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(support available before sangha starts)
This Monday night (Aug. 2) we will have an optional online orientation for newcomers. Click the Zoom link above at 6:30pm EDT to meet with Andy, who will be facilitating.
This Monday Andy will facilitate. He shares the Dharma topic:
One of the central tenets of Buddhism is known as The Noble Eight Fold Path.
Right View
Right Resolve
Right Speech
RIght Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration
For this week's dharma sharing I thought I would focus on the sixth of the eight -- Right Effort. Endeavoring to give rise to skillful thoughts, words, and deeds and renouncing unskillful ones. Right effort can be viewed as something akin to the sweet spot between gritted teeth determination and relaxation that veers into daydreaming.
Right effort involves working towards healthy states of mind and body mind as well as learning to have the grace to accept and submit to what cannot be changed. In other words learning to let go of what is unhealthy or unhelpful.
Practically, this might mean on a daily basis, remembering the relationships between physical activities, events, situations, thoughts and emotions, and doing what is helpful as well as avoiding what is unhelpful. For example, I probably stop looking at my emails when I wake up in the morning if I want to start my day in a calm and balanced manner.
In the context of our meditation practice, right effort might involve remembering what has worked in the past to strengthen mindfulness and concentration, then inclining towards doing what is beneficial and avoiding what we know to be unhelpful. Again this might include starting my day with a short meditation rather than hoping to find a time at the end of my day when I know I will be tired, and likely have a lot of other distractions.
Buddha said that our effort is there to:
prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states;
Abandon existing unwholesome states;
To arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen; and
To cultivate wholesome states that are already present.
Thich Nhat Hahn (Thay) uses the metaphor of seeds which can either be left dormant or watered to encourage their growth. Another way to think about this is to keep the unwholesome stuff in the basement, and only bring the good stuff upstairs into the living area of your house. Keep this main living area full of things which encourage your Right Effort and keep you on your own noble eightfold path.
On Monday night, I thought we might explore:
How do you shake those unwholesome states when they arise?
How do you cultivate the arising of wholesome states when they are not present?
How do you retain the wholesome states when they arise without a feeling of grasping?
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If this subject is of interest you can find a dharma talk on the subject “The Noble Eightfold Path #6- The Practice of Right Effort” by Pháp Hải from Plum Village here.