Eight antidotes 八斷行

Eight antidotes or remedies (Skt. aṣṭapratipakṣasaṃskāra; Tib. འདུ་བྱེད་བརྒྱད་, du ché gyé; Wyl. 'du byed brgyad) — the antidotes to the five faults or obstacles to shamatha meditation.

The first four of these are antidotes to laziness:

1. Aspiration, or interest (Tib. མོས་པ་, möpa)
2. Exertion (Tib. རྩོལ་བ་, tsolwa)
3. Faith (Tib. དད་པ་, dépa)
4. Pliancy, or flexibility (Tib. ཤིན་སྦྱངས་, shinjang)
5. The fifth antidote, which is the antidote to the second fault, forgetting the instructions or the object of focus, is mindfulness (Tib. དྲན་པ་, drenpa).
6. The sixth antidote, which is the antidote to dullness and agitation, is awareness (Tib. ཤེས་བཞིན་, shé shyin).
7. The seventh antidote, which is the antidote to the fourth fault, under-application, is attention (Tib. སེམས་པ་, sempa).
8. The eighth antidote, which is the antidote to the fifth fault, over-application, is equanimity (Tib. བཏང་སྙོམས་, tang nyom).

Further Reading

• Sogyal Rinpoche, A Treasury of Dharma (Lodeve: Rigpa, 2005), pages 191-205.