| Lack of adequate guidance | | | | for an extended period. |
| | | | |
| Lack of resolve or faith | | | | Lack of courage: Once the ego begins to slip |
| | | | away in meditation, fear commonly results; |
| Lack of confidence | | | | one can feel as if they are falling into a |
| | | | bottomless abyss. It takes courage to not |
| Lack of courage | | | | only let oneself fall, but to hang in there |
| | | | and see what develops. Also, many physical |
| Distractions | | | | and psychological problems come up that must |
| | | | be dealt with, all part of a practice that |
| Laziness | | | | toughens the practitioner for the day when he |
| | | | or she must let go of it all. Enlightenment |
| Anger | | | | is not for sissies! |
| | | | |
| Lack of adequate guidance: According to the | | | | Distractions: As the ego is challenged by |
| Buddha, who is arguably the quintessential | | | | meditation, it begins to squirm, and it will |
| expert on enlightenment, in order to become | | | | find all kinds of things that seem more |
| enlightened we must understand how to | | | | important than meditation. |
| practice, and the Buddha describes the method | | | | |
| in detail. Many practices lead to wisdom or | | | | Laziness: Laziness is merely an ignorance of |
| spirituality, but few have the capacity take | | | | what's at stake. Without enlightenment, who |
| us all the way to enlightenment. The Buddha | | | | knows what kind of world you will be reborn |
| himself worked very diligently for six years | | | | into? If you could glance at some of these |
| to attain enlightenment, which means that we | | | | worlds for only a moment, laziness would be a |
| must work hard and long as well. | | | | thing of the past! |
| | | | |
| Lack of resolve or faith: Faith is one of the | | | | Anger: Anger is the ego's protector and chief |
| most important aspects of enlightenment; | | | | builder. When the ego is threatened, this is |
| however, faith must be always balanced by | | | | the first tool that the ego will reach for. |
| wisdom and effort. This is because, unlike | | | | During meditation, we can become annoyed if |
| faith-based religions that believe regardless | | | | not downright mad at the practice in many |
| of the facts, meditation opens our eyes to | | | | ways. We can detest the slow moving clock as |
| illusions, as well as the circumstances of | | | | we sit for an hour, or we can detest sitting |
| human existence. This is a very good | | | | still, or being quiet. These are all |
| instigator of faith as well as an incentive | | | | beginners' experiences that temper the |
| to escape the human circumstances. | | | | character of the meditator. True virtue and |
| | | | operating from our centers at all times |
| Lack of confidence: Many new practitioners | | | | doesn't happen by accident, it happens by |
| feel that they cannot successfully do the | | | | shifting our consciousness so that our |
| practice. After all, it took the Buddha six | | | | natural virtues, such as generosity, love and |
| difficult years, and in this age of instant | | | | wisdom, replace the unnatural builders of |
| gratification, who has time? Meditation | | | | ego, such as greed, hatred and delusion. But |
| builds confidence; all it takes is doing it | | | | it all takes work, no free lunch! |