Three Kinds of Laziness

Laziness is a common human trait. Unfortunately, it inhibits wakeful energy and undermines our con­fidence and strength. There are three kinds of laziness: comfort orientation, loss of heart, and “couldn’t care less.” The Buddha described three kinds of laziness. First there is the kind of laziness we all know: we don't want to do anything, and we'd rather stay in bed half an hour later than get up and meditate. This called as "the laziness of lethargy or inactivity"

Second, there is the laziness of feeling ourselves unworthy, the laziness of thinking, "I can't do this. Other people can meditate, other people can be mindful, other people can be kind and generous in difficult situations, but I can't, because I'm too stupid." Or, alternatively, "I'm always an angry person;" "I've never been able to do anything in my life;" "I've always failed, and I'm bound to fail." This is laziness. This called as "the laziness of attachment to negative behavior"

The third kind of laziness is being busy with worldly things. We can always fill up the vacuum of our time by keeping ever so busy. Being occupied may even make us feel virtuous. But usually it’s just a way of escape. When I came out of the cave, some people said, “Don’t you think that solitude was an escape?” and I said, “An escape from what?” There I was—no radio, no newspapers, no one to talk to. Where was I going to escape to? When things came up, I couldn’t even telephone a friend. I was face-to-face with who I was and with who I was not. There was no escape. This called as "the laziness of self-discouragement or despondency"

Our lives with fills with activities. Many of them are really very good activities but if we are not careful, they can just be an escape. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do good and necessary things, but there has to be breathing in as well as breathing out. We need to have both the active and the contemplative. We need time to just be with ourselves, and to become genuinely centered, when the mind can just be quiet