Thich Nu Tinh Quang
Right Effort (samyak-vyāyāma / sammā-vāyāma) is
the sixth principle of the Noble Eightfold Path. Vyayama means effort, and
Samyak means perfect, so it is Perfect Effort, and sometimes it is translated
as ‘right effort’. Another definition of it is Right convenience- means the
proper effort to avoid bad and do good things; self-enlightenment effort;
making unborn evil cannot be born, and the evil was born then stopped; making
unborn kindness can be born, and the kindness was born then can achieved
perfection.
This factor also
implies that a practitioner applies a sustained effort to throw away all
detrimental and harmful thoughts to words and deeds. At the same time, efforts
are made to develop positive and good thoughts, words and actions with respecting
both to ourself and to others, and all that under condition that would not
cause difficulties and tediousness for the efforts to eliminate the evil and develop
the good things. The Buddha himself gives a definition for a Right Effort
principle:
“And what, monks, is right effort?
[i] “There is
the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence,
upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil,
unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen.
[ii] He
generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his
intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have
arisen.
[iii] He
generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his
intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen.
[iv] He
generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his
intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development,
& culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen: This, monks, is
called right effort.”[1]
Sangharashita recalls that second, third and
fourth parts of the Eightfold Path were related to the personal transformation
of individual, and the fifth one concerned a society as a whole. With the sixth
stage of Perfect Effort, we return to the topic of individual transformation,
especially, to the transformation of the individual will, but influential
platform of the Right effort is to have a lot of social inclusion by its impacts.
This background is actually the whole world of living beings and the whole
process of evolution. For that reason, the Perfect Effort, in fact, symbolizes
that spiritual life is considered to be a culmination of the whole evolutionary
process-the conscious evolution of Man.[2]
It is also symbolical that in many languages
of modern India (Hindi, the Marathi, and Gujerati) the word vyāyāma is used to
denote physical exercises, especially associated with gymnastics. In the
context of the Noble Eightfold Path and Buddhism at all, this fact focuses our
attention on the activity and dynamism of the spiritual life. Buddhists are not
those who read sutras about the efforts of other people while sitting with a
cup of tea on an armchair by the fireplace even if they do it every day. In
spiritual life, we actually have to make efforts, not necessarily physical
efforts, but mostly mental efforts, because a path to Nirvana is a hard path,
as it is extremely difficult to clear our body and mind from the poisons.[3]
Sangharashita emphasizes that there are two
sorts of effort in Buddhist worldview. There is a perfect effort in general,
and there is a special perfect effort which is a sixth stage of the Noble
Eightfold Path. Nevertheless, some kind of effort is needed at the every stage
of the Path. This aspect we can illustrate with the words of the Buddha:
“One tries to abandon wrong view & to
enter into right view: This is one's right effort...
“One tries to
abandon wrong resolve & to enter into right resolve: This is one's right
effort...
“One tries to
abandon wrong speech & to enter into right speech: This is one's right
effort...
“One tries to
abandon wrong action & to enter into right action: This is one's right
effort...
“One tries to
abandon wrong livelihood & to enter into right livelihood: This is one's
right effort."[4]
Perfect Effort as a sixth stage of the Noble
Eightfold Path consists of exercises that are recommended for a practice to
train the perfect effort with the Four Exertions: preventing, eradicating,
developing, and maintaining. Those actions hold as an object that so-called
skillful and unskillful mental states. Unskillful mental state is “one that is
contaminated by craving or selfish desire, by hatred, or by delusion, mental
confusion, bewilderment, and lack of perspective.”[5]
Therefore, preventing is recognizing that one of those states is going to come
and preventing ourself from the unskillful situation when these feelings
possess our consciousness – simply letting it to pass by our mind.
Eradicating is clearing our thoughts from
those unskillful mental states when they have already occurred. There is a
Buddhist teaching called Five Hindrances (pancanivarana) which tells us about
the obstacles that usually intervenes the process of eradicating. Hindrances
are the five qualities of the mind that dazzle mental vision, and make our mind
weak. Because of these five hindrances practitioner cannot achieve deep
meditative concentration, and therefore he is not able to clearly see the truth-the
reality. These hindrances include sensory desire (kāmacchanda), hatred or ill-will
(vyāpāda), restlessness and anxiety (uddhacca-kukkucca), sloth and torpor
(thīna-middha), and doubt (vicikicchā).[6]
In Suttas, there is a beautiful example of
the water in the tank: sensual desire is compared to water which is mixed
different colors. Hated can be compared with boiling water. Laziness and
lethargy as water covered with slime and algae. Restlessness and regret as
water on which there is a ripple in the wind. Skeptical doubt is as the muddy
water. In all of these cases, in such water it is hard to see our own
reflection, just as in the case of the five mental hindrances which do not
allow us to identify clearly the reality and obscure understanding of your own
good, and the good of both others.
These hindrances are very deep and it is
extremely difficult to completely overcome them – it requires long and full
practice of the Buddhist path to do so. Practitioner is able to completely
overcome the five hindrances and enter into a state of jhana in which these
five hindrances are completely (or almost completely) absent. However, they are
not eradicated by jhana; they can be eradicated only through the practice of
insight based on jhana. The practice of insight leads to the complete eradication
of these obstacles, as well as other impurities of the mind.[7]
Unless we reached the full concentration of
the mind, we can say with certainty that there is at least one obstacle, and
even more. The most important thing is recognize the hindrance in the
hindrance: because only by defining it as such, it is possible to oppose it.
