Good day people, I hope you’re having a fantastic day.
I was reading the Anguttara Nikaya translation by Bhikkhu Sujato, and I encountered the world “mental sluggishness” in AN 1.13. What is the meaning of that word? The reason why I ask this is because English is not my my main language (I speak Spanish) and when I translated the word I got “lentitud mental” (or a “slow mind” in English) What is a “slow mind” in the context of Buddhism?
Looking forward to hear your answers. With metta, Javier.
I think French lethargique compares well to sluggish, so I wonder if the Spanish cognate (letárgico) might be a good help?
The SC Spanish translation by Isidatta seems to have settled on “torpeza mental”. So, if you have search results for Spanish open in the languages menu, and search for “torpeza”, you can find all the suttas that use the term.
Likewise you can search the term “sluggish mind” in English to that effect. 
There’s some contextually relevant suttas that give a sense of what it is, without elaborating too much on exactly what it is. Seems like a general idea of “Lazy / tired” mind, contrasting the other extreme that’s also berated, “Restless mind” (agité / agitado; translated as “inquieta” by Isidatta).
A slug is like a snail 
without its shell. Just like a snail they move very slowly. When something is moving slowly we might use the word ‘sluggish’ - like a slug. You might have ‘sluggish’ digestion, if your food is sitting heavily in your stomach.
Mental sluggishness is when your mind is dragging along slowly and is bit slimy. This might come from being tired, thinking too much, playing too many computer games, not meditating for a day or two. Your mind might be a jumbled and foggy, but also have a slowness in recalling things or remembering what you are doing.
Lethargic, unmotivated, maybe even melancholy. Knowing you have work to do, but just not feeling it. Tired and slow.
