the reason why a meditator cannot find peace) Metta embraces the meditation object with care and delight. For example, just as a mother has a natural Metta towards her child, so a meditator can look on their breath, say, with the very same quality of caring attention. Then it will be just as unlikely to lose the breath through forgetfulness as it is unlikely for a mother to forget her baby in the shopping mall, and it would be just as improbable to drop the breath for some distracting thought as it is for a distracted mother to drop her baby! When ill will is overcome, it allows lasting relationships with other people, with oneself and, in meditation, a lasting, enjoyable relationship with the meditation object, one that can mature into the full embrace of absorption.

3. Sloth-torpor (thina-middha)

Sloth-torpor is a dull, morbid state that is characterized by unwieldiness, lack of energy, and opposition to wholesome activity.

• Traleg Kyabgon states: "When this hindrance is present, we lose our focus in meditation. We may not be agitated in any perceptible way, but there is no mental clarity. We gradually become more and more drowsy, and then eventually go to sleep."
• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "Sloth and torpor refers to that heaviness of body and dullness of mind which drag one down into disabling inertia and thick depression. [...] In meditation, it causes weak and intermittent mindfulness which can even lead to falling asleep in meditation without even realising it!"
• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "The mind has two main functions, 'doing' and 'knowing'. The way of meditation is to calm the 'doing' to complete tranquility while maintaining the 'knowing'. Sloth and torpor occur when one carelessly calms both the 'doing' and the 'knowing', unable to distinguish between them."
• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "Sloth and torpor is an unpleasant state of body and mind, too stiff to leap into the bliss of Jhana and too blinded to spot any insights. In short, it is a complete waste of precious time."

Analogy

The hindrance of sloth-torpor is compared to being imprisoned in a cramped, dark cell, unable to move freely in the bright sunshine outside.

Antidote

Ajahn Brahmavamso states:

"Sloth and torpor is overcome by rousing energy. Energy is always available but few know how to turn on the switch, as it were. Setting a goal, a reasonable goal, is a wise and effective way to generate energy, as is deliberately developing interest in the task at hand. A young child has a natural interest, and consequent energy, because its world is so new. Thus, if one can learn to look at one's life, or one's meditation, with a 'beginner's mind' one can see ever new angles and fresh possibilities which keep one distant from sloth and torpor, alive and energetic. Similarly, one can develop delight in whatever one is doing by training one's perception to see the beautiful in the ordinary, thereby generating the interest which avoids the half-death that is sloth and torpor. [...] Sloth and torpor is a common problem which can creep up and smother one slowly. A skilful meditator keeps a sharp look-out for the first signs of sloth and torpor and is thus able to spot its approach and take evasive action before it's too late. Like coming to a fork in a road, one can take that mental path leading away from sloth and torpor."

Traleg Kyabgon states: "When this happens, instead of persisting with the meditation, it is better to try to refresh ourselves by getting up and going for a walk or washing our face, after which we return to our meditation."

4. Restlessness-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca)

The hindrance of restlessness-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca) refers to a mind that is agitated and unable to settle down.

• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "Restlessness [uddhacca] refers to a mind which is like a monkey, always swinging on to the next branch, never able to stay long with anything. It is caused by the fault-finding state of mind which cannot be satisfied with things as they are, and so has to move on to the promise of something better, forever just beyond. [...] Remorse [kukkucca] refers to a specific type of restlessness which is the kammic effect of one's misdeeds."
• Traleg Kyabgon states: "The fourth hindrance is restlessness and worry, which refers to all the mental activities that go on in our mind due to its restless nature."
• Gil Fronsdal states: "The discomfort of restlessness creates an outward looking [tendency] – what can I do to fix this? What can I do to settle this? [...] So the challenge in restlessness is how to turn towards it and be present for it and engage it."

Analogy

Restlessness (uddhacca) is compared to being a slave, continually having to jump to the orders of a tyrannical boss who always demands perfection and so never lets one stop.

Antidote

• Ajahn Brahmavamso states:
  • Restlessness [uddhacca] is overcome by developing contentment, which is the opposite of fault-finding. One learns the simple joy of being satisfied with little, rather than always wanting more. One is grateful for this moment, rather than picking out its deficiencies. For instance, in meditation restlessness is often the impatience to move quickly on to the next stage. The fastest progress, though is achieved by those who are content with the stage they are on now. It is the deepening of that contentment that ripens into the next stage.
  • Remorse [kukkucca] refers to a specific type of restlessness which is the kammic effect of one's misdeeds. The only way to overcome remorse, the restlessness of a bad conscience, is to purify one's virtue and become kind, wise and gentle. It is virtually impossible for the immoral or the self-indulgent to make deep progress in meditation.
• Gil Fronsdal states: "[There are] a variety of ways to engage restlessness, be present for it. [...] [One is] learning, reflecting, meditating and contemplating what the nature of restlessness is. [...] There might be a really good cause for you to be restless. [...] Maybe you haven't paid your taxes in ten years. [...] [In this case] you don't need meditation, you need to pay your taxes. You don't use meditation to run away from the real issues of your life. [...] Sometimes what's needed is to really look and understand are there root causes for being restless."

