That’s a okay one as well. The problem is the metaphor of something impeding clear vision gets somewhat… erm… obfusacted. Still, it is a nice term for personal reflection (full ‘hindrance’ style) and can be used if no-one comes up with something better.
I was once told that the German term for kilesa was something like “clouds in the heart”, so there’s that.
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Some further notes. I had the occasion to look up some of the meanings in Chinese. In SA at least, nīvaraṇa is rendered with 蓋 “to cover”, defined in DDB as:
Obscurations (Skt. nivāraṇa, nivaraṇa; Tib. sgrib pa). To obscure the function of wisdom. Anything that screens, hides, or hinders. The afflictions which delude the real mind so that it does not develop.
The Tibetan term mentioned here, sgrib pa, is defined as :
to (be) obscure(d)/ veil(ed)/ conceal(ed)/ hidden; isc. to (be) affect(ed) [RB]
- (Tha dad pa bsgribs pa, bsgrib pa, sgribs, obscure [ation], make invisible; 2) “cover[ing over]” clouded, veil, defilements, darkness, ignorance; 3) impediment, hindrance [IW]
So it seems as if the primary sense in both Chinese and Tibetan is “obscuration”.
On the other hand, āvaraṇa—which in Pali is an identical synonym—is rendered with 障 “obstacle”, with the meaning:
Impediment, hindrance, blockage, obscuration. To hinder, obstruct, interfere. Resistance, opposition. That which obstructs enlightenment or liberation.
Notably, the extensive list of possible Sanskrit equivalents includes paripantha which explicitly means “impediment” i.e. something that gets in your way. Still, this is just one of many.
Perhaps our scope for metaphors has been too restricted. In modern Chinese, 故障 means “bug (in software)”. Which, when you think about it, is pretty much spot on.
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The imagery for the hindrances in the Vammika Sutta (MN23) [drawing on “Āvaraṇa”] seems to be a straining cloth or filter of some description (caṅgavāra)…like cheesecloth? This would support shroud.
There is a brief study of the strainer imagery at p67 of “The Ant Hill Discourse First Steps towards an Understanding.” by F.F.Grohmann http://enlight.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-AN/an252106.pdf (Chinese only) which indicates that the word caṅgavāra comes from the root vā (weaving), but it has been linked to "Vāraṇa"meaning obstruction or resistence. (Post edited to include article link).
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What about adding an adjective or adverb to shroud? Something that gives one more a sense of the dreadfulness of it all. You could have the “5 imprisoning shrouds”? Or you could use ‘hindrances’ and have the “5 hindering shrouds”. The “5 obscuring shrouds”?
On the basis of
Yāni sotāni lokasmiṃ sati tesaṃ nivāraṇaṃ.
I would think ‘obstructions’ or ‘barriers’ would be about right.
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Snp 5.2
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The Five Beclouding Barriers? …Eclipsing Opacities?
Or maybe oppose the terms directly?
awakening factors <–> narcoleptic factors
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How about lampshades? Brings in the imagery that once unveiled there is some illumination.
haha, just kidding
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Each time I sit in meditation it’s a different experience. I tend to look towards the “awakening factors” to lead me. Upon establishing mindfulness, depending on what is arising is which direction I steer. If I notice sluggishness, I investigate and arouse energy. If I am swirling with thoughts, I turn towards concentration, usually on my breath and body to realize and release grasping.
At some point in the sitting, I become mindful that my attention has become lost in some exit. At that point I feel like I went away and now I’m paying attention again. That “going away” sometimes feels like being lost in fog or a being diverted from my heading. Either way, it was a hinderance on my path, the arising of dukkha.
I don’t see a compelling advantage of any other term for hinderance. A hinderance to an automobile journey could be fog, a tree in the road, a detour, lost without a map, etcetera. Either way, it falls under the heading of hindering the journey.
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Maybe even “blindfolds”…
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Well spotted, I had overlooked this. Here, we have a very unusual usage, perhaps unique:
Mindfulness is the hindrance for all the streams [of craving] in the world.
The metaphor is that of a dam or a blockage. This clearly shows that the idea of “blocking, hindering” was part of the word’s meaning. While it’s possible that in the context of the 5 nīvaraṇa the allusion is different, still this is a good support for keeping “hindrance”.
