Effort And Meditation
we can develop an awareness of ourselves and the world in an infinite variety of ways. all of them take effort. who can deny that it takes courage to examine our thoughts and behaviour?
it's not easy to admit when we act from pride, jealousy or ill will instead of honouring our Buddha-nature. who has the courage and the spiritual zeal to face all the facts about ourselves?
in Buddhist practice, the effort to transform and awaken is connected to meditation which begins with watching the breath.
this frequently confuses people -
what, they want to know, does inner growth and change have to do with breathing? what does the mind have to do with breath? what does watching the breath have to do with spiritual transformation?
we start with breathing because it is a basic physical process that we all share. etymologically, the roots of the word breath and spirit are the same. breathing is our common connection to life itself.
this is fundamental and tangible.
watching the breath is the most basic centering and grounding excercise, one that we can practice no matter where we are. inhale. exhale. it's calming. it's quieting.... relax..... release...... let go.... at ease....
putting effort into observing the breath causes us to slow down, to become more reflective, more contemplative.
what Buddhism offers seekers are the tried and true techniques of meditation, passed down by centuries of experienced practitioners and illumined masters who understood how our inner lives determine our life experiences.
meditation has been used by millions of people over thousands of years to transcend human limitations, gain self-realization and experience the divine.
in practical terms, this means developing intellectually and emotionally to the point where we are balanced and in harmony with ourselves, capable of grappling with life's deepest issues.
meditation is essentially a way of life. that's why it is so intrinsically connected to spiritual effort.
it requires effort to cultivate awareness through attention training. the meditative way doesn't require that we join or reject any particular faith, sect or religion. the sole incentive to continue meditation is the confidence and inner conviction that develops through one's own authentic experience.
meditation is not merely a program of mental gymnastics.
in the art of meditation, simplicity is the key: the simple necessity of unburdening oneself of all excess baggage and turning the searchlight inward.
for everything is available within our own intangible spiritual core.
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.
2) the effort to overcome any existing unwholesome thoughts or actions.
3) the effort to develop only good and wholesome thoughts and lead an enlightened life.
4) the effort to maintain the goodness that already exists.
we are conditioned to think about effort as goal-oriented striving, filled with hard work and sweat. it's important to remember that when we talk about Right Effort 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 the flowers with your hands everyday 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 maximise 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.
watch yourselves, don't let your minds be sucked out of you by your senses. don't lose your mind everytime you smell, see or touch something. maintain present awareness, rest centered in essential natural mind and appreciate everything equally."
- Lama Gendun Rinpoche
we all have purity of heart. realise the Buddha-nature in every moment, the clear light shining in every moment. reflect on a time when you felt joy and unconditional love - even if only for a few seconds.
can you return to this feeling and carry it with you?
as Chogyam Trungpa once said, "we are far more Buddha-like than we know."
a friend has a problem. you show generosity of spirit by listening and supporting. who is doing whom a favour?
as an example of our interconnectedness, the Dalai Lama points out that when anyone presents you with the opportunity to embody one of the Six Perfections, you are the one who is actually receiving help on the path to Buddhahood.
remember this the next time someone tries your patience to the limit. perhaps then even an adversary can become your best teacher.
reflect on what it means to be a Bodhisattva, a spiritual warrior; reflect on what it means to lead an enlightened life.
Bodhisattvas practice the Six Paramitas or Perfections - six transcendental virtues which is called the Six Principles of Enlightened Living:-
Generosity - giving, yielding, boundless, unconditional love - open hands, open mind, open heart.
Virtue - ethics, honesty, morality, integrity, helping others.
Patience - tolerance, forebearance, acceptance, forgiveness.
Effort - energy, diligence, courage, enthusiasm, endurance.
Meditation - concentration, focus, self-inquiry and reflection, presence of mind, mindfulness.
Wisdom - discernment, sagacity, sanity, centeredness, understanding.
what's past is past. we create new karma by what we do from this point forward. here and now is the turning point upon which our present and future existence revolves.
now is the border between samsara and nirvana.
Gentle Ananda's Awakening
a Buddhist story about spiritual effort involves Buddha's devoted disciple, Ananda. by the time Buddha became ill and died, he had been teaching for forty-five years and many of his disciples had become enlightened. one who had not was Buddha's ever-present attendant, Ananda. this might be considered peculiar because of all the disciples, Ananda had heard every word that the Buddha taught and memorised them all.
But Ananda, who had the kind of demanding daily schedule many of us can identify with, had been so busy accompanying the Buddha wherever he went and assisting the sangha members that there had been little time for his own solitary meditation practice.
several months after the Buddha's death, there was a reason why it suddenly became imperative for Ananda to become enlightened. the First Council of Buddhist Arhants was to take place in order to recite and codify all the teachings spoken by the Buddha. Ananda was essential to this meeting because he more than anyone else would be able to speak and verify the sutras. however because he wasn't enlightened, he wasn't qualified to attend.