5. Doubt (vicikicchā)

The hindrance of doubt (vicikicchā) refers to doubt about one's ability to understand and implement the meditation instructions, as well as about the teacher and Buddhist teachings in general.

• Ajahn Brahmavamso states: "Doubt refers to the disturbing inner questions at a time when one should be silently moving deeper. Doubt can question one's own ability 'Can I do This?,' or question the method 'Is this the right way?,' or even question the meaning 'What is this?.' It should be remembered that such questions are obstacles to meditation because they are asked at the wrong time and thus become an intrusion, obscuring one's clarity."
• Traleg Kyabgon states: "When we meditate in the presence of this hindrance, we have a constant nagging feeling: 'How do I know what I am doing is right? How do I know if this thing really works and if I am not just wasting my time? How do I know what the Buddhist teachings say is true? How do I know if that what the meditation teachers have taught me is right and that they are not deluded?'"

Analogy

Doubt is compared to being lost in a desert, not recognising any landmarks.

Antidote

Ajahn Brahmavamso states:

• Such doubt is overcome by gathering clear instructions, having a good map, so that one can recognise the subtle landmarks in the unfamiliar territory of deep meditation and so know which way to go. Doubt in one's ability is overcome by nurturing self-confidence with a good teacher. A meditation teacher is like a coach who convinces the sports team that they can succeed.
• The end of doubt, in meditation, is described by a mind which has full trust in the silence, and so doesn't interfere with any inner speech. Like having a good chauffeur, one sits silently on the journey out of trust in the driver.

Mental factors that counteract the five hindrances

B. Alan Wallace identifies five mental factors that counteract the five hindrances, according to the Theravada tradition:

1. Coarse examination (vitakka) counteracts sloth-torpor (lethargy and drowsiness)
2. Precise investigation (vicāra) counteracts doubt (uncertainty)
3. Well-being (pīti) counteracts ill-will (malice)
4. Bliss (sukha) counteracts restlessness-worry (excitation and anxiety)
5. Single-pointed attention (ekaggatā) counteracts sensory desire

These five counteracting factors arise during the first jhāna (stage of concentration).

In Pali Literature

In the Pali Canon

In the Pali Canon's Samyutta Nikaya, several discourses juxtapose the five hindrances with the seven factors of enlightenment (bojjhanga). For instance, according to SN 46.37, the Buddha stated:

"Bhikkhus, there are these five obstructions, hindrances, corruptions of the mind, weakeners of wisdom. What five? Sensual desire... ill will... sloth and torpor ... restlessness and remorse... doubt....

"There are, bhikkhus, these seven factors of enlightenment, which are nonobstructions, nonhindrances, noncorruptions of the mind; when developed and cultivated they lead to the realization of the fruit of true knowledge and liberation. What seven? The enlightenment factor of mindfulness... [discrimination of states... energy... rapture... tranquility... concentration...] equanimity....

In terms of gaining insight into and overcoming the Five Hindrances, according to the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha proclaimed:

How, monks, does a monk live contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the five hindrances?

Herein, monks, when sense-desire is present, a monk knows, "There is sense-desire in me," or when sense-desire is not present, he knows, "There is no sense-desire in me." He knows how the arising of the non-arisen sense-desire comes to be; he knows how the abandoning of the arisen sense-desire comes to be; and he knows how the non-arising in the future of the abandoned sense-desire comes to be.

Each of the remaining four hindrances are similarly treated in subsequent paragraphs. 

The Buddha gives the following analogies in the Samaññaphala Sutta (DN 2, "The Fruits of the Contemplative Life"):

"... [W]hen these five hindrances are not abandoned in himself, the monk regards it as a debt, a sickness, a prison, slavery, a road through desolate country. But when these five hindrances are abandoned in himself, he regards it as unindebtedness, good health, release from prison, freedom, a place of security."

Similarly, in the Saṅgārava Sutta (SN 46.55), the Buddha compares sensual desire with looking for a clear reflection in water mixed with lac, turmeric and dyes; ill will with boiling water; sloth-and-torpor with water covered with plants and algae; restlessness-and-worry with wind-churned water; and, doubt with water that is "turbid, unsettled, muddy, placed in the dark."

From post-canonical Pali literature

	method of suppression	path of eradication
sensual desire	first jhana based on bodily foulness	nonreturning or arahantship
ill will	first jhana based on metta	nonreturning
sloth and torpor	perception of light	arahantship
restlessness and worry	serenity	arahantship and nonreturning
doubt	defining of phenomena (dhammavavatthāna)	stream-entry
The Pali commentary's methods and paths for escaping the hindrances.

