At one time Venerable Lomasakaṅgiya was staying in the land of the Sakyans, near Kapilavatthu in the Banyan Tree Monastery. Then Mahānāma the Sakyan went up to Venerable Lomasakaṅgiya, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him, “Sir, is the meditation of a trainee just the same as the meditation of a realized one? Or is the meditation of a trainee different from the meditation of a realized one?”

“Reverend Mahānāma, the meditation of a trainee and a realized one are not the same; they are different. Those mendicants who are trainees haven’t achieved their heart’s desire, but live aspiring for the supreme sanctuary from the yoke. They meditate after giving up the five hindrances. What five? The hindrances of sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and doubt.

Those who are trainee mendicants … meditate after giving up the five hindrances.

Those mendicants who are perfected—who have ended the defilements, completed the spiritual journey, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, achieved their heart’s goal, utterly ended the fetter of continued existence, and are rightly freed through enlightenment—for them, the five hindrances are cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future. What five? The hindrances of sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and doubt.