What is this vitally crucial Right Effort?
That Noble Eightfold Way,
leading to Nibbāna, is simply this:
Right View,
Right Motivation,
Right Speech,
Right Action,
Right Livelihood,
Right Effort,
Right Awareness,
and
Right Concentration.
But what is Right Effort?
The
4-fold Definition of Right Effort:
1:
The effort to overcome already present disadvantageous mental states..
2:
The effort to prevent future disadvantageous mental states from arising..
3: The effort to begin developing so far absent advantageous mental states..
4:
The effort to maintain, and perfect already arisen advantageous mental states..
This is Right Effort!
The 8-fold Characterization of Right Effort:
Striving for replacing wrong view with right view, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong motivation with right motivation, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong speech with right speech, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong action with right action, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong livelihood with right livelihood, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong effort with right effort, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong
awareness with right awareness, is Right Effort!
Striving for replacing wrong
concentration with right concentration, is Right
Effort!
The Explanation of the 4 Right Efforts:
The 4 right efforts are 1: Control 2: Overcoming 3: Development 4:
Maintenance!
What is the effort of control? When seeing an object with the eye, one neither
grasps after the whole object, nor any of its details, thereby one strives
well to
prevent bad, detrimental states, such as longing and frustration, to flood in on one!
One guards
and controls the sense of sight, and do similarly with the other senses.
What is the effort of overcoming? One does not accept any lust, hate, or anger,
that has arisen, but leaves it instantly, dispels it, destroys it,
and makes it vanish.
What is the effort of development? One develops the enlightenment-factor of
awareness, of investigation, of energy, of joy, of tranquillity, of
concentration,
and the enlightenment-factor of equanimity based on solitude,
seclusion, and
ceasing, which is leading to maturity, and culminating in
spiritual self-surrender.
What is the effort of maintenance? One dominated by desire maintains firmly
in his mind a favourable object of concentration, such as a skeleton, or a
corpse
that is full of worms, bluish-black, full of holes, and bloated, while one
dominated
by anger maintains firmly in his mind a favourable object of concentration,
such
as infinite friendliness, universal pity, mutual joy, or well-balanced
equanimity...
Thus knowing right and wrong effort as right and wrong effort, is Right View.
Awareness of presence of right
and wrong effort, is Right Awareness.
Right effort has the function of striving, exertion, and endurance...
Keep on keeping on! Never give up!
Always come back again!
Further study of Buddhist Right
Effort (Sammā-Padhāna):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-vayamo.html
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Avoiding_Effort.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Avoiding_Effort2.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_River_of_Energetic_Effort.htm