Ananda did the only thing he could do under the circumstances: almost as if he was cramming for exams, he went into retreat - a meditation marathon - striving round the clock for enlightenment. finally it was the morning of the day before the First Council meeting and Ananda was still meditating.
then midnight, 2am, 3am, on the day of the meeting and Ananda was still striving for enlightenment, sitting in his small monastic cell. at 3.45am, 15 minutes before the 4am wake-up call on the very day of the meeting, Ananda finallly just gave up and thought, "well, that's that. i am not an arhant."
exhausted, he began to tip over from meditation into a sleeping position. Ananda stopped trying to be something he wasn't; and then before he hit the pillow, in an instant he was a liberated arhant - totally awake. Ananda became enlightened finally by letting go, simply stopping and seeing things just as they are.
it was the end of the struggle. no more trying to become an Arhant and Ananda became an arhant. in surrendering and giving up, Ananda got what he was looking for. by being just who he was, Ananda woke up.
Ananda had behind him a lifetime of pure effort and virtuous dedication, personally assisting the Buddha. his selfless personal service, in itself, didn't bring him to enlightenment; neither did round-the-clock meditation.
without his service or the meditation, he would not have accomplished his goal. yet it was in letting go and surrendering to effortlessness that he finally reached enlightenment.
as a Japanese Zen master recently said during an intensive meditation retreat known as a sesshin, "the perfect way is without difficulty. strive hard. we are all perfect and yet we can perfect ourselves endlessly."
the balance between effort and effortlessness is the essence of Impeccable Effort and self-mastery. this is true whether we are striving to cultivate a spiritual life, a relationship, a work project or the most indispensible art form of all: the art of living.
the practice of Dzogchen is often described as beyond effort - not something to do but a way of being. the emphasis in Dzogchen is on "what is", the natural mind, a state that is beyond concepts such as effort or non-effort.
we cannot live with our heads in the clouds without keeping our feet firmly here on the ground. no matter how deep our philosophy, our view, our understanding is, we still have to walk our talk and practice what we preach.
Dzogchen practitioners come to recognise that it is not enough to just meditate a little each day; they learn to integrate meditation with every moment of everyday.
applying our view into action every minute is our meditation practice, which reaches far beyond the confines of the meditation seat or the explicitly religious setting.
working out the contradiction between effort and effortlessness - hard work and simple surrender - helps us become more energetic, steadfast, patient and persevering. it also helps us soften up through the graceful complementary virtues of yielding acceptance and heartfelt gratitude for whatever comes our way. in short, because Right Effort is spiritual effort, it implies being able to just let go, at the right time and in the right way, simply do what must be done.
here are some forms of clinging to renounce:
clinging to the ego
clinging to narrow-minded opinions
clinging to the pleasure/pain principle
clinging to empty rites and rituals
clinging to the limited, short-sighted view that sees only this world and this life
the Buddha points out that resistance and clinging is a conditioned, learned response. clinging is superficial, not essential.
there are antidotes to suffering, stress and anxiety: we find them by resisting less, grasping less and identifying with things less. nothing is half as important as we usually think it is.
people love being out in nature because there is so much less ego conflict. "it is a respite from the bumper-car effect of colliding egos." that's also a reason why people love spiritual retreats. on retreat, we are less demanding and less demanded of; we find that we need to prove less.
too often, we think mostly in terms of "my space", "my time", "mywork", "my goal", "my people".... when we let go and stop cherishing "me and mine", we are able to open up and allow others in.
letting go of dualistic view of the world allows us to see who we truly are; it can help us recognise our own Buddha-nature.
it is always understood that our different perceptions of reality are open to interpretation. clinging strongly to opinions obscures the mind and distorts clear vision. we become attached to unworkable conceptions.
this plays out in all arenas of our life.
let's use non-judgemetal, meditative awareness to help us open up our minds and dance with ideas - instead of fixating upon them.
will a bag of m&m's chocolates bring happiness?
how about a beer and some peanuts?
what about romance and a sexual partner?
let's face it, nobody is ever going to find lasting peace and contentment through enchantment, addiction, sensuality or even romantic attachment. sometimes we even become attached not only to pleasure but also to pain.
we get so stuck in the familiar ruts of hurtful relationships that we don't know how to let go and move on, although it is so obviously in our interest to do so.
nothing in pure Buddhism encourages blind faith or cultlike environments.
people cling to tired dogma.... all the time. but that is not Dharma.
the Buddha wisely challenged his followers to open their minds and think for themselves rather than believing in anything just because it had been said by authorities, including himself, or written down in books.
to some people.... it is no more amazing that we are reborn again and again through many lifetimes than we are born here on this earth at all, even once.
to think only of today and invest only in what we can see, touch and weigh has certain very definite limitations - even in the scientific materialist's view of reality.
when we open our inner eye, listen with our inner ear, sense divine fragrance or intuit an impalpable yet authentic invisible presence - does that not strongly suggest to us that there is more to life than meets the eye?
if we feel deeply compelled to learn and to love, we must peer more deeply into the intricacies of our experience with all its boundless interlocking levels, numerous dimensions and myriads forms of existence.
