Torpor (Buddhism)

In Hinayana Buddhism, some sources list stiffness and torpor as a single formation, one of the five hindrances to absorption. There is general paralysis due to lack both of urgency and vigour. In particular, torpor has the characteristic of unwieldiness. Its function is to smother or bind associated states; it manifests as laziness or tardiness in grasping an object or as drowsiness, blinking the eyes, nodding and sleep. As with stiffness, the proximate cause is unwise attention to boredom, discontent, sloth, etc. Torpor when combined with sloth results in a state of drowsiness.

One of the formations aggregate (mental coefficients) of Hinayana Buddhism, being listed among the constant states which appear in their true nature, and as unprofitable secondary (sometimes present in any unprofitable or unprofitable-resultant consciousness).