According to the first-century CE exegetic Vimuttimagga, the five hindrances include all ten "fetters": sense desire includes any attachment to passion; ill will includes all unwholesome states of hatred; and, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt include all unwholesome states of infatuation. The Vimuttimagga further distinguishes that "sloth" refers to mental states while "torpor" refers to physical states resultant from food or time or mental states; if torpor results from food or time, then one diminishes it through energy; otherwise, one removes it with meditation. In addition, the Vimuttimagga identifies four types of doubt:

• doubt regarding self is a hindrance to tranquility;
• doubt regarding the Four Noble Truths and three worlds is a hindrance to insight;
• doubt regarding the Triple Gem is a hindrance to both tranquility and insight;
• doubt regarding places and people is a hindrance to "non-doctrinal" things;
• doubt regarding the Discourses is a hindrance to solitude.

According to Buddhaghosa's fifth-century CE commentary to the Samyutta Nikaya (Sāratthappakāsinī), one can momentarily escape the hindrances through jhanic suppression or through insight while, as also stated in the Vimuttimagga, one eradicates the hindrances through attainment of one of the four stages of enlightenment.

Etymology

According to Gil Fronsdal, the Pali term nīvaraṇa means covering. Fronsdal states that these hindrances cover over: the clarity of our mind, and our ability to be mindful, wise, concentrated, and stay on purpose.

According to Rhys Davids, the Pali term nīvaraṇa (Sanskrit: nivāraṇa) refers to an obstacle or hindrance only in the ethical sense, and is usually enumerated in a set of five.

Seven deadly sins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hieronymus Bosch's The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things

 

The Holy Spirit and the Seven Deadly Sins. Folio from Walters manuscript W.171 (15th century)

 

The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Behaviours or habits are classified under this category if they directly give birth to other immoralities. According to the standard list, they are pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth, which are also contrary to the seven virtues. These sins are often thought to be abuses or excessive versions of one's natural faculties or passions (for example, gluttony abuses one's desire to eat). 

This classification originated with the desert fathers, especially Evagrius Ponticus, who identified seven or eight evil thoughts or spirits that one needed to overcome. Evagrius' pupil John Cassian, with his book The Institutes, brought the classification to Europe, where it became fundamental to Catholic confessional practices as evident in penitential manuals, sermons like "The Parson's Tale" from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and artworks like Dante's Purgatory (where the penitents of Mount Purgatory are depicted as being grouped and penanced according to the worst capital sin they committed). The Catholic Church used the concept of the deadly sins in order to help people curb their inclination towards evil before dire consequences and misdeeds could occur; the leader-teachers especially focused on pride (which is thought to be the sin that severs the soul from Grace, and the one that is representative and the very essence of all evil) and greed, both of which are seen as inherently sinful and as underlying all other sins to be prevented. To inspire people to focus on the seven deadly sins, the vices are discussed in treatises and depicted in paintings and sculpture decorations on Catholic churches as well as older textbooks.

History

Greco-Roman antecedents

While the seven deadly sins as we know them did not originate with the Greeks or Romans, there were ancient precedents for them. Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics lists several positive, healthy human qualities, excellences, or virtues. Aristotle argues that for each positive quality there are two negative vices that are found on each extreme of the virtue. Courage, for example, is the human excellence or virtue in facing fear and risk. Excessive courage makes one rash, while a deficiency of courage makes one cowardly. This principle of virtue found in the middle or "mean" between excess and deficiency is Aristotle's notion of the golden mean. Aristotle lists virtues like courage, temperance or self-control, generosity, "greatness of soul," proper response to anger, friendliness, and wit or charm.

Roman writers like Horace extolled the value of virtue while listing and warning against vices. His first epistles says that "to flee vice is the beginning of virtue, and to have got rid of folly is the beginning of wisdom."

An allegorical image depicting the human heart subject to the seven deadly sins, each represented by an animal (clockwise: toad = avarice; snake = envy; lion = wrath; snail = sloth; pig = gluttony; goat = lust; peacock = pride).

Origin of the currently recognized seven deadly sins

The modern concept of the seven deadly sins is linked to the works of the fourth-century monk Evagrius Ponticus, who listed eight evil thoughts in Greek as follows:

1. Γαστριμαργία (gastrimargia) gluttony
2. Πορνεία (porneia) prostitution, fornication
3. Φιλαργυρία (philargyria) avarice (greed)
4. Ὑπερηφανία (hyperēphania) pride – sometimes rendered as self-overestimation, arrogance, grandiosity 
5. Λύπη (lypē) sadness – in the Philokalia, this term is rendered as envy, sadness at another's good fortune
6. Ὀργή (orgē) wrath
7. Κενοδοξία (kenodoxia) boasting
8. Ἀκηδία (akēdia) acedia – in the Philokalia, this term is rendered as dejection

They were translated into the Latin of Western Christianity (largely due to the writings of John Cassian), thus becoming part of the Western tradition's spiritual pietas (or Catholic devotions), as follows:

1. Gula (gluttony)
2. Luxuria/Fornicatio (lust, fornication)
3. Avaritia (avarice/greed)
4. Superbia (pride, hubris)
5. Tristitia (sorrow/despair/despondency)
6. Ira (wrath)
7. Vanagloria (vainglory)
8. Acedia (sloth)

These "evil thoughts" can be categorized into three types:

• lustful appetite (gluttony, fornication, and avarice)
• irascibility (wrath)
• mind corruption (vainglory, sorrow, pride, and discouragement)

In AD 590 Pope Gregory I revised this list to form the more common list. Gregory combined tristitia with acedia, and vanagloria with superbia, and added envy, in Latin, invidia. Gregory's list became the standard list of sins. Thomas Aquinas uses and defends Gregory's list in his Summa Theologica although he calls them the "capital sins" because they are the head and form of all the others. The Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church, and Methodist Church, among other Christian denominations, continue to retain this list. Moreover, modern day evangelists, such as Billy Graham have explicated the seven deadly sins.

