Dear Friends,
Today, we’ll shift to the next of the faculties – viriya – the effort, energy, spark that gets a person started and continuing on the practice.
We all know that doing things can sometimes be hard – it’s hard to get started, it’s hard to keep going. That might be why viriya shows up in so many of the Buddhist lists. The Insight Meditation Center has a wonderful summary of the many lists, and viriya is included in:
- The Four Bases of Power or Success
- The Five Faculties (what we’re covering this month) and Five Powers (same list, when they are developed)
- The Seven Factors of Enlightenment
- The Ten Perfections (Parami)
Gil’s first short talk on the subject looks at the effort it takes to get started, what he calls initiating effort.
https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11089
It takes some effort to get started – meditation, being mindful, or other tasks.
Sometimes, I can see a big story build up about how hard this or that will be, and it’s easy to get deterred from getting going. Back when I did a lot of training for triathlon, one of my coaches would remind me to just get out the door, and then see how I felt about continuing. In the context of a meditation practice, I sometimes do it as a “beditation” (as Dawn Mauricio has called it). I might just sit on the edge of my bed first thing in the morning. That takes some effort, but it doesn’t have to be huge.
That said, I also appreciate Gil’s suggestion that “Some of that effort to get to the cushion is part of the practice itself, especially if you give care and attention to how you sit down to meditate.” He has the suggestion that you can actually start your meditation a few minutes before you sit down to meditate by being a bit calmer with the activities we do before sitting. For example, if I want to feed the dog first, I can do that with more care, kindness, patience, so that when I do start the formal meditation practice, the energy I bring into the practice is more conducive to settling into practice.
Within practice itself, we are invited to bring this initiating effort again and again, as we notice the attention has gotten distracted. Gil says, “we can have a very open, generous idea that we are going to sit now as if it’s the very first time. … We are allowed to start afresh, as if this is the newest thing we are doing.” I like the kindness and care that is expressed in this way of starting again.
Practice:
Here’s a 10ish minute meditation from Dawn, which she calls “Your Go To Meditation”, and she describes it this way:
One of the biggest barriers many people face when starting their meditation practice is the idea that they are inherently either “good” or “bad” at it. In reality, though, a lot of meditation is the practice of coming back over and over and over again. This 10-minute meditation, which is my “go-to” when I’m in a pinch, is a simple and yet effective practice that kindly reminds you to begin again and again. The good news is that this practice will always be there to welcome you back each time.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/17lLFpw7sFmDBkFb9E2Q8s
or
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s3e1-your-go-to-meditation/id1591701128?i=1000582387824
With good wishes,
Andrea