Unitarian Universalist Meeting of
“The Buddhist Sixth Step: Right Effort”
Rev. Kathy Duhon
We have been following the Eightfold
Path of Buddhism, about one step per month, and have now come to the last group
of three, referred to as Meditation Training, or samadhi. These are right effort, right mindfulness and
right concentration. For today, we look
to the sixth step, which is right effort.
Do not be confused though, for this
is not the way we tend to think of effort.
It is not so much about striving extra hard with true grit while
sweating buckets to achieve some laudatory goal. This is a dynamic spiritual effort, working
inwardly on the whole self, so that we might live in fullness. It takes a great effort to turn our lives
away from what is harmful and toward what is helpful, peaceful, life-affirming
and self-transforming.
We use right effort to seek
self-understanding and enlightenment.
First we have obstacles to overcome, the Buddha taught – sloth or
laziness, agitation, ill will or anger, doubt, and discouragement. (You might notice how much overlap there is
between these obstacles and the seven deadly sins of Christianity.) We bring our energy to the task, directing
our efforts first toward our initial reactions, and then we can leave these
roadblocks behind.
The Buddha taught four great efforts
to be made: we first try to prevent or
avoid these unwholesome mental states. Second,
we overcome or abandon them if they arise.
Third, we can develop or produce wholesome states of mind, practicing
the six perfections: generosity, virtue,
patience, effort, meditation and wisdom.
Finally, we can maintain or cultivate the wholesome goodness that
already exists within us.
Buddhist Marvin Levine spoke about
how this overcoming of obstacles with a rightly directed effort works, from his
own experience. He related how his wife
was living with a brain injury and could be dangerous and disruptive in
behavior. One day, when they were about
to leave for a doctor’s appointment, he could not find her in the house. He ran outside and saw her walking away, 2
blocks down the sidewalk. Marvin called to her,
and she turned around and started slowly walking back. Realizing that he was very agitated and angry
as he hurried toward her, he stopped and took a breath, and thought, “She has
become my teacher.” By the time they
reached each other, he only felt concern, for his skillful effort had overcome
the obstacles and left his spirit transformed.
First Marvin’s effort as a caring
husband had been to be kind to his ailing wife, preventing the distracting
difficulties of taking care of her. When
he noticed the unwholesome states of agitation and anger arising, though, he
abandoned them by using breath and stillness.
Then he produced the wholesome states of care and gratitude by realizing
that this woman is his teacher, in patience and spirit. He cultivates this further by renewing his
care and concern for her, and by caring for his own being with meditation and
other self-care actions.
Right effort can be directed to
simple daily living, as in this example; to building our moral center, as the
Buddha taught; to furthering our actions of loving kindness, as in the story we
heard about what Chin Niu did when he fed the monks; and
to developing our spiritual practices, such as meditation, as Ananda did.
In meditation, the effort is to
awaken to one’s inner life and to transform it to one that is in harmony with
the universe. Watching the breath is
simple, basic, quieting, though admittedly not easy to continue to do over a
period of time. Yet, that is the effort
which eases and frees the mind of its many distractions and prepares it for
living the smile.
Besides meditation, we can practice the
effort of renunciation – giving things up and away, letting go, no longer
holding back. This may mean a
traditional practice such as fasting, almsgiving, celibacy, or voluntary poverty,
and it may also mean relinquishing the hold of anything that is holding us
back. Whatever it is that is in too much
abundance for our own good, that controls us as we try to control it – we let
go of this obstruction. We can give up
our fears, our burdens, our defenses, our greed, our
addictions – all our unneeded inner baggage.
Like Ananda, we can even give up our ideas of
enlightenment or perfection. And this
effort of renunciation may need to be repeated over and over again. Letting go takes great effort.
How much effort is the right effort to
make? Part of our problem in this
society is that we already are heavy lifting, goal-driven, effort-making
people. The joy of effortlessness, like
birds on the wing above us, is also right effort. Balance is needed.
Once, the Buddha was helping a young
monk learn to meditate, teaching about this balance of right effort. The monk was concerned that he could not stop
his thoughts while he was meditating, and he was frustrated. This is a common problem, of course – both
the wondering thoughts and the frustration.
“Do you remember,” the Buddha asked,
“how you used to tune the sitar strings as a young lay person?”
“Yes,” the young man replied.
“Was the music sweetest when the
strings were taut or slack?” the Buddha inquired.
“Neither too tight, nor too loose,
the middle way of moderation and balance always proved best,” said the monk.
“Thus it is with meditation,” said
the Buddha. “In meditation and spiritual
efforts, as in all things, balance is always best.”
The right effort is something we can do in so many ways, and it is good to be reminded that it is a real effort. We need to direct our will toward the practices that free our will. Our right effort involves a tuning of our hearts and minds, a turning of our lives toward what is good. So may we be blessed.