Dear Friends, The sixth factor of the eightfold path is right or wise effort. Gil Fronsdal describes this factor succinctly as follows: Right Effort involves four different ways we can apply ourselves. When it comes to our inner thoughts, feelings, and states, we can (1) prevent, (2) overcome, (3) arouse, or (4) maintain these inner experiences. Far from… Read More »
Dear Friends, Gil’s fifth talk on viriya looks at “effortless effort.”https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11105 He describes the progression of effort as “deeper layers of letting go.” Effortless effort is a continuation of this flow of effort in a profound way. There is equanimity, non-reactivity, non-attachment. An analogy Gil shares is that of something tethered outside with a rope. Over time, the… Read More »
Dear Friends, Gil is building the progression of effort in practice. The initiating effort gets us going, perhaps again and again. Then we can make choices where we will put the effort – to something helpful or not helpful. Then we develop some level of relaxed persistence, some continuity of practice. Gil describes these as “what we offer”… Read More »
Dear Friends, So far we have explored the energy to get started (initiating effort), the way we can decide where to put our effort (right endeavor), and today, we will review what Gil calls Continuous Effort.https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11099 As he surmises, the phrase “continuous effort” brings up for me a tightness, a striving, a gotta-get-this-right feeling. And that is quite… Read More »
Dear Friends, The next aspect of viriya that Gil discusses is right endeavor.https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11093(Gil talks about the word “right” elsewhere: “it’s useful to think of it as meaning ‘appropriate,’ as when we speak of having the ‘right’ tool for a particular task.”) He uses the word “endeavor” as it is “what we are trying to do, what we are… Read More »
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… Read More »
