Wise Effort And Energy

This is a talk on the sixth path factor of the eight fold path, right or wise effort. In it are practical applications of this path factor, and shared experience of how to apply this in ones life. May your efforts and energy be balanced and wise.

Transcript

Hello,

This is a talk on wise effort.

The idea of effort can be a bit of a loaded word,

And some teachers aren't even keen on using it anymore.

I've heard it translated as right energy,

Wise energy,

Which can be useful as well,

The wise application of one's energy,

And of course,

As the Eightfold Path,

Although not entirely linear,

Each step in the path does create the ground for which the next can blossom or be applied,

However you like it.

So I mean,

Of course,

Wise understanding is at the forefront of all of this,

You know,

Without seeing clearly that,

Seeing clearly the Four Noble Truths of,

You know,

The truth of suffering,

That in this life there is suffering,

That there's a cause of suffering,

And that the cause of this suffering,

That the cause of all suffering is craving,

And the third truth that there is an end to suffering,

And the fourth truth that the Eightfold Noble Path is the path to the end of suffering.

So coming from that place of understanding,

You know,

We can move through the next path factors,

And then get to this place of right effort,

Or wise effort,

As it's more popularly called today,

And I think rightly so,

You know,

Like there's power in words,

And the right versus wrong can very much feel off-putting,

And,

You know,

If we're thinking of wise speech,

We want to be inclusive,

We want the Dhamma to be available,

And the message to be hearable,

So anyone that speaks the Dhamma is asked to speak in a way that is friendly and inclusive,

And so I think these,

You know,

Like thinking of more modern ways to translate these things that,

You know,

Keeps the essence of what was meant all those years ago,

While also making it available to us here in 2024,

I think that's valuable.

So the four great efforts,

The four right efforts,

Are said to,

As it is,

Are first to remove unwholesome states of mind.

So once an unwholesome mind state has arisen,

As they do,

Become aware of this,

Of course,

You know,

So mindfulness is,

Of course,

The ground which,

You know,

From the soil from which most of this practice grows.

So with mindfulness,

We recognize,

Oh,

I'm in hatred right now,

I'm really angry that this person said this thing to me,

Whatever,

Notice,

And I think this is a really important piece with all the effort stuff,

At least it has been for me.

You know,

I've heard the teachings,

And there are,

There are classic antidotes,

Reach,

Hindrance,

You know,

The five hindrances of worry,

Restlessness,

Hatred,

Excuse me,

Aversion or hatred,

Craving,

Sloth and torpor,

Or doubt,

There's traditional antidotes to all these,

And they're very good.

And sometimes I've heard them taught in such a way that you must,

I've heard them taught in such a way that for me,

The way it landed was that I become more rigid,

Like I'm fighting against these things,

Like I need to,

Like,

Gun them down as soon as,

As soon as I feel or notice any hatred,

I need to take it out.

And,

And you're like,

The Buddha made it very clear that it is very important to not hang around living in anger.

You know,

He talked about how really unhelpful that is.

And I think,

You know,

Most of us can recognize how true that is,

You know,

Like how I know for me,

I'm not living my best life when I'm walking,

When I'm walking around in resentment or anger.

But the key,

You know,

The key thing is to,

Like,

For me,

Is to really recognize,

Like,

There is anger happening.

And not to make the anger or the hatred or the fear,

Not to make that my enemy.

To be careful as to not then try and combat hate with hate,

You know,

Ill will with ill will.

Because I can get caught up in that.

And I think it's,

I think it's,

I'm not the only one.

So going forward carefully with,

You know,

With what Ajahn Brahm has coined as kindfulness.

So it's not just mindfulness,

But it's a kind presence,

A kind attention.

I think this goes a long way.

All right.

So we remove unwholesome mind states once they've arisen.

We recognize them.

You know,

How do we do that?

I won't go through all the traditional antidotes,

But focusing on the opposite.

And,

You know,

This is,

Of course,

Like popular understanding in psychology and things today,

Right?

