Awakening the Buddha Within _ Eight Steps to Enlightenment - Lama Surya Das [125]
We are conditioned to think about effort as goal-oriented striving, filled with hard work and sweat. I think it’s important to remember that when we talk about Right or Spiritual Effort in the context of Dharma, we are describing a perfectly skillful balance of endurance, energy, enthusiasm, grace, and dignity. Images of Right Effort include the majestic eagle effortlessly soaring above his mountain aerie or the stately swan gliding among the lily pads without making a ripple to disturb the pond’s tranquility.
We all have instant-coffee mind today: What we want, we want now. Just add hot water, and it’s ready. But in the spiritual dimension, however urgently you may feel the need to progress—hasten slowly, and you will soon arrive. Pulling upon the flowers with your hands every day does not help them grow more, and may even harm their natural blossoming process. On the other hand, skillful nurturing with the right combination of water, air, sunlight, and fertilizer can maximize their innate growth potential. This wise gardening method is not unlike the appropriate effort that is just right for individual spiritual growth and personal development.
The Buddha himself outlined what he described as Four Great Efforts that, together, form the most effective way of undertaking the wisdom work.
FOUR GREAT EFFORTS
1. The Effort to Avoid any new unwholesome, negative thoughts or actions.
This First Great Effort in many ways is the easiest because it doesn’t require giving up an established way of being. However, it does ask that we be aware, alert to the ways that new negative patterns might establish themselves. In meditation, we closely observe our senses to see what attracts and repels us. As we go through the day, we do the same thing. This effort helps us gain mastery over our reactions and better manage moods and emotions.
In 1984 at the conclusion of my first three-year retreat, our group had a joyous feast and celebration. Then our teacher took us down the road to visit the old man of the monastery, Lama Gendun Rinpoche, a lovely elderly retreat master who had spent most of his life meditating alone in the wilderness in Tibet.
For three-and-a-half years our group of twenty-two had spent most of the time meditating indoors; we had not been farther than the courtyard of our cloistered monastery. Suddenly the monastery doors were open; as we walked down the road, everything seemed so bright, vivid, and colorful. In some ways, it was like coming out of a sensory deprivation tank. We went into Gendun Rinpoche’s cell-like room, and sat down in front of him, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Gendun Rinpoche reminded us that our three-year experience had purified us; we were like new slates on which anything could be drawn or written. “Watch yourselves,” he said. “Don’t let your minds be sucked out of you by your senses. Don’t lose your mind every time you smell, see, or touch something. Maintain present awareness, rest centered in essential natural mind, and appreciate everything equally.”
As we practice this first Great Effort, I think it helps if we can imagine ourselves as children, scrubbed clean, open to new experiences, new actions, and new karma. At every moment, we are creating our future. What will it be? Can we make the effort to avoid the destructive, the harmful, the self-indulgent, and the foolish? Can we see through and avoid the sights, sounds, smells, sensory experiences, and thoughts that might pull us in a direction of creating new negative karma?
2. The Effort to Overcome any existing unwholesome thoughts or actions.
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