[Zen] What is Right Effort ... ???

[Bhikkhu Samahita]

Friends:                   What is this vital Right Effort ? The Noble Eightfold Way, leading to Nibbāna, is simply this: Right View, Right Motivation, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Awareness, & Right Concentration. But what is Right Effort ?                   The 4-fold Definition of Right Effort: The effort to overcome already present detrimental mental states.. The effort to prevent future detrimental mental states from arising.. The effort to begin developing yet unarisen advantageous mental states.. The effort to maintain & perfect already arisen advantageous mental states.. That is Right Effort!                   The 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 w. 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 it's details, thereby one strives to prevent bad, detrimental states, such as longing & misery, to flood in on one! One guards & 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, & 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, detachment, and ceasing, which is leading to maturity & culmination of 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, 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 & wrong Effort to be right & wrong Effort, is Right View. Awareness of presence of right & wrong Effort, is Right Awareness. Right Effort has the function of striving, exertion and endurance... Keep on keeping on! Never give up! Come again! Further study of Buddhist Right Effort (Samma-Vayama): http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-vayamo.html  ________________________________________________________  PS: Please include the word Samahita in any request, since then  will my automatic mail filters pick it up and I will see it & respond!  Bhikkhu Samāhita, Sri Lanka.  Friendship is the Greatest ...  Let there be Calm Free Bliss !!!  http://groups.msn.com/DirectDhamma  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Buddha-Direct  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/What_Buddha_Said  Dhamma-Questions sent to my email are quite Welcome. Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS  Visit your group "ZenForum" on the web.    To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.