wrong effort: an idle mind is the devil's playground

Is “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop” in the Bible?

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/where-did-the-saying-an-idle-mind-is-the-devils-workshop-come-from.html

While this exact phrase is not in the Bible, there are a number of passages that reflect this truth. However, one personal paraphrased version of the Bible, The Living Bible (TLB), authored by Kenneth N. Taylor and published in 1971, does contain this phrase verbatim. A paraphrased Bible is more of a commentary on the text of Scripture than an accurate translation of what the text says.

What does the bible actually say?

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2016%3A27-29&version=TLB

Proverbs 16:27
Idle hands are the devil’s workshop;
idle lips are his mouthpiece,
literally, “A worthless man devises mischief;
and in his lips there is a scorching fire.”

Comparison of that verse and Buddha's right effort

Right effort involves the mind, thoughts, speech, physical actions.
Whereas proverbs 16:27 only cover speech and physical actions.
The saying "an idle mind is the devil's playground" is actually more thorough than the the bible.
To draw the relation to right (and wrong effort),
an idle mind is not actively engaged in one of the four right efforts,
and therefore just waiting for an opportunity for the defilements and hindrances to lead the way to unskillful thoughts and actions.

But not being actively engaged in right effort is not the same as wrong effort

Buddha defines wrong effort in MN 117

https://lucid24.org/mn/main/mn117/index.html#117.4

So where in the Dhamma would you map the saying "an idle mind is the devil (or Māra's) playground/workshop?"

I would map it to the 3rd of 5 hindrances.
See SN 46.2
https://lucid24.org/sn/main/sn46/index.html#46.2
arati (discontent, dissatisfaction) as a nutriment for the hindrance of sloth and torpor.
An idle mind of an unenlightened being is usually very close to arati.

What's the antidote?

Following the advice of MN 20,
we should curb idleness by seeing it as a problem, as fuel for the 5 hindrances,
and replace it immediately with a right thought,
which leads to right actions.
https://lucid24.org/mn/main/mn020/index.html#20.5.1

Comments

Lucid24.org: What's new?

Link to lucid24.org home page : 4👑☸ Remember, you may have to click the refresh button on your web browser navigation bar at to get updated website. 2024 9-17 Lots of new stuff in the last 2 and a half years. Too many to list. Main one justifying new blog entry, is redesign of home page. Before, it was designed to please me, super dense with everything in one master control panel. I've redesigned it to be friendly to newbies and everyone really. Clear structure, more use of space. At someone's request, I added a lucid24.org google site search at top of home page. 2022 4-14 Major update to lucid24.org, easy navigation of suttas, quicklink: the ramifications 4-2 new feature lucid24.org sutta quick link 3-28 A new translation of SN 38.16, and first jhāna is a lot easier than you think 🔗📝notes related to Jhāna force and J.A.S.I. effect AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111: How does Ajahn Brahm and Sujato's "Jhāna" work here? 3-13 Added to EBPedia J.A.S.I. ('Jazzy...

AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111: How does Ajahn Brahm and Sujato's "Jhāna" work here?

What these 3 suttas have in common, AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111, is the very interesting feature of explicitly describing doing vipassana, while one is in the jhāna and the first 3 formless attainments. LBT (late buddhist text) apologists, as well as Sujato, Brahm, claim that the suttas describe a jhāna where one enters a disembodied, frozen state, where vipassana is impossible until one emerges from that 'jhāna'. Since Sujato translated all the suttas, let's take a look at what he translated, and how it supports his interpretation of 'jhāna'. AN 9.36: Jhānasutta—Bhikkhu Sujato (suttacentral.net) ‘The first absorption is a basis for ending the defilements.’ ‘Paṭhamampāhaṁ, bhikkhave, jhānaṁ nissāya āsavānaṁ khayaṁ vadāmī’ti, iti kho panetaṁ vuttaṁ. That’s what I said, but why did I say it? Kiñcetaṁ paṭicca vuttaṁ? Take a mendicant who, q uite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskill...

Pāḷi and Sanskrit definition of Viveka

'Viveka', Sanskrit dictionary Primary meaning is ‘discrimination’. Other meanings: (1) true knowledge, (2) discretion, (3) right judgement, (4) the faculty of distinguishing and classifying things according to their real properties’. Wikipedia (sanskrit dictionary entry 'viveka') Viveka (Sanskrit: विवेक, romanized: viveka) is a Sanskrit and Pali term translated into English as discernment or discrimination.[1] According to Rao and Paranjpe, viveka can be explained more fully as: Sense of discrimination; wisdom; discrimination between the real and the unreal, between the self and the non-self, between the permanent and the impermanent; discriminative inquiry; right intuitive discrimination; ever present discrimination between the transient and the permanent.[2]: 348 The Vivekachudamani is an eighth-century Sanskrit poem in dialogue form that addresses the development of viveka. Within the Vedanta tradition, there is also a concept of vichara which is one t...

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