'nivarana' as 'covering'

[buddhajunkie]

I heard one teacher say that the literal Pali for the Five Hindrances is 'five coverings'.

How correct or plausible is this? Is 'cover' or 'covering' (or anything aside from 'hindrance') the likely intended usage?

I am interested in this because I feel my practice has been greatly aided by conceptualizing the hindrances (as well as distractions in general) as something covering the meditation object (as a layer of cloud might). The word 'hindrance' is just too vague for me, perhaps.

[cooran]

Hello buddhajunkie,

He may have referred to them in that way because they ‘are obstacles to the mind and blind our mental vision. In the presence of them we cannot reach neighbourhood-concentration upacāra-samādhi and full concentration appanā-samādhi, and are unable to discern clearly the truth.’
http://what-buddha-said.net/library/Bud ... c3_n.htm#nīvarana

This also may be of interest:

The Five Mental Hindrances and Their Conquest
Selected Texts from the Pali Canon and the Commentaries
Compiled and translated by Nyanaponika Thera
http://what-buddha-said.net/library/Wheels/wh026.pdf

with metta
Chris

[David N. Snyder]

I am used to 'hindrances' as the English translation, but if coverings is helpful for you, then that is good.

[kirk5a]

There appears to be something in the etymology to support this.

Nīvaraṇa (nt. occasionally m.) [Sk. *nivāraṇa, nis+ varaṇa of vṛ (vṛṇoti), see nibbuta & cp. nivāraṇa]

Nibbuta (adj.) [Nibbuta represents Sk. nirvṛta (e. g. AvŚ i.48) as well as nivṛta, both pp. of vṛ, which in itself combines two meanings, as exhibited in cognate languages and in Sk. itself: (a) Idg. ṷer to cover, cover up (Lat. aperio=*apa -- veri̯o to cover up, Sk. varutram upper garment, "cover") and (b) *ṷel to resolve, roll, move (Lat. volvo=revolve; Gr. e(/lic, e)lu/w; Sk. vāṇa reed=Lat. ulva; Sk. ūrmi wave; P. valli creeper, valita wrinkled). *ṷer is represented in P. by e. g. vivarati to open, nivāreti to cover, obstruct, nīvaraṇa, nivāraṇa obstruction;

http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philol ... 1:350.pali

So it looks like there could be a sense of nivarana as something that "covers" or obscures something else.