Historical and modern definitions, views, and associations

Most of the capital sins, with the sole exception of sloth, are defined by Dante Alighieri as perverse or corrupt versions of love for something or another: lust, gluttony, and greed are all excessive or disordered love of good things; sloth is a deficiency of love; wrath, envy, and pride are perverted love directed toward other's harm. In the seven capital sins are seven ways of eternal death. The capital sins from lust to envy are generally associated with pride, which has been labeled as the father of all sins.

Lust

Paolo and Francesca, whom Dante's Inferno describes as damned for fornication. (Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1819)

 

Lust, or lechery (Latin, "luxuria" (carnal)), is intense longing. It is usually thought of as intense or unbridled sexual desire, which leads to fornication, adultery, rape, bestiality, and other immoral sexual acts. However, lust could also mean simply desire in general; thus, lust for money, power, and other things are sinful. In accordance with the words of Henry Edward Manning, the impurity of lust transforms one into "a slave of the devil".

Lust, if not managed properly, can subvert propriety.

German philosopher Schopenhauer wrote as follows:

Lust is the ultimate goal of almost all human endeavour, exerts an adverse influence on the most important affairs, interrupts the most serious business, sometimes for a while confuses even the greatest minds, does not hesitate with its trumpery to disrupt the negotiations of statesmen and the research of scholars, has the knack of slipping its love-letters and ringlets even into ministerial portfolios and philosophical manuscripts.

Dante defined lust as the disordered love for individuals, thus possessing at least the redeeming feature of mutuality, unlike the graver sins, which constitute an increasingly agonised focusing upon the solitary self (a process begun with the more serious sin of gluttony). It is generally thought to be the least serious capital sin as it is an abuse of a faculty that humans share with animals, and sins of the flesh are less grievous than spiritual sins (love excessive, not love turning ever further awry toward hatred of man and God). 

In Dante's Purgatorio, the penitents walk deliberately through the purifying flames of the uppermost of the terraces of Mount Purgatory so as to purge themselves of lustful thoughts and feelings and finally win the right to reach the Earthly Paradise at the summit. In Dante's Inferno, unforgiven souls guilty of the sin of lust are whirled around for all eternity in a perpetual tempest, symbolic of the passions by which, through lack of self-control, they were buffeted helplessly about in their earthly lives.

Gluttony

Still life: Excess (Albert Anker, 1896)

 

Gluttony (Latin, gula) is the overindulgence and overconsumption of anything to the point of waste. The word derives from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow.

In Christianity, it is considered a sin if the excessive desire for food causes it to be withheld from the needy.

Because of these scripts, gluttony can be interpreted as selfishness; essentially placing concern with one's own impulses or interests above the well-being or interests of others.

During times of famine, war, and similar periods when food is scarce, it is possible for one to indirectly kill other people through starvation just by eating too much or even too soon. 

Medieval church leaders (e.g., Thomas Aquinas) took a more expansive view of gluttony, arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of meals, and the constant eating of delicacies and excessively costly foods. Aquinas went so far as to prepare a list of five ways to commit gluttony, comprising:

• Laute – eating too expensively
• Studiose – eating too daintily
• Nimis – eating too much
• Praepropere – eating too soon
• Ardenter – eating too eagerly

Of these, ardenter is often considered the most serious, since it is extreme attachment to the pleasure of mere eating, which can make the committer eat impulsively; absolutely and without qualification live merely to eat and drink; lose attachment to health-related, social, intellectual, and spiritual pleasures; and lose proper judgement: an example is Esau selling his birthright for ordinary food of bread and pottage of lentils. His punishment was that of the "profane person ... who, for a morsel of meat sold his birthright". We learn that "he found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully, with tears".

Greed

The Worship of Mammon (1909) by Evelyn De Morgan.

 

Greed (Latin, avaritia), also known as avarice, cupidity, or covetousness, is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of desire. However, greed (as seen by the Church) is applied to an artificial, rapacious desire and pursuit of material possessions. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "Greed is a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things." In Dante's Purgatory, the penitents are bound and laid face down on the ground for having concentrated excessively on earthly thoughts. Hoarding of materials or objects, theft and robbery, especially by means of violence, trickery, or manipulation of authority are all actions that may be inspired by greed. Such misdeeds can include simony, where one attempts to purchase or sell sacraments, including Holy Orders and, therefore, positions of authority in the Church hierarchy.

In the words of Henry Edward, avarice "plunges a man deep into the mire of this world, so that he makes it to be his god".