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This morning my roommate, after hearing all these terms as well as my description of their referent, thinks that ‘hindrance’ and ‘barrier’ both make sense, but that ‘barrier’ is the one that feels more natural.
For my part, hindrances are ‘removed’, barriers are ‘gotten past’; so maybe the best term relates to the verb that overcomes?
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Quite a thought, isn’t it! Almost like a commercial advertising slogan.
Don’t let āsavas ruin your jhāna!
Apply Sati UAB (Universal Āsava Blocker)
and enjoy hours of peaceful Samādhi!
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I like ‘shrouds’ however it is possibly too limited it is meaning & also possibly redundant being synonymous with ‘ignorance’ in terms of ‘darkness’. I think ‘hindrances’ is good enough because it not only describes a hindrance or ‘shroud’ to seeing clearly with wisdom (per SN 46.55) but also describes a hindrance to concentration in terms of internally driving intentional kamma.
That hindrances push & pull the mind away from concentration is not captured well by ‘shrouds’, such as in some of the following ‘enslaving’ contexts:
“Similarly, so long as these five hindrances are not abandoned in him, a monk considers himself as indebted, as ailing, as imprisoned, as enslaved, as traveling in a wilderness.”
obstructions?
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I’m finding myself drawn back to the word “hindrance” (though I really don’t think I’ll think of it as I used to!) only because I can’t think of a word that incorporates the sense of ‘shroud’, ‘darkness’ and being imprisoned. I hope someone finds one!!
Bhante, I don’t really need to say this…but I’d like to all the same…whatever you decide is fine because it’s your translation and because it’s a new translation. The whole idea of a new translation is that it’s going to be different. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Whatever you decide, I hope you also choose to point people in the direction of why you were considering ‘shroud’.
@Linda I didn’t have time to look closely at the similies you found. I had a proper look and the ones at MN 39 are indeed the ones I was thinking of. Funny thing is, I don’t know why my brain didn’t pick it up when I had a quick look…I must be getting old… I’m certainly tired!
Anyway, thanks again Linda… I also found them here at DN 2
They’re really pretty cool. 
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This has been an interesting discussion, for sure. I wasn’t going to weigh in, as all of our fellow SCs offered some really good stuff on this question of “hindrances.” For me, I like “impediments.” Impediments has as a root ( I’m lazy and looked to Wikipedia for this) as “im” and “ped,” signifying a “shackling of the feet.” Shackled feet are constricted, using the example Bhante used hereinabove. The shackles may prevent walking, or may hinder walking, depending on the intensity of the application of the shackles. Thus, it seems, can be the effect of the hindrances on the arising of jhana. These āvaraṇas may block jhana, or may hinder or impede the development or arising of jhana, depending on the degree of force and strength.
This “āvaraṇa” effect is to impede or hinder the arising of jhanas. I’m as far from the jhanas as the Earth is from the Sun, but I do feel they’re out there, and I can sense their warmth. Like a wave of light or current of electricity, jhanas seem to me ( in theory) to function on a spectrum of the mind, or a wavelength, that is achievable or reachable if conditions present themselves. So, this word “impedance” in electronics seems a useful metaphor: " the effective resistance of an electric circuit or component to alternating current, arising from the combined effects of ohmic resistance and reactance." The avaranas create resistance to the cultivation of jhanas.
Could we see the hindrances as the resistance imposed on the wavelength of jhana? So, I offer “impediment” as a possible choice, taking into account the root of the word, and the way it plays with metaphors of electricity/wavelengths and jhanas. “Hindrances” works fine for me, too. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, as they say.
Too much coffee on a Sunday morning causes me to write the stuff above. If it sounds like gibberish, or presumptuous, my apologies in advance.
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In that case, other wanderer groups would have been removing the hindrances and in such a case, the hindrance list & approach is not in and of itself a Buddhist teaching, but let us say that it is a jhana teaching.
It would be interesting to collect together the jhana teachings, and see what that looks like… none of it would be specific to the Dhamma, but simply a mechanism of samadhi that one then ties to the Four Truths…