Right Diligence or Right Effort Discussion please Write a paragraph about Right Diligence ( the heart of the buddha’s teaching) CHAPTER FOURTEEN Right Dili

Right Diligence or Right Effort Discussion please Write a paragraph about Right Diligence ( the heart of the buddha’s teaching) CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Right Diligence
Right Diligence (samyak pradhana), or Right Effort, is the
kind of energy that helps us realize the Noble Eightfold Path.
If we are diligent for possessions, sex, or food, that is wrong
diligence. If we work round-the-clock for profit or fame or to
run away from our suffering, that is wrong diligence also.
From outside, it may appear that we are diligent, but it is not
Right Diligence. The same can be true of our meditation
practice. We may appear diligent in our practice, but if it
takes us farther from reality or from those we love, it is wrong
diligence. When we practice sitting and walking meditation in
ways that cause our body and mind to suffer, our effort is not
Right Diligence and is not based on Right View. Our practice
should be intelligent, based on Right Understanding of the
teaching. It is not because we practice hard that we can say
that we are practicing Right Diligence.
There was a monk in Tang Dynasty China who was practic-
ing sitting meditation very hard, day and night. He thought
he was practicing harder than anyone else, and he was very
proud of this. He sat like a rock day and night, but his suffer-
ing was not transformed. One day a teacher asked him, “Why
are you sitting so hard?” and the monk replied, “To become a
Buddha!” The teacher picked up a tile and began polishing
it, and the monk asked, “Teacher, what are you doing?” His
master replied, “I am making a mirror.” The monk asked,
Master Huairang (667–744).
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THE HEART OF THE BUDDHA’S TEACHING
“How can you make a tile into a mirror?” and his teacher re-
plied, “How can you become a Buddha by sitting?”
The four practices usually associated with Right Diligence
are: (1) preventing unwholesome seeds in our store con
sciousness that have not yet arisen from arising, (2) helping
the unwholesome seeds that have already arisen to return to
our store consciousness, (3) finding ways to water the whole
some seeds in our store consciousness that have not yet arisen
and asking our friends to do the same, and (4) nourishing
the wholesome seeds that have already arisen so that they will
stay present in our mind consciousness and grow stronger.
This is called the Fourfold Right Diligence.
“Unwholesome” means not conducive to liberation or the
Path. In our store consciousness there are many seeds that
are not beneficial for our transformation, and if those seeds
are watered, they will grow stronger. When greed, hatred, ig-
norance, and wrong views arise, if we embrace them with
Right Mindfulness, sooner or later they will lose their
strength and return to our store consciousness.
When wholesome seeds have not yet arisen, we can water
them and help them come into our conscious mind. These
seeds of happiness, love, loyalty, and reconciliation need wa-
tering every day. If we water them, we will feel joyful, and this
will encourage them to stay longer. Keeping wholesome men-
tal formations in our mind consciousness is the fourth prac-
tice of Right Diligence.
The Fourfold Right Diligence is nourished by joy and in-
terest. If your practice does not bring you joy, you are not
practicing correctly. The Buddha asked the monk Sona, “Is it
true that before you became a monk you were a musician?”
Sona replied that it was so. The Buddha asked, “What hap-
pens if the string of your instrument is too loose?”
“When you pluck it, there will be no sound,” Sona replied.
“What happens when the string is too taut?”
“It will break.”
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RIGHT DILIGENCE
“The practice of the Way is the same,” the Buddha said.
“Maintain your health. Be joyful. Do not force yourself to do
things you cannot do.” We need to know our physical and
psychological limits. We shouldn’t force ourselves to do as-
cetic practices or lose ourselves in sensual pleasures. Right
Diligence lies in the Middle Way, between the extremes of
austerity and sensual indulgence.
The teachings of the Seven Factors of Awakening are also
part of the practice of Right Diligence. Joy is a factor of awak-
ening, and it is at the heart of Right Diligence. Ease, another
Factor of Awakening, is also essential for Right Diligence. In
fact, not only Right Diligence but also Right Mindfulness and
Right Concentration need joy and ease. Right Diligence does
not mean to force ourselves. If we have joy, ease, and interest,
our effort will come naturally. When we hear the bell inviting
us for walking or sitting meditation, we will have the energy to
participate if we find meditation joyful and interesting. If we
do not have the energy to practice sitting or walking medita-
tion, it is because these practices do not bring us joy or trans-
form us, or we do not yet see their benefit.
