| | Hello everyone, I am sure this subject has been brought up before, ( barrage of links to follow), but if not, and anyway, some thoughts.
Right Effort , as I remember anyway, the formula,
First , to abandon an unwholesome state that has already arisen.
Second, to not let unwholesome state arise that has not yet arisen.
Third, to arouse a wholesome state that has not yet arisen.
Fourth, to maintain a wholesome state that has already arisen.
This formula, when practiced , without fail, every mindful moment one is capable of , should not be taken lightly.
With proper practice, one will eventually easily dismiss, anger, jealousy, etc etc (insert unwholesome state) And replace and sustain wholesome states, equanimity, joy, etc etc
Now, I am not saying this is the one catch-all practice, and have not given any how -to's, but, from experience, this just as important to practice as insight and tranquility, (not to mention the other five practices prescribed, for a total of eight, the eightfold path)
Anyway, are there others out there that can testify to the benefit of Right Effort?
Is Right Effort simply scoffed away under the rug? Same as done with Right Speech, etc?
Is it not understood how to practice Right Effort?
Right Effort coupled with Right Mindfulness has helped me greatly, how so?
Well, meditating diligently for a while, I timed and kept a log of every session, never missing a day, except one day on a family visit. I had read a study that it takes 10,000 hours for a human to master something, whether it was piano, ,baseball, golf, whatever. And adding up a year of meditation, it came to about 400- 700 hours of meditation a year. So, to be a meditation master, I would have to meditate everyday at the current rate for about 20-30 more years! yikes..
That's about the time that the insight hit me, that is that mindfulness practice was meant to be 24/7, along with the inclusion of the other folds of the path, the practice potential grows to 5840 hours per year, (assuming 8 hours of sleep).
Open for discussion.
Metta
Psi Phi |