Like thought replacing,

You know,

Thinking of the opposite,

Etc.

So like,

With hatred arising,

Noticing hatred,

Okay,

So I notice the hatred,

And then I try and incline my mind towards loving kindness.

So perhaps I'm angry at someone,

And I'm resenting them,

I'm thinking lowly of them,

I'm having contemptuous thoughts.

I might do something like think of them when they were happy.

Think of them in their wholesome qualities.

Think of something that they have done that's skillful,

And everyone has got something,

Right?

Like even the most like destructive seeming people probably have like a dog at home that they really love,

And they play with their dog,

And they're just full of joy in life.

You know what I mean?

Like there's something.

So if I can focus on that,

And then I can think of these people,

I can see something joyful about them,

And then I can loosen up some of that hatred,

I can remember their humanity.

You know,

Like in the recovery world,

You know,

Often it is that we're taught to pray for people we're resentful towards,

And that's a very similar notion,

A very similar notion.

You know,

Obviously,

In Buddhism,

We don't,

At least here in the West,

We don't talk a lot about prayer.

I mean,

There's still definitely prayer in some Buddhist practices,

But take what you like and leave the rest.

So if it's not about like something someone's done,

Perhaps I'm just like confused,

Or perhaps I'm angry at myself.

Perhaps my inner critic or my inner worried part are,

You know,

Like causing me grief.

Perhaps my inner child is very afraid of something.

Some abandonment is coming up,

Whatever.

You know,

I can look to these and notice,

Oh,

There's suffering in myself.

Oh,

So what's,

You know,

Like what would be the,

What would be the,

You know,

The wise response to suffering?

Oh,

Compassion.

You know,

If I understand that compassion is loving kindness towards suffering or someone that is a being that is suffering,

Then that would be a wise and helpful response.

So I can turn to myself with the acceptance and love that all of me is welcome,

That there's no part of me that needs to be,

You know,

Conditioned away.

There's no part of me that's defective that needs to go.

These are just parts of me that exist,

And I can read them with all,

And I can turn my mind towards compassion with them.

This would be a skillful response.

Another skillful response,

And this is of course dependent on how intense the emotions are,

But often just turning to the breath can be a very skillful response.

You know,

Ill will,

Resentment,

Fear,

All these things are very much fueled by thinking.

You know,

Of course,

Trauma is stored in the body,

You know,

Like this is pretty known these days,

You know,

With all the beautiful,

You know,

All the beautiful work that's come out from various trauma specialists,

Peter Levine,

Bessel van der Kolk,

You know,

Like we know that trauma is stored in the body.

So the feelings sometimes won't be connected to thoughts at all,

And they're just gonna come up.

Nonetheless,

Our minds usually give them some fuel,

Yes,

Add to the fire.

So if you can focus on the breath and just come back to one breath at a time,

One breath at a time,

One breath at a time,

This can take some of that momentum away.

You know,

I mentioned prayer earlier,

And another prayer that I find very helpful in some of these instances is the serenity prayer.

May I have the serenity to accept what I cannot change.

May I have the courage to change what I can,

And may I have the wisdom to know the difference.

And you know,

This prayer offers me a little perspective on what's going on.

You know,

Often like when I tune into,

You know,

May I have the serenity to accept what I can't change,

Then it reminds me of what part of a situation that really isn't my responsibility.

You know,

When I think of the courage,

Then I can tune into like,

Oh,

Like this place is actual responsibility,

You know,

Maybe I'm worried about something that's out of my control,

And I can tune into what I really can do something about,

And having the wisdom to know the difference very often comes after a few rounds of saying that prayer,

Because the first two really point towards the wisdom.

Sometimes,

You know,

I have a very severe illness,

I have a very severe case of long COVID,

And my life has changed dramatically as a result.

You know,

I used to be a competitive martial artist.

I was very fit,

I lifted weights,

Did yoga,

Ran,

Did all kinds of physical things,

And now I can't do any of that.

