[1] In the Theravada tradition, these factors are identified specifically as obstacles to the jhānas (stages of concentration) within meditation practice.
[1] According to Rhys Davids, the Pali term nīvaraṇa (Sanskrit: nivāraṇa) refers to an obstacle or hindrance only in the ethical sense, and is usually enumerated in a set of five.
[a] For instance, according to SN 46.37, the Buddha stated: Bhikkhus, there are these five obstructions, hindrances, corruptions of the mind, weakeners of wisdom.
There are, bhikkhus, these seven factors of enlightenment, which are nonobstructions, nonhindrances, noncorruptions of the mind; when developed and cultivated they lead to the realization of the fruit of true knowledge and liberation.
The Buddha gives the following analogies in the Samaññaphala Sutta (DN 2, "The Fruits of the Contemplative Life"): [W]hen these five hindrances are not abandoned in himself, the monk regards it as a debt, a sickness, a prison, slavery, a road through desolate country.
According to Xuanzang's Cheng Weishi Lun (Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi), there are ten specific āvaraṇas which correspond to the stages of the Bodhisattva path (daśabhūmi).