Five Faults and Eight Antidotes in Concentration

“I lost concentration” can describe several events: forgetting what you intended to focus on, noticing distraction without responding, or continuing to make adjustments after they have become disruptive. The five faults and eight antidotes give students a vocabulary for discussing these differences with a teacher.

Why five faults have eight antidotes

Khenpo Pema Vajra's Practice of Śamatha, translated by Adam Pearcey, groups the difficulties into five faults. Four antidotes address the first fault; each remaining fault has one. Dullness and agitation are counted together, rather than as two separate faults. [1]

• Laziness: confidence in the qualities of concentration, aspiration, diligence and pliancy are its four antidotes.
• Forgetting the focus: mindfulness maintains the intended object.
• Dullness and agitation: watchful awareness recognizes the condition of attention.
• Under-application: apply the appropriate remedy.
• Over-application: equanimity addresses excessive intervention. [1]

The text places concentration within ethical discipline, study, reflection and wisdom. It is not presenting an isolated productivity technique. Its instructions also emphasize learning from a qualified spiritual guide. [1]

Noticing a difficulty and responding are different

In The Nature of Mind, the Sakya Trichen explains the fourth fault as recognizing dullness or agitation but failing to apply its antidote. The fifth concerns excessive emphasis on the remedy, producing further disturbance. Equanimity is the corresponding antidote. This was a 1984 teaching in London; The Sakya Tradition published the English transcript in 2022. [2]

His account also explains mindfulness as remembering the received concentration instructions and bringing them to mind, and watching as recognizing dullness or agitation. Those functions support the choice of response. [2]

Keep the last two faults beside each other when studying the list. One concerns a needed response that is missing; the other concerns a response that has become excessive. Ask your teacher how to distinguish them in the practice you have been given.

Compare the teacher's wording before memorizing the list

The four remedies for the first fault are worded and ordered differently in these English sources. Pearcey's translation names confident trust, aspiration, diligence and blissful pliancy. [1] The Sakya transcript presents diligence, faith, desiring enlightenment and comfortably abiding. Read each explanation in its own context rather than assuming a changed English label identifies a different fault. [2]

For class notes, make three short entries: the term used in your text, the teacher's explanation, and the question you still have. If your teacher uses another translation, record that wording too. The notes are a study aid supplied by this site, not a new classification.

Bring an event, not an attainment claim

A useful question might be: “I noticed that I was no longer following the focus. I returned to it, but then kept checking so often that I lost it again. Which part of the explanation should I review?” This describes a sequence the teacher can discuss.

Another might be: “I remembered the instruction but could not tell whether my attention was clear. What should I learn to recognize?” Leave the assessment to someone who can explain the method and respond to your account.

The list does not establish that a beginner has attained śamatha, and this article does not supply a complete meditation procedure. Follow your teacher's instructions about the object, duration and response to difficulties.

For related study, read mindfulness and alertness and concentration as the fifth perfection.

Sources and further reading

1. Practice of Śamatha. Khenpo Pema Vajra; translated by Adam Pearcey, 2005; version 1.5, February 19, 2025.
2. The Nature of Mind. The Sakya Trichen, 41st Sakya Trizin; London teaching, 1984; English transcript, The Sakya Tradition, 2022, pages 10–14.

Sources checked October 30, 2026. Written with AI assistance and checked against the linked texts. The examples and brief review are supplied by this site; they do not replace instruction from a qualified teacher.