Balanced Effort
it is important that we NOT OVERLOOK the joy of the journey due to an excess of goal orientation.
a story about the Buddha concerns a young neophyte who was struggling to meditate. it seems when this young monk sat in morning meditation, he couldn't stop his thoughts from rushing in. finally he went to the Lord Buddha to confess his fustration and asked him what to do.........:-
"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 gently inquired.
"neither too tight nor too loose, Lord; the middle way of moderation and balance always proved best," said the monk.
"thus it is with meditation, young monk," said the Buddha. "in meditation and spiritual efforts, as in all things, balance is always best."
the Buddha warned about the five primary hindrances on the path to awakening. one of them, spiritual laziness, is a direct challenge to the vigor and energy necessary for Right Effort.
spiritual laziness - sloth, torpor, apathy, lethargy, indolence, complacency, depression.....
with the hindrance of torpor, we also have to discuss the spiritual crisis known as depression and the lethargy that accompanies it. fatigue of depression robs the energy away from walking the spiritual path or even to keep living. depression overwhelms with negativity and lethargy, it is as though you have lost your way and nothing you do can possibly matter.
depression typically carries an overwhelming sense of feeling abandoned, alone, exhausted and disconnected - profoundly weary from the difficult business of living.
when you are working on depression and other difficult life situations, it is important to summon your faith, fall back on soulful inner practices and go for refuge where you can find spiritual solace.
try to remember to have faith in your own Buddha-nature, your own inner light and seek guidance from a reliable teacher or Bodhisattva-like mentor who inspires spiritual wisdom and energy. go for refuge to the Dharma by staying true to yourself and your sense that you are on the right path. and look to your friends and your sangha or spiritual group of any denomination for support.
when you are feeling low or lethargic, place some trust in physical activity to mobilise your energy. practice yoga, tai-chi, breathing exercises and self-inquiry.
dynamic meditation gives back far more energy than it takes. even when we are heartbroken, a meditation retreat can help us to take heart. although meditation seems to take time and energy, it gives us back even more time, as well as a sense of spacious ease and clarity. the same can be said for the spiritual life. you truly do get back much more than you give. this is something you can see for yourself.
if you are in the middle of a depression, you may want to try more active spiritual activities like chanting, breathing, singing, praying or yoga. meditative arts like gardening, calligraphy, tea ceremony or martial arts are often very helpful activities. even vigorous walking, jogging or dancing can be beneficial. there is nothing in Buddhism that is incompatible with psychotherapy.
we have to remember NOT to use meditation as a spiritual bypass to avoid our psychological and daily life issues.
and don't forget to find spiritual strength by reaching out to a spiritual community or some kind of support group.
we see pictures of lamas and monks in maroon robes prostrating themselves on the ground. what they are doing is a foundational practice of Tibetan Buddhism called Nondro.
monks, nuns and lay yogis all complete these foundational practices, sometimes several or even many times. consider the discipline these preliminary practices require and the level of effort and energy required for meditational practice in the Tibetan tradition.
Nondro is referred to as preliminary or foundational practice because these practices provide a firm foundation for undertaking the higher Vajrayana (tantric) practices, which then culminate in Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
Nondro emphasises the ideal of all beings - friends, relatives, animals, insects - entering into the joy of Dharma, all becoming enlightened together. it is a very joyous, boundless, all-inclusive, spiritual practice.
the Nondro includes: 111 000 full bodily bows or prostrations, performed while chanting the three-fold Refuge Prayer; 111 000 Bodhicitta and compassion prayers; 111 000 of Vajrasattva's hundred-syllable purification mantras; 111 000 offerings of the universe in the form of a mandala to the enlightened ones, to accumulate good karma and cultivate generosity and non-attachment; 111 000 guru yoga practices which merge one's dualistic limited mind with the infinite Buddha-mind embodied in the form of the Buddha-lama.
in Tibet, the word 'boom' refers to this 100 000+ number of meritorious practices. any time someone does more than a 100 000+ prayers or mantras, it is called a boom.
in actual fact - this is news to no-one but it needs to be said - quality counts more than quantity. one refuge and Bodhicitta prayer and one internal bow done genuinely is better than any number of mere physical calisthenics.
along with a group of other lamas, Lama Surya Das completed the five-boom Nondro practice in their three-year retreats with deeper and richer experiences each time.