Very often the act of recognition weakens the
hindrance because it immediately reminds us that the purpose of meditation is
concentration of the mind. Nevertheless, we may have a tendency to avoid this
recognition. Most people have a special hindrances-characteristic only for them
a way to ‘protect’ themselves, for example, laziness and apathy can
successfully hide, not being able to recognize itself. This happens in the
morning we do not want to get up early: first, the mind refuses to accept that
the time has come to rise, and then looks for an excuse so we could lie in bed
for another five minutes. When we are under the influence of will-ill, we most
likely will tirelessly seek out for the faults of others, and again turn over
in memory all painful and unpleasant that happened to us. It is necessary to
clearly realize that we are dealing with an obstacle to concentrate the mind.
There are many techniques and tricks that allow you to re-engage in the process
of meditation. Those four basic antidotes are following:
The first of them is to reflect on the
consequences that may result from the uncontrolled growth of hindrances. What
happens if we do not work with our inclinations which make us distracted,
hateful and doubtful? It is clear that they will grow if our character
increasingly falls under their influence. If you think about the importance of
what you do, it will once again become clear and the mind will be more inclined
to concentrate.
The second way is to develop the quality of
what is opposite to a certain hindrance. If there is a doubt, strengthen
confidence; if there is laziness, strengthen energy; if there is concern, deepen
the state of peace and tranquility; if the mind is too tense, relax it; if it
wanders too much, strengthen concentration. In other words, once the path of
right concentration arises how the negative state of mind arises; we aim to
counterbalance it and develop a positive quality that weakens or neutralizes
the obstacles encountered.
The third antidote is to engender a state of
mind similar to the sky. Sometimes, the more you resist a particular state of
mind, the stronger it becomes. If the above two methods do not help, try to
create a mood: ‘the mind is like a clear blue sky, and the hindrances are the
clouds.’ Working this way, we recognize that there was a hindrance, and just
observe it. We are now watching how it unfolds in the space of our mind in the
form of fantasies, anxieties, and images… keep track of all that occurs. We
watch closely, but try not too involved in the process; otherwise, it will only
‘feed’ the obstacles. If we observe patiently, not too engaging, so obstacle
eventually lose strength and dissipate.
The fourth antidote is suppression. It is a
sort of a last resort: we just need to tell the obstacle ‘no’ and push him
away. Suppression method is most useful when an obstacle is weak and when we
firmly believe that we should not give him hospitality. If the obstacle is very
large or if we are in a state of mental conflict, the use of this method may
cause adverse side effects. When we are too zealous, it often causes tension,
insensitivity, and carelessness of mind. Therefore, the best practical method
is to use suppression only if the hindrances are weak. When the mind is clear
and the attitude is positive, eradicating such a hindrance is quite easy.
Finally, if
those methods cannot help, there is still so-called Refuge to the Buddha that sometimes
it is impossible for us to cope with hindrances. During the entire period of
practice or the greater part of the mind is completely distracted from the
object of meditation, when this happens, it is very important not to despair.
It is necessary to consider the practice from the point of view of the entire
development process. We all have inherent strengths unconscious desires and
inclinations, and the fight sometimes inevitable. We must remind ourselves that
we have done everything possible, and we sincerely tried. These efforts
necessarily give good results even if in this meditation we have did not have
any special changes. Coming to Refuge is not much a way of dealing with hindrances,
but rather a special state to communication with which we try to preserve and
after a period of meditation. We need to reaffirm their commitment to practice,
or in the language of tradition: come to the refuge. So, we reaffirm our
commitment to the development of superior human qualities until we reach the
Enlightenment (symbolized by the Buddha), his teachings (Dharma), and all those
who practice it (Sangha).[8]
In summary, there are two kinds Right Effort:
body effort and mind effort. The body effort is body doing good behavior, bearing
all patience to overcome the external challenges, and to achieve one’s
aspirations. The mind effort is to endure the unwanted things, develop positive
thinkings, and eradicate evil things/mental afflictions while practice Dharma to
attain perfect enlightenment and peace.[9]
The Buddhists follow
Right Effort can be gained happiness, and potentially helped others achieving
some benefits actually in this life.
[1] SN 45.8,
Magga-vibhanga Sutta: An Analysis of the Path
[2] Sangharashita, p. 70
[3] Ibid, p.70-71
[4] MN 17, Vanapatthasutta
[5] Sangharashita, p.
73
[6] Ibid, p.73-74
[7] Ibid, p73-75
[8] Ibid, p.74-77
[9] (《瑜伽师地论》（八十九卷）：“此中最初、当知发起猛利乐欲。次随所欲，发起坚固勇悍方便。次为证得所受诸法，不自轻蔑，亦无怯惧。次能堪忍寒热等苦。后于下劣，不生喜足；欣求后后转胜转妙诸功德住。”)《瑜伽师地论》（八十九卷）：“此中最初、当知发起猛利乐欲。次随所欲，发起坚固勇悍方便。次为证得所受诸法，不自轻蔑，亦无怯惧。次能堪忍寒热等苦。后于下劣，不生喜足；欣求后后转胜转妙诸功德住。”
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