thīna
Sloth
[ TEE-na ]
Seeing it in life
Thīna is the shrinking of consciousness from its object; paired with middha as a hindrance.
In short
Mental sluggishness.
The analysis
Thīna is the shrinking of consciousness away from its object — a kind of mental collapse or withdrawal, distinct from middha (torpor), which affects the associated cetasikas more broadly. The two are almost always discussed as a pair (thīna-middha), opposing viriya and forming one of the five hindrances.
Where it sits
Thīna-middha's direct opposite is viriya, energy — the hindrance represents a specific failure of the energy faculty to sustain engagement with the object.
The specific heaviness that makes even simple tasks feel like they require enormous effort to begin, distinct from ordinary tiredness because it's the mind shrinking from the object rather than the body needing rest, is thīna.
Commonly mistaken for
Physical tiredness. Thīna-middha is a mental hindrance, not identical to physiological fatigue, though the two can co-occur.
Laziness as a moral failing. The texts treat it as a hindrance to work with skillfully, not primarily as a character flaw.
Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha II; Nīvaraṇa Saṃyutta (SN 46).
Related terms