And so I can get into a lot of self,

I can get into self-pity sometimes,

And you know,

This is definitely not helping me get free,

You know,

Like it,

The conditions are unfavorable,

And yet I would like to be,

I know that happiness and freedom is possible,

Despite the conditions of my life.

You know what I mean,

Like suffering and peace depend on my attitude,

Not the conditions of my life.

So if I choose to have an attitude of gratitude instead of self-pity,

Or when I'm having self-pity,

It can be very helpful,

You know,

I just might ask myself what I'm grateful for right now.

You know,

As I was typing up the script for this talk,

I was thinking about it,

And I heard my mom walking around upstairs,

And I'm grateful she's still alive.

She lived to see me get free of like really hardcore substance addiction 10 years ago,

And to see me do some good in the world.

You know,

I know what it feels like for my parents to be proud of me today,

I didn't for a long time.

I'm grateful to have a partner that loves me,

You know,

Like she just looks at me and breaks out into a huge smile,

And as I write this,

I feel happy.

You know,

There's,

I suspect there's something,

There's something in your life to find,

To tune into gratitude,

And gratitude can be a touchy practice,

You know,

It can be something that's forced down our throats,

But I really like to tune into what's real,

Like what am I really grateful for,

And not judge myself or whatever that is.

If I'm grateful that I got a really pair of,

Like I got a sweet pair of shoes,

Don't judge that shit,

Just let the joy,

Just let the gratitude come in.

If I'm grateful for some superficial thing,

Who cares,

That's fine,

Like that doesn't,

Like no judgment,

Whatever it is,

You know,

Like I know we're supposed to be grateful for this and that,

But that doesn't help,

That's not helping.

So the next factor,

Prevention of unwholesome mind states,

And how,

You know,

How will we do that?

Am I supposed to like watch my mind like some kind of like secret service agent,

Like hand on my pistol,

Ready to shoot down any interlopers?

Yeah,

I could be it.

But again,

I think like the kind way,

The kind approach is a little more manageable.

I think a key thing here is to stay mindful,

And you know,

That's easier said than done,

Just be mindful all the time,

Pay attention to everything you're doing,

And then you won't do something that hurts you.

Yeah,

That's,

Uh,

I have not yet achieved that level of Buddhahood,

So,

You know,

I certainly wouldn't expect it from anyone else.

None of my teachers have yet either,

I don't expect it of them.

But if I can apply the mindful way of living to all situations,

Right,

Like the things I think about are slowing down,

Not doing a bunch of things at once,

Because I know when I try and do,

Like when I try and multitask,

You know,

There's some pretty good research out there that shows that human beings actually can't really multitask.

Like we,

It seems like we can trick ourselves into thinking that we do.

And I know probably people listening to this were like,

Oh,

I can multitask,

I'm a multitasker.

I think it's kind of that thing we trick ourselves into,

Like that we're kind of just doing a few things badly rather than something like,

Well,

You know,

I could be wrong,

You know,

I can totally be wrong about this,

But it just,

It really seems that we're not wired for that,

We're not made for it.

And it causes stress,

You know,

Like I know in myself,

If I'm trying to do a bunch of things at once,

Like check emails,

You know,

I go to talk on the phone,

Like do things,

It's like,

It's just not,

It's not good.

You know,

Like I can say,

Like when I'm coloring,

Like I like to color and listen to music at the same time.

I think that's the extent of multitasking,

Because one's very passive and the other one's not very,

You know,

The other one's,

I just let the colors choose me.

I don't even really think about that too much.

So other things,

You know,

I just like being mindful of the way I live in the slow way,

Right?

Like staying off social media,

Like I don't have social media or use it,

Or rather I have it,

But I don't use it.

Like I don't go on Facebook other than to share things like this.

I don't like look at anyone that's interacted with me.

It's just because I have,

Like I can get hooked into people's likes and dislikes.

And,

You know,

Like the eight worldly wins,

I can get roped into praise and blame,

Loss and gain,

Fame and repute,

You know,

Like I can get caught up in these things.

