So I'd like to start this this Dharma talk with a story.
It's a Zen story and it illustrates the topic that we're on.
Today we come to the third factor of awakening.
The third factor is effort.
So the story.
It is said that a great Zen teacher asked an initiate to sit by the stream until he heard all that the water had to teach.
After days of bending his mind around the scene,
A small monkey happened by and in one seemingly bound of joy splashed about in the stream.
The initiate wept and returned to his teacher who scolded him lovingly and said,
The monkey heard.
You just listened.
Why did the initiate weep when he went back to sit with his teacher?
What happened?
He wept because he realized as much as he was sitting by the side of the stream trying to understand what the water had to teach him,
He couldn't do it with his mind.
He had to jump into the water,
Jump into the stream.
Then he could really know what the water had to teach.
So there are many different instructions on the spiritual path.
The Buddha gave over 60,
000 strategies and approaches kind of with the understanding that one size doesn't fit all,
Right?
But of all these different ways,
One element that's included in all of them is effort,
Is energy.
Effort really is the root of our practice.
It's the root of accomplishment.
And without effort,
We stay lost.
We stay rooted in our habits.
But effort can also have a complicated relationship to our practice because there's this tendency to associate effort with striving or doing something.
So it's important to recognize that it's not the effort of striving,
Not the effort that's exhausting.
It's the effort like the Zen story to jump in,
To jump in.
The effort actually uplifts us.
There's not much difference than like a toddler who's completely involved in playing with blocks or playing a game or playing in the sand.
It's the effort of play like the monkey.
So it's helpful to understand that each of these factors of awakening,
They build on the previous one.
And these factors are for the benefit of our freedom.
So the first factor,
The factor of awareness,
Of mindfulness,
That's really developing and establishing ourselves in the present more fully.
So the word I offered was here to remind yourself that you're here.
This is the way in which we can cultivate and bring this factor of awakening into our life to be here.
And then as we become more sharp and there's greater clarity of,
You know,
Then it's what,
What's here,
What's happening in the present moment?
Not because we're working at it,
But because we've sort of cleaned our glasses,
You know,
We can see more clearly.
And what we're beginning to see is we have some choice.
Okay,
So what's here?
And then we can use the distinction of what is helpful,
What is not helpful.
So when we see that we have a really busy mind and we're moving really fast,
We can bring attention to the busy mind in a non judgmental way,
Like not trying to fix it.
Just a kind way like,
Ah,
Very busy in the mind.
What's helpful?
What's not helpful?
Where should I place my attention?
And that choice?
Where should I place my attention?
That choice right then and there.
That's the effort.
That's the right amount of effort.
The effort that we make in this practice means that we make some choices on how we're going to meet experience.
So it's very simple,
Subtle.
So what what are we choosing in the meditation practice?
We just take meditation practice.
What are we choosing to put our attention on?
And in meditation,
It's useful to place our attention on what's going to help us in meditation.
So the breath,
The sensations often help us stay present.
You know,
Sometimes it's very helpful to stay with a pleasant sensation.
We have a tendency as human beings to try to figure out our life when we're sitting down on our cushions.
Paying attention to our problems like what's difficult,
What needs fixing,
What's unpleasant,
And it kind of takes over.
So often,
The instruction is to come back to the breath.
What experience of the exhale is often very pleasant and relaxing.
It's easier for the mind to be with a pleasant sensation than an unpleasant sensation.
If the mind only pays attention to what's unpleasant,
Like what needs fixing,
What needs doing,
You know,
Why would the mind want to be in the present moment,
If there's all this stuff to fix?
I mean,
There's certainly times in our life where we have to pay attention to what's unpleasant.
You know,
If you have pain in the body,
For example,
You know,
If we actually start to pay attention to what's unpleasant,
That pain,
It can be useful.
You know,
We can actually get in there a little bit deeper.
We might learn some way to adjust and change our posture and open and allow something to release around the pain.
Maybe we can relax around it.
So effort really is about meeting experience with this very relaxed choice about where we put our attention.
Do we jump into the water or do we sit and watch it?
What do we do that's skillful and helpful?
And you know,
It circles back to mindfulness.
Awareness is the greatest resource that we have.
It's a little bit like food,
You know.
And where our attention goes,
Like where we place our attention,
That feeds what we pay attention to.
So if we're placing our attention on the state of the world,
The pandemic,
What it means for us personally,
Then we're feeding that and growing it and it's developing more fully.
If we're paying attention to all the planning that we have,
All of the things that we want to do,
Planning,
Planning,
Planning,
Then we're feeding and growing more planning.
But what's happening is that we're never quite here.
We're never quite here when we're doing that.
We're just feeding some future,
Some different future.
So we're not here.
So the practice then goes back to the first factor of awakening.
Just here,
What's here?
If our attention goes to,
Let me have some compassion for myself,
Some goodwill that I'm actually doing this practice for the benefit of myself and others.
If my attention goes towards generosity and kindness,
Or just clear seeing to what's here,
Then we're feeding what's skillful,
What's wholesome for us.
So the word for effort,
Effort and this factor of awakening,
It's kind of like choice,
Recognition.
I recognize that I have a choice.
I'm at a crossroad right now.
Do I incline my mind towards my patterns,
My negative patterns or my planning patterns or my future tripping patterns or do I turn and feed my gratitude?
Because as soon as you make that turn,
Then it becomes very engaged.
This is what I'm going to feed and it's that feeding that is the effort.
And if anyone's ever fed a baby,
It's like that very slowly.
First it's messy,
You know,
At first it's messy.
So we start to recognize we have a choice in the moment to feed what matters most to us.
And what we do is important,
You're important.
So let the effort flow in caring for yourself in the world.
Let that effort towards self care,
What you're doing right here and now.
Jump into that.