As defined outside Christian writings, greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to material wealth. Like pride, it can lead to not just some, but all evil.

Sloth

Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (1624) by Abraham Bloemaert, Walters Art Museum

 

Sloth (Latin, tristitia or acedia ("without care")) refers to a peculiar jumble of notions, dating from antiquity and including mental, spiritual, pathological, and physical states. It may be defined as absence of interest or habitual disinclination to exertion.

In his Summa Theologica, Saint Thomas Aquinas defined sloth as "sorrow about spiritual good".

The scope of sloth is wide. Spiritually, acedia first referred to an affliction attending religious persons, especially monks, wherein they became indifferent to their duties and obligations to God. Mentally, acedia has a number of distinctive components of which the most important is affectlessness, a lack of any feeling about self or other, a mind-state that gives rise to boredom, rancor, apathy, and a passive inert or sluggish mentation. Physically, acedia is fundamentally associated with a cessation of motion and an indifference to work; it finds expression in laziness, idleness, and indolence.

Sloth includes ceasing to utilize the seven gifts of grace given by the Holy Spirit (Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Piety, Fortitude, and Fear of the Lord); such disregard may lead to the slowing of one's spiritual progress towards eternal life, to the neglect of manifold duties of charity towards the neighbor, and to animosity towards those who love God.

Sloth has also been defined as a failure to do things that one should do. By this definition, evil exists when "good" people fail to act. 

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) wrote in Present Discontents (II. 78) "No man, who is not inflamed by vain-glory into enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his single, unsupported, desultory, unsystematic endeavours are of power to defeat the subtle designs and united Cabals of ambitious citizens. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." 

Unlike the other capital sins, which are sins of committing immorality, sloth is a sin of omitting responsibilities. It may arise from any of the other capital vices; for example, a son may omit his duty to his father through anger. While the state and habit of sloth is a mortal sin, the habit of the soul tending towards the last mortal state of sloth is not mortal in and of itself except under certain circumstances.

Emotionally and cognitively, the evil of acedia finds expression in a lack of any feeling for the world, for the people in it, or for the self. Acedia takes form as an alienation of the sentient self first from the world and then from itself. Although the most profound versions of this condition are found in a withdrawal from all forms of participation in or care for others or oneself, a lesser but more noisome element was also noted by theologians. From tristitia, asserted Gregory the Great, "there arise malice, rancour, cowardice, [and] despair". Chaucer, too, dealt with this attribute of acedia, counting the characteristics of the sin to include despair, somnolence, idleness, tardiness, negligence, indolence, and wrawnesse, the last variously translated as "anger" or better as "peevishness". For Chaucer, human's sin consists of languishing and holding back, refusing to undertake works of goodness because, he/she tells him/her self, the circumstances surrounding the establishment of good are too grievous and too difficult to suffer. Acedia in Chaucer's view is thus the enemy of every source and motive for work.

Sloth not only subverts the livelihood of the body, taking no care for its day-to-day provisions, but also slows down the mind, halting its attention to matters of great importance. Sloth hinders the man in his righteous undertakings and thus becomes a terrible source of human's undoing.

In his Purgatorio Dante portrayed the penance for acedia as running continuously at top speed. 

Dante describes acedia as the "failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind and all one's soul"; to him it was the "middle sin", the only one characterised by an absence or insufficiency of love. Some scholars have said that the ultimate form of acedia was despair which leads to suicide.

Wrath

Wrath, by Jacques de l'Ange

Wrath (Latin, ira) can be defined as uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, and even hatred. Wrath often reveals itself in the wish to seek vengeance. In its purest form, wrath presents with injury, violence, and hate that may provoke feuds that can go on for centuries. Wrath may persist long after the person who did another a grievous wrong is dead. Feelings of wrath can manifest in different ways, including impatience, hateful misanthropy, revenge, and self-destructive behavior, such as drug abuse or suicide.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the neutral act of anger becomes the sin of wrath when it is directed against an innocent person, when it is unduly strong or long-lasting, or when it desires excessive punishment. "If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin." (CCC 2302) Hatred is the sin of desiring that someone else may suffer misfortune or evil, and is a mortal sin when one desires grave harm. (CCC 2302-03) 

People feel angry when they sense that they or someone they care about has been offended, when they are certain about the nature and cause of the angering event, when they are certain someone else is responsible, and when they feel they can still influence the situation or cope with it.

In her introduction to Purgatory, Dorothy L. Sayers describes wrath as "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite".

In accordance with Henry Edward, angry people are "slaves to themselves".

Envy

Cain killing Abel (c. 1600) by Bartolomeo Manfredi

 

Envy (Latin, invidia), like greed and lust, is characterized by an insatiable desire. It can be described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of someone else. It arises from vainglory, and severs a man from his neighbor.

