middha
Torpor
[ MID-dha ]
Seeing it in life
Middha is the morbid inertness of the associated cetasikas; abandoned at the path of the arahant.
In short
Heaviness of mental factors.
The analysis
Middha is the morbid inertness of the cetasikas associated with a given citta — a heaviness affecting the mental factors broadly, distinguished from thīna's more specific shrinking of consciousness itself. Thīna-middha is abandoned, as a hindrance, only at the path of the arahant.
Where it sits
Middha pairs invariably with thīna; the two arise and are discussed together throughout the texts, opposing viriya as their shared antidote.
The dullness that settles over an otherwise engaged mind, making everything feel effortful and slow without a clear physical cause, is middha — distinct from simple sleepiness by its mental character.
Commonly mistaken for
Sleep itself. Middha is a hindrance affecting waking mental function, not the biological need for rest.
Something quickly and permanently overcome. Like thīna, it's abandoned as a hindrance only at a relatively advanced stage.
Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha II.
Related terms