When I wanted to become a novice monk, my family
thought that a monk’s life would be too difficult for me. But
I knew it was the only way I could be happy, and I persisted.
Once I became a novice, I felt as happy and free as a bird in
the sky. When it came time for chanting sutras, I felt as
though I had been invited to a concert. Sometimes on moon-
lit nights, when the monks were chanting the sutras standing
by the crescent pond, I thought I was in paradise listening to
angels. When I could not attend morning chanting because I
had another task, just hearing the words of the Shurangama
Sutra coming from the Buddha Hall brought me happiness.
2
Vinaya Mahavagga Khuddaka Nikaya 5.
3 The Seven Factors of Awakening – mindfulness, investigating phenom-
ena, diligence, joy, ease, concentration, and letting go. See chap. 26.
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THE HEART OF THE BUDDHA’S TEACHING
Everyone at Tu Hieu Pagoda practiced with interest, joy, and
diligence. There was no forced effort, just the love and sup.
port of our teacher and brothers in the practice.
At Plum Village, children participate in sitting and walking
meditation and silent meals. At first, they do it just to be with
their friends who are already practicing, but after they taste
the peace and joy of meditation, they continue on their own
because they want to. Sometimes it takes adults four or five
years of practicing the outer form before they taste the true
joy of practice. Master Guishan said, “Time flies like an arrow.
If we do not live deeply, we waste our life.” Someone who
can devote her life to the practice, who has a chance to be
near her teacher and friends in the practice, has a wonderful
opportunity that can bring her great happiness. If we lack
Right Diligence, it is because we have not found a way to prac-
tice that is true for us, or have not felt deeply the need to
practice. A mindful life can be wonderful.
Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”
Reciting this gatha can give us energy to live the day well.
Twenty-four hours are a treasure-chest of jewels. If we waste
these hours, we waste our life. The practice is to smile as soon
as we wake up, recognizing this day as an opportunity for
practicing. It is up to us not to waste it. When we look at all
beings with eyes of love and compassion, we feel wonderful.
With the energy of mindfulness, washing the dishes, sweeping
* From “Encouraging Words,” in Thich Nhat Hanh, Stepping into Freedom:
An Introduction to Buddhist Monastic Training (Berkeley: Parallax
Press
1997), pp. 89-97. Guishan (771-853) was one of the great Tang Dynasty
meditation masters.
– Thich Nhat Hanh, Present Moment Wonderful Moment, P. 8.
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RIGHT DILIGENCE
the floor, or practicing sitting or walking meditation are all
the more precious.
Suffering can propel us to practice. When we are anxious
or sad and see that these practices bring us relief, we will want
to continue. It takes energy to look into suffering and to see
what has brought about that suffering. But this insight will
lead us to see how to end our suffering, and the path needed
to do so. When we embrace our suffering, we see its origins,
and we see that it can end because there is a path. Our suffer-
ing is at the center. When we look into the compost, we see
the flowers. When we look into the sea of fire, we see a lotus.
The path that does not run away from but embraces our suf-
fering is the path that will lead us to liberation.
It is not always necessary for us to deal directly with our suf-
fering. Sometimes we can just allow it to lie dormant in our
store consciousness, and we use the opportunity to touch the
refreshing and healing elements within us and around us
with our mindfulness. They will take care of our pain, like an-
tibodies taking care of the foreign bodies that have entered
our bloodstream. When unwholesome seeds have arisen, we
have to take care of them. When unwholesome seeds are dor-
mant, our job is to help them sleep peacefully and be trans-
formed at the base.
With Right View, we see the way we need to go, and our
seeing gives us faith and energy. If we feel better after practic-
ing walking meditation for an hour, we will have the determi-
nation to continue the practice. When we see how walking
meditation brings peace to others, we will have even more
faith in practice. With patience, we can discover the joys of
life that are all around us, and we will have more energy, in-
terest, and diligence.
The practice of mindful living should be joyful and pleas-
ant. If you breathe in and out and feel joy and peace, that is
Right Diligence. If you suppress yourself, if you suffer during
your practice, it probably is not Right Diligence. Examine
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