Malicious envy is similar to jealousy in that they both feel discontent towards someone's traits, status, abilities, or rewards. A difference is that the envious also desire the entity and covet it. Envy can be directly related to the Ten Commandments, specifically, "Neither shall you covet ... anything that belongs to your neighbour"—a statement that may also be related to greed. Dante defined envy as "a desire to deprive other men of theirs". In Dante's Purgatory, the punishment for the envious is to have their eyes sewn shut with wire because they gained sinful pleasure from seeing others brought low. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the struggle aroused by envy has three stages: during the first stage, the envious person attempts to lower another's reputation; in the middle stage, the envious person receives either "joy at another's misfortune" (if he succeeds in defaming the other person) or "grief at another's prosperity" (if he fails); the third stage is hatred because "sorrow causes hatred".

Envy is said to be the motivation behind Cain murdering his brother, Abel, as Cain envied Abel because God favored Abel's sacrifice over Cain's. 

Bertrand Russell said that envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness, bringing sorrow to committers of envy whilst giving them the urge to inflict pain upon others.

In accordance with the most widely accepted views, only pride weighs down the soul more than envy among the capital sins. Just like pride, envy has been associated directly with the devil, for Wisdom 2:24 states: "the envy of the devil brought death to the world".

Pride

Building the Tower of Babel was, for Dante, an example of pride. Painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder

 

Pride (Latin, superbia) is considered, on almost every list, the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins: the perversion of the faculties that make humans more like God—dignity and holiness. It is also thought to be the source of the other capital sins. Also known as hubris (from ancient Greek ὕβρις), or futility, it is identified as dangerously corrupt selfishness, the putting of one's own desires, urges, wants, and whims before the welfare of other people. 

In even more destructive cases, it is irrationally believing that one is essentially and necessarily better, superior, or more important than others, failing to acknowledge the accomplishments of others, and excessive admiration of the personal image or self (especially forgetting one's own lack of divinity, and refusing to acknowledge one's own limits, faults, or wrongs as a human being).

What the weak head with strongest bias rules, Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.

— Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, line 203.

As pride has been labelled the father of all sins, it has been deemed the devil's most prominent trait. C.S. Lewis writes, in Mere Christianity, that pride is the "anti-God" state, the position in which the ego and the self are directly opposed to God: "Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind." Pride is understood to sever the spirit from God, as well as His life-and-grace-giving Presence.

One can be prideful for different reasons. Author Ichabod Spencer states that "[s]piritual pride is the worst kind of pride, if not worst snare of the devil. The heart is particularly deceitful on this one thing." Jonathan Edwards said "[r]emember that pride is the worst viper that is in the heart, the greatest disturber of the soul's peace and sweet communion with Christ; it was the first sin that ever was, and lies lowest in the foundation of Satan's whole building, and is the most difficultly rooted out, and is the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts, and often creeps in, insensibly, into the midst of religion and sometimes under the disguise of humility."

In Ancient Athens, hubris was considered one of the greatest crimes and was used to refer to insolent contempt that can cause one to use violence to shame the victim. This sense of hubris could also characterize rape. Aristotle defined hubris as shaming the victim, not because of anything that happened to the committer or might happen to the committer, but merely for the committer's own gratification. The word's connotation changed somewhat over time, with some additional emphasis towards a gross over-estimation of one's abilities. 

The term has been used to analyse and make sense of the actions of contemporary heads of government by Ian Kershaw (1998), Peter Beinart (2010) and in a much more physiological manner by David Owen (2012). In this context the term has been used to describe how certain leaders, when put to positions of immense power, seem to become irrationally self-confident in their own abilities, increasingly reluctant to listen to the advice of others and progressively more impulsive in their actions.

Dante's definition of pride was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbour". 

Pride is associated with more intra-individual negative outcomes and is commonly related to expressions of aggression and hostility (Tangney, 1999). As one might expect, pride is not always associated with high self-esteem but with highly fluctuating or variable self-esteem. Excessive feelings of pride have a tendency to create conflict and sometimes terminating close relationships, which has led it to be understood as one of the few emotions with no clear positive or adaptive functions (Rhodwalt, et al.).

Pride is generally associated with an absence of humility. It may also be associated with a lack of knowledge. John Gay states that "By ignorance is pride increased; They most assume who know the least."

In accordance with the Sirach's author's wording, the heart of a proud man is "like a partridge in its cage acting as a decoy; like a spy he watches for your weaknesses. He changes good things into evil, he lays his traps. Just as a spark sets coals on fire, the wicked man prepares his snares in order to draw blood. Beware of the wicked man for he is planning evil. He might dishonor you forever." In another chapter, he says that "the acquisitive man is not content with what he has, wicked injustice shrivels the heart." 

Benjamin Franklin said "In reality there is, perhaps no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history. For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility." Joseph Addison states that "There is no passion that steals into the heart more imperceptibly and covers itself under more disguises than pride."

The proverb "pride goeth (goes) before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (from the biblical Book of Proverbs, 16:18) (or pride goeth before the fall) is thought to sum up the modern use of pride. Pride is also referred to as "pride that blinds," as it often causes a committer of pride to act in foolish ways that belie common sense. In other words, the modern definition may be thought of as, "that pride that goes just before the fall." In his two-volume biography of Adolf Hitler, historian Ian Kershaw uses both 'hubris' and 'nemesis' as titles. The first volume, Hubris, describes Hitler's early life and rise to political power. The second, Nemesis, gives details of Hitler's role in the Second World War, and concludes with his fall and suicide in 1945. 

