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