So I just like,

Like I just,

I'm taking it easy on myself so I don't go there.

And,

You know,

There's so many people like on social media that,

You know,

At the often like will say hurtful things and at their best,

They're just like ignorant.

But at worst,

They're like intentionally trying to like cause harm to others or like to stir the pot,

You know,

And it's just not,

I don't find it helpful.

At least not to my mental state.

You know,

Staying off my devices,

Not checking my texts and emails,

Things like this can be very helpful to like not allowing,

You know,

Like hindrances to arise,

Not allowing unwholesome,

Unhelpful mindsets to arise.

You know,

Some other like not so obvious but important stuff is like taking care to nourish my body so it's as vital and energetic as possible,

Like getting enough rest,

Going to regular doctor's appointments so I don't get any like surprise,

Terrible things that come out and like knock my mind state out of,

You know,

Like neutrality.

Meeting my needs and being of service to others will help unwholesome mindsets from arising,

Like living in a,

Living in an ethical,

You know,

Virtuous,

Although that can be a trigger word too,

Virtuous way can help or can prevent unwholesome mindsets from arising.

You know,

Like if I'm being,

If I'm being helpful,

If I'm,

If I'm acting in wholesome ways that will beget wholesome mind states,

You know,

Like very much the simple understanding of karma,

Karma is that it's cause and effect,

Like my actions will have results.

You know,

It's not like very mysterious.

It's like if I,

If I am kind to people,

My like,

I will feel more at ease.

I won't get into fights with people,

Won't get into arguments.

You know,

If I try to understand other people's perspectives,

They will feel seen and be able to be open,

More open hearted.

So then we can connect rather than become separate and,

You know,

Promote disunity in the world.

So cultivating wholesome mind states is the third.

And you might even just upon hearing this,

You might notice,

Like recognize right away that there is going to be some overlap between some of the things I've said.

You know,

Like meditation can be a way to,

You know,

Remove,

Prevent and cultivate and sustain and hold,

You know,

Do all it can touch on all four.

Some of the things about cultivating,

You know,

Wholesome mind states is,

You know,

Like studying suttas,

Studying the Dhamma,

You know,

Like when I read,

You know,

Like when I read the words of the Buddha,

They inspire me,

They motivate me and they remind me like what is possible in this life.

They remind me that.

I can get free,

You know,

I don't know if I can get Buddhahood free in this lifetime,

If that's,

You know,

Like he said that liberate,

Fully,

Full liberation is possible within this lifetime.

And like.

I don't even know what to do with that,

You know what I mean?

Like,

I don't know if that means like it's definitely possible for all of us or it's possible for those of us with the right conditions or whatever,

But I believe that I can get free more than I am currently if I follow this path,

If I follow this path that he simply laid out for us.

You know,

Like reading,

You know,

Like reading wholesome stories,

Like I really I really like going on this website called the Good News Network.

And it's just like these adorable,

Beautiful stories of like good things happening in the world,

Whether it's like,

You know,

Like people figuring out how like better ways,

Sustainable ways to create energy.

Like I read this story about like Iceland is going to tap into one of their volcanoes to create geothermal energy,

You know,

Power a lot of the country.

Like I I read this story about this this gal that was like finding finding lost pets with her drone and like getting them back to their people,

Like just these like super wholesome pieces of news where,

You know,

Like talk about like preventing unwholesome mind states,

Like turn off the news,

Like,

You know,

Like there's this I think there can be like a real addiction almost to like feeling like you need to feeling like we need to know what's going on,

Like feeling like,

Oh,

Like I'm not knowing what's going on in the world.

I'm so like out of the loop.

I'm uneducated.

I know,

Like for me,

Like if I like start watching like the election stuff or things like this,

I can get really like drawn into taking sides and like us versus them thinking unwholesome,

Like closed off,

Closed mind,

Closed heart kind of places.

You know,

So when I like engage with things that are like,

Oh,

Wow,

These are really like beautiful things that are happening in the world because there are beautiful things that are happening in the world.