Much of the 10th and part of 11th chapter of the Book of Sirach discusses and advises about pride, hubris, and who is rationally worthy of honor. It goes:

Do not store up resentment against your neighbor, no matter what his offence; do nothing in a fit of anger. Pride is odious to both God and man; injustice is abhorrent to both of them. Sovereignty is forced from one nation to another because of injustice, violence, and wealth. How can there be such pride in someone who is nothing but dust and ashes? Even while he is living, man's bowels are full of rottenness. Look: the illness lasts while the doctor makes light of it; and one who is king today will die tomorrow. Once a man is dead, grubs, insects, and worms are his lot.The beginning of man's pride is to separate himself from the Lord and to rebel against his Creator. The beginning of pride is sin. Whoever perseveres in sinning opens the floodgates to everything that is evil. For this the Lord has inflicted dire punishment on sinners; he has reduced them to nothing. The Lord has overturned the thrones of princes and set up the meek in their place. The Lord has torn up the proud by their roots and has planted the humble in their place. The Lord has overturned the land of pagans and totally destroyed them. He has devastated several of them, destroyed them and removed all remembrance of them from the face of the earth. Pride was not created for man, nor violent anger for those born of woman. Which race is worthy of honor? The human race. Which race is worthy of honor? Those who are good. Which race is despicable? The human race. Which race is despicable? Those who break the commandments. The leader is worthy of respect in the midst of his brethren, but he has respect for those who are good. Whether, they be rich, honored or poor, their pride should be in being good. It is not right to despise the poor man who keeps the law; it is not fitting to honor the sinful man. The leader, the judge, and the powerful man are worthy of honor, but no one is greater than the man who is good. A prudent slave will have free men as servants, and the sensible man will not complain. Do not feel proud when you accomplished your work; do not put on airs when times are difficult for you. Of greater worth is the man who works and lives in abundance than the one who shows off and yet has nothing to live on. My son, have a modest appreciation of yourself, estimate yourself at your true value. Who will defend the man who takes his own life? Who will respect the man who despises himself? The poor man will be honored for his wisdom and the rich man, for his riches. Honored when poor-how much more honored when rich! Dishonored when rich-how much more dishonored when poor! The poor man who is intelligent carries his head high and sits among the great. Do not praise a man because he is handsome and do not hold a man in contempt because of his appearance. The bee is one of the smallest winged insects but she excels in the exquisite sweetness of her honey. Do not be irrationally proud just because of the clothes you wear; do not be proud when people honor you. Do you know what the Lord is planning in a mysterious way? Many tyrants have been overthrown and someone unknown has received the crown. Many powerful men have been disgraced and famous men handed over to the power of others. Do not reprehend anyone unless you have been first fully informed, consider the case first and thereafter make your reproach. Do not reply before you have listened; do not meddle in the disputes of sinners. My child, do not undertake too many activities. If you keep adding to them, you will not be without reproach; if you run after them, you will not succeed nor will you ever be free, although you try to escape.

— Sirach,10:6–31 and 11:1–10

Jacob Bidermann's medieval miracle play, Cenodoxus, pride is the deadliest of all the sins and leads directly to the damnation of the titulary famed Parisian doctor. In Dante's Divine Comedy, the penitents are burdened with stone slabs on their necks to keep their heads bowed.

Historical sins

Acedia

Acedia mosaic, Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

 

Acedia (Latin, acedia "without care") (from Greek ἀκηδία) is the neglect to take care of something that one should do. It is translated to apathetic listlessness; depression without joy. It is related to melancholy: acedia describes the behaviour and melancholy suggests the emotion producing it. In early Christian thought, the lack of joy was regarded as a willful refusal to enjoy the goodness of God; by contrast, apathy was considered a refusal to help others in time of need.

Acēdia is negative form of the Greek term κηδεία, which has a more restricted usage. 'Kēdeia' refers specifically to spousal love and respect for the dead. The positive term 'kēdeia' thus indicates love for one's family, even through death. It also indicates love for those outside one's immediate family, specifically forming a new family with one's "beloved". Seen in this way, acēdia indicates a rejection of familial love. Nonetheless, the meaning of acēdia is far more broad, signifying indifference to everything one experiences. 

Pope Gregory combined this with tristitia into sloth for his list. When Thomas Aquinas described acedia in his interpretation of the list, he described it as an "uneasiness of the mind", being a progenitor for lesser sins such as restlessness and instability. Dante refined this definition further, describing acedia as the "failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind and all one's soul"; to him it was the "middle sin", the only one characterised by an absence or insufficiency of love. Some scholars have said that the ultimate form of acedia was despair which leads to suicide. 

Acedia is currently defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as spiritual sloth, which would be believing spiritual tasks to be too difficult. In the fourth century, Christian monks believed acedia was not primarily caused by laziness, but by a state of depression that caused spiritual detachment.

