The Four Right Efforts

Week of March 28, 2005 – The Four Right Efforts

Following the Four Bases of Mindfulness are the Four Right Efforts (Four Right Exertions/Four Correct Endeavors); these are the fifth to eight aids to enlightenment.

The four right efforts are:

Effort not to initiate evils not yet arisen - Guarding.
Effort to eliminate evils already arisen - Abandoning.
Effort to initiate virtues not yet arisen - Developing.
Effort to consolidate, increase, and not deteriorate virtue already arisen - Maintaining.

In On buddhanet.net (www.buddhnet.net), under “The Wings to Awakening: The Four Right Exertions”, it is very well-written as follows:

The four activities included in this set show how effort can be applied to developing skillful qualities in the mind. The basic formula runs as follows:

There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, arouses persistence, upholds and exerts his intent:
1. for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen...
2. for the sake of the abandoning of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen...
3. for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen...(and)
4. for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, and culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen.

These four aspects of effort are also termed guarding, abandoning, developing, and maintaining. All four play a necessary role in bringing the mind to Awakening, although in some cases they are simply four sides to a single process. The abandoning of unskillful mental qualities can frequently be accomplished simply by focusing on the development of skillful ones, such as mindfulness. The same principle can also act in reverse: in the skillful eradication of unskillful qualities, the skillfulness of the eradication is in and of itself the development of mindful discernment. As we will see when we deal with the seven factors of Awakening, the act of nourishing a factor of Awakening can in some cases simultaneously starve a hindrance, while the conscious starving of a hindrance can foster a factor of Awakening. Ultimately, though, right exertion requires more than simply abstaining from what is unskillful, for it must apply the basic factors of skillfulness-mindfulness and discernment-to gain an understanding of how even skillfulness can be transcended.

Perhaps the most important point in developing right exertion is to realize that the effort to abandon unskillful qualities and to develop skillful qualities must be skillful itself. Unskillful efforts at eradicating unskillful states, even if well intended, can many times exacerbate problems instead of solving them. Treating hatred with hatred, for instance, is less effective than treating it with the kind of understanding developed in the second stage of frames-of-reference meditation, which sees into causes and effects, and learns how to manipulate causes properly so as to get the desired effects. For this reason, the basic formula for right exertion includes, both implicitly and explicitly, other factors of the path to ensure that the effort is skillfully applied. Three of the qualities that activate the mind in these exertions-desire, persistence, and intent-are also members of the bases of power, where they function as dominant factors in the attainment of concentration. The ability to discriminate between skillful and unskillful qualities, implicit in all of these exertions, requires a certain level of mindfulness and discernment. The skillful qualities that are mentioned most prominently as worthy of development are the seven factors of Awakening, which include mindfulness, analysis of mental qualities, and the factors of jhana, all of which must be reinvested in the process of right exertion to bring it to higher levels of finesse.

After we have an idea of or have started to practice contemplation, how do we apply it in dealing with our daily lives? This is where the four right efforts come in. The basic inspiration is very simple to understand:, perform wholesome acts, avoid non-wholesome acts. Most people will not challenge such an assertion. The difficult issue here is how to determine which/what is evil or virtuous, wholesome or unwholesome.

Haiyun HeShang used the following standard: any action that increases our Life Energy (potential capacity) is virtuous or wholesome and any action that diminishes our Life Energy (potential capacity) is evil or unnon-wholesome. Thus it goes beyond the appearance of the action; it goes to the essence. Take the example of Giving. Generosity is basically virtuous, yet if one gives out of the greed for fame, to show off or to despiste others; the act will diminish one’s Life Energy, for it pushes one towards greediness and ignorance.

When it comes to action, our motivation is very important. If we are able to start with a pure motivation while initiating an action, and half way through completion the accomplishment turns out to be unwholesome, we can still follow the four right efforts to guard, abandon, develop and maintain wholesome actions.

We need to be proficient in contemplating our mind to perceive our motivation, without prejudice. We must have a good understanding of the Dharma to distinguish between appearance and essence. Everything is interrelated. Learning Buddhism is so much fun!