There are people doing kind and loving actions.

And if I tune into that,

It's like tuning into a radio station,

Like I can tune into that.

So like feeling my surroundings with other people that are like,

You know,

Like members of the Sangha,

You know,

I take refuge in the Buddha,

The Dhamma,

The Sangha,

The three refuges and the Sanghas,

You know,

Like my wise friends,

You know,

Like,

Of course,

The Sangha meant like group of monastics when that word was originally used.

But we hear,

You know,

Like modern days have kind of used that now as a group of wise friends,

Which,

You know,

Kalyanamita was the,

You know,

The technical term for what we're doing here.

But Sangha.

Sangha is good enough for me.

So,

You know,

I tune into having beautiful conversations,

I had a great conversation with a friend earlier today,

You know,

A friend who's also in recovery,

A friend who's on a similar path,

We talked about some recovery ideas and things about like past live regressions and like what that,

You know,

Like just dabbling into that conversation and just had a beautiful,

Uplifting conversation,

Stimulating,

You know,

Help supporting each other.

You know,

The more traditional ways,

Of course,

Are like the Brahmavihara practices,

You know,

Like we practice loving kindness,

You know,

And in our loving kindness practice,

We send loving and kind intentions towards,

You know,

Someone we admire and love,

To ourself,

To people who we feel neutral,

To beings,

Excuse me,

For whom we feel neutral,

And for beings we dislike or even hate.

And then for all beings,

You know,

We try and set the intention and cultivate that intention to have a loving heart towards all beings.

And then we send compassion to those that are suffering with the Karuna practice.

You know,

We focus on being happy for beings who are happy with our Mudita practice,

And we practice being cool,

You know,

Cool head,

Warm heart with Upekkha and equanimity.

We practice being,

Maintaining neutrality through all the worldly winds,

You know,

And we do this through cultivating intentional meditations with these Brahmaviharas or heart practices.

You know,

I can tell you that,

Like my first,

You know,

My first dips into,

You know,

Like not long retreats because I've never done a month,

But like my longest retreat I've done was eight days or ten days.

And,

You know,

The first,

The first retreats I did were like Vipassana,

The SN Goenka style.

And that,

At the time,

I wasn't prepared for it.

And I also didn't have like this idea of kindfulness yet.

So I was very hard on myself.

I was like,

You must,

Like you can't move.

Like I told you to sit in this room and meditate.

So that's what you're doing.

And I got very,

I wasn't able to tolerate all the rows because I wasn't able to meet it with compassion.

Sometime later,

I did a week-long Metta retreat via,

I did a week-long Metta retreat,

Which was offered online,

Which I was very grateful for,

Very,

Very grateful for.

And it showed me what the Brahmaviharas can do.

I remember being like towards the fourth,

Fifth,

Sixth day of that meditation retreat,

My heart just being wide open,

You know,

Like people that I had deep resentments for.

I could,

I saw their perspective.

You know,

I was like,

Oh,

I get all,

I understand that they were just in suffering and that's why they've acted this way.

And there's nothing to hold against them.

You know,

Like people with,

That deeply wounded me.

I just had this open heart,

You know,

Like I cultivated this open heart through this practice.

It was an active cultivation.

And,

You know,

You don't need to retreat to do that.

Retreats are great for it.

But we can do this in our everyday practice and we can do it when we're walking through the mall.

I can,

When I see someone,

I can smile at them.

That's an active part.

If they don't smile,

I can send them compassion.

If they do smile back,

I can offer mudita or loving kindness towards them.

I can tune to every person I see,

Every being I see with a loving heart and send those phrases in my mind towards them.

I can just keep the attitude of loving kindness going as best I'm able.

You know,

I can tune into meditation groups when I'm able,

Listen to the Dhamma,

As I've mentioned.

And sustaining it,

Sustaining wholesome mind states is the fourth.

And this,

Of course,

Includes a lot of the things I've spoke of already.