Detail of Pride from The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things by Hieronymous Bosch, c. 1500

Vainglory

Vainglory (Latin, vanagloria) is unjustified boasting. Pope Gregory viewed it as a form of pride, so he folded vainglory into pride for his listing of sins. According to Thomas Aquinas, it is the progenitor of envy.

The Latin term gloria roughly means boasting, although its English cognate – glory – has come to have an exclusively positive meaning; historically, the term vain roughly meant futile (a meaning retained in the modern expression "in vain"), but by the 14th century had come to have the strong narcissistic undertones, that it still retains today. As a result of these semantic changes, vainglory has become a rarely used word in itself, and is now commonly interpreted as referring to vanity (in its modern narcissistic sense).

Christian seven virtues

With Christianity, historic Christian denominations such as the Catholic Church and Protestant Churches, including the Lutheran Church, recognize seven virtues, which correspond inversely to each of the seven deadly sins. 

Vice	Latin	Italian	Virtue	Latin	Italian
Lust	Luxuria	"Lussuria"	Chastity	Castitas	"Castità"
Gluttony	Gula	"Gola"	Temperance	Moderatio	"Temperanza"
Greed	Avaritia	"Avarizia"	Charity (or, sometimes, Generosity)	Caritas (Liberalitas)	"Generosità"
Sloth	Acedia	"Accidia"	Diligence	Industria	"Diligenza"
Wrath	Ira	"Ira"	Patience	Patientia	"Pazienza"
Envy	Invidia	"Invidia"	Gratitude	Gratia	"Gratitudine"
Pride	Superbia	"Superbia"	Humility	Humilitas	"Umiltà"

Confession patterns

Confession is the act of admitting the commission of a sin to a priest, who in turn will forgive the person in the name (in the person) of Christ, give a penance to (partially) make up for the offense, and advise the person on what he or she should do afterwards. 

According to a 2009 study by Fr. Roberto Busa, a Jesuit scholar, the most common deadly sin confessed by men is lust, and by women, pride. It was unclear whether these differences were due to the actual number of transgressions committed by each sex, or whether differing views on what "counts" or should be confessed caused the observed pattern.

In art

Dante's Purgatorio

The second book of Dante's epic poem The Divine Comedy is structured around the seven deadly sins. The most serious sins, found at the lowest level, are the abuses of the most divine faculty. For Dante and other thinkers, a human's rational faculty makes humans more like God. Abusing that faculty with pride or envy weighs down the soul the most (though abuse is gluttonous). Abusing one's passions with wrath or a lack of passion as with sloth also weighs down the soul but not as much as the abuse of one's rational faculty. Finally, abusing one's desires to have one's physical needs met via greed, gluttony, or lust abuses a faculty that humans share with animals. This is still an abuse that weighs down the soul, but it does not weigh it down like other abuses. Thus, the top levels of the Mountain of Purgatory have the top listed sins, while the lowest levels have the more serious sins of wrath, envy, and pride.

1. luxuria / Lust
2. gula / Gluttony
3. avaritia / Greed
4. acedia / Sloth
5. ira / Wrath
6. invidia / Envy
7. superbia / Pride

Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Parson's Tale"

The last tale of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the "Parson's Tale", is not a tale but a sermon that the parson gives against the seven deadly sins. This sermon brings together many common ideas and images about the seven deadly sins. This tale and Dante's work both show how the seven deadly sins were used for confessional purposes or as a way to identify, repent of, and find forgiveness for one's sins.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Prints of the Seven Deadly Sins

The Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder created a series of prints showing each of the seven deadly sins. Each print features a central, labeled image that represents the sin. Around the figure are images that show the distortions, degenerations, and destructions caused by the sin. Many of these images come from contemporary Dutch aphorisms.

Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene

Spenser's The Faerie Queene, which was meant to educate young people to embrace virtue and avoid vice, includes a colourful depiction of the House of Pride. Lucifera, the lady of the house, is accompanied by advisers who represent the other seven deadly sins.

William Langland's Piers Plowman

The seven sins are personified and they give a confession to the personification of Repentance in William Langland's Piers Plowman. Only pride is represented by a woman, the others all represented by male characters.

The Seven Deadly Sins

Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's The Seven Deadly Sins satirized capitalism and its painful abuses as its central character, the victim of a split personality, travels to seven different cities in search of money for her family. In each city she encounters one of the seven deadly sins, but those sins ironically reverse one's expectations. When the character goes to Los Angeles, for example, she is outraged by injustice, but is told that wrath against capitalism is a sin that she must avoid.

Paul Cadmus' The Seven Deadly Sins

Between 1945 and 1949, the American painter Paul Cadmus created a series of vivid, powerful, and gruesome paintings of each of the seven deadly sins.

Revalorization

Ferdinand Mount maintains that liquid currentness, especially through tabloids, has surprisingly given valor to vices, causing society to regress into that of primitive pagans: "covetousness has been rebranded as retail therapy, sloth is downtime, lust is exploring your sexuality, anger is opening up your feelings, vanity is looking good because you're worth it and gluttony is the religion of foodies".