And I think a really important aspect of this as well is,

Is not clinging,

Not clinging to the wholesome mind states.

You know,

And I've been in that place where after a retreat,

I'm feeling so at ease and so wholesome.

And then like when things start to disturb me,

Getting very,

Like then getting very disturbed by being disturbed.

But the main point of the four is to,

The fourth sustaining is to just keep doing all the wholesome things that we've already been putting into practice.

You know,

One thing I would,

You know,

I would like to bring in is that I feel like the 12 steps,

You know,

That originally came from AA,

Which I'm not claiming to be a member of,

Is a really,

Can be really useful right after practice.

You know,

The steps are like a real process of investigation.

You know,

They ask me to investigate the reasons why I did some destructive things,

To take stock of my character,

My habits,

Flaws and strengths.

And so like this investigation into our conditioning,

Because I won't call it myself,

But investigating my conditioning and my habits can really give me insight into,

You know,

Like a deeper personal understanding of how to apply the wise efforts.

You know,

Like if I know my own quirks,

If I know the things that set me off,

Like I mentioned,

Going on Facebook and getting into politics can really set me into unwholesome mind states.

If I know these things about myself,

Then I'll know I'll have much better ability to prevent unwholesome mind states because I'll know,

Oh,

Like I'm going,

I have to go to this place today.

I have to go to the DMV.

I don't know.

I don't have a problem with that,

But it seems to be something.

That's the thing,

Right?

I have to deal with the workers' compensation board today.

That's a personal one.

And,

You know,

So I can prepare myself,

I can send some,

Like I can prep myself with grounding,

Feeling my body,

You know,

All these things,

Sending some loving kindness in advance towards my caseworker who's just doing her best to be a person in this world.

You know,

Myself,

I really like,

I'm like habitually in these in these mechanisms of like contempt and pugnacity and pride.

So like knowing these,

You know,

I can really consciously focus on their opposites.

You know,

For me,

Like the opposite of contempt might be curiosity,

The opposite of pugnacity.

It's not a commonly known word,

So I'll define it as just wanting to fight everybody.

So the opposite of pugnacity might be cooperation and the opposite of pride might be humility.

So knowing that,

I can focus on cultivating these intentionally as I go along.

And,

You know,

The culmination of the 12 steps is that we had an awakening and then we,

You know,

Went around trying to help other people,

Try to carry this message to others.

Essentially,

Just like anyone that's in need,

You know,

Living a kind and altruistic life,

Being of being loving and of service.

I feel like this really lines up with what I'm,

You know,

With what we're talking about here in Wise Effort today.

So there's definitely many technical things that I didn't talk about here.

Like the real,

You know,

The real educated,

Knowledgeable Buddhists listening to this will be able to be like,

Oh,

You missed this and this and this.

No doubt.

No doubt did.

And.

But the crux of this is to say that,

Like,

It's the spirit of this,

Right?

Like there are so many techniques,

There's so many techniques that I like from like psychology,

From philosophy,

Like philosophical lines of thinking that can lead us closer and closer to being wholesome and sustaining wholesome and abandoning the unwholesome.

You know,

Like really like,

You know,

Like through philosophy,

We can examine like any sorts of philosophy.

You know,

Currently I'm really very interested by the work of Simone Weil.

She was a very powerful philosopher who lived her philosophy and didn't just write books.

I'm very inspired by her.

You know,

Reading things like this can inspire us to live a wholesome life.

To do our best self.

So as I'm coming to wrap this talk,

I can feel a little bit of insecurity arising in my body,

I can feel a little bit of tension coming into my guts.

And lucky for me that I have some tools as to how I might remove this unwholesome state of mind.

I'm going to nurture myself a little bit,

Remind myself that what I'm offering here is good enough and that sharing the Dhamma is a gift for me,

A gift maybe for someone else.

But I'm doing something wholesome in this world and that's enough.

That's enough.

So until next time,

May you be happy.

May you be joyful.

And may you find freedom.