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Mindfulness of Breathing (45) Effort Factor of Awakening

So the topic now is the third factor of awakening, the effort factor of awakening, or the effort limb. The word aṅga^[1] can mean limb or part, and so it's a part of the whole. The seven limbs of awakening, the seven factors or parts of awakening, can be seen as seven different qualities, practices, or states of one whole way of being. One of those ways of being is to engage, to make efforts to do things. So it's not just the passivity of how we are, but there's also an engagement in our practice and in our world.

The word viriya^[2] comes from the word for "hero," and so implies a kind of heroic effort. But all these words, like "effort" and "heroic effort," can lend themselves to feeling exhausting as soon as you hear them. You might think, "Oh no, I have to do all this work now, and tiring work."

Some translators translate this word for effort and the effort factor of awakening as "endeavor." I don't know if for some of us the word "endeavoring" has a slightly nicer feeling than the word "effort." We endeavor to do something; it's what we are engaged in trying to do, to make it feel closer in, and less about the energetics of effort. I relate this "right effort" with the word "choice." It's the choices we make as we practice and as we live our life. A choice doesn't necessarily imply that there's a lot of effort, strain, or work involved. It's just a choice—the choice in what we're going to endeavor in.

The usual definition or description of this effort factor of awakening is the same description as the effort factor of the Eightfold Path. And so if you take it as endeavoring, the Buddha is here teaching us what endeavors are worthwhile to do in this wonderful, precious life that we have. What should we do with our life? What endeavors? Rather than giving an answer for a particular project, work to do, or career, the answer has to do with the consequences of what we do and how we do it. So, choose those things that lead to what is skillful or wholesome. Those things that lead to what's unskillful or unwholesome, don't do those things. Don't choose those things to do.

What's most skillful in the teachings of the Buddha are those things that avoid causing suffering. Suffering comes along with a feeling of being caught, trapped, constricted, clinging to something, or craving; the world has gotten smaller and narrower. We choose to do those things that are skillful, which are those things that lead away from suffering and lead to a kind of wonderful happiness and peace that goes along with feelings of freedom, of openness, of tranquility, of goodness, of happiness.

It isn't just any old happiness that we're looking for, because some happiness is like the happiness of winning the lottery. It is not really a deep, nourishing wellspring of goodness, of warmth, of peace, of a real intimacy with the warmth and juiciness of life. It's more of a surface joy and exuberance, and the promise of all kinds of exciting things. They say that most people who win big lotteries are less happy a year later than they were before they won it.

So what is lasting happiness? What brings lasting well-being? Begin having a sense of what that is, not in the big picture—like way in the future—but to recognize this in ourselves, moment by moment. For example, if I'm driving my car and there's a light up ahead that's green, but I don't know if I'll make it, I might get contracted, focused, and tight. I think, "I better make it. I'll be late for my appointment," or "My life will be so much more difficult if I don't make that green light." Then we get contracted and tight. The feeling in the body, the mind, and the heart—even if it's subtle—is not a very good one. It's not a nourishing one. It's not one that inculcates goodness, warmth, peace, love, or care for others.

But another choice in driving would be to think, "I see the light up there, it's green right now, but I probably can't reach it, I'm not sure." Rather than racing to see if you can make it, what if—seeing there's no one behind you right in the moment—you actually go a little bit slower and just kind of take it easy, and give the light a chance to turn red? Then you can be connected to yourself in a different kind of way. You can relax a little bit, be more open, be more receptive to the traffic around you and to the environment, and not so narrowly focused. It turns red, you stop, you sit there, and it turns out you're quite contented. You did a nice thing for yourself.

Some of you might think this example is ridiculous, but we have ten thousands of these small, little choices that we make throughout the day. To begin endeavoring with right effort is to make wise choices around these ten thousand little things we do throughout the day, including the big choices we make, the big things we do. This is how we bring mindfulness into daily life. We bring mindfulness to all that we're doing. We're not just aware of what we're doing; we're aware of the choices we make as we do them. We are aware of the options we have of which direction we go: the skillful or the unskillful.

The investigation factor of awakening—the factor of awakening that sees clearly and sees distinctions—includes seeing this distinction between the healthy and unhealthy, skillful and unskillful, beneficial and not beneficial, leading to entrapment or leading to freedom.

And so right effort in the effort factor of awakening is that factor of awakening that's constantly turning towards the healthy choice. But not because it's a lot of work. In fact, as we get the hang of it, it feels like the opposite. That's where the least work is! In some ways, choosing the unskillful thing—if you're lazy or just going along with impulses because it feels like the easy way—generally results in consequences that require much more work later, much more repair, stress, and all that. Choose the healthy, skillful approach, and the consequences tend to be good in the future, and no repair is needed. You don't have to de-stress or recover from it afterwards.

Getting into the habit and the ongoingness of being present and making these wise choices toward what's skillful and beneficial tends to start creating a life which has less and less stress in it. There is less and less need to recover from the stress and tensions of life. So there's more energy, more vitality for this life of ours, than if we repeatedly choose the unskillful.

This effort factor of awakening is certainly about the individual practices and choices we make along this line, but it's also more of a state, a generalized attitude, or an orientation for how we live, where we're just naturally oriented towards the skillful. We become naturally oriented towards these choices which lead to our betterment, to ease, to peace, to ongoing well-being. There's a momentum in that direction. There's a kind of strength to it that follows in the wake of the second factor of awakening becoming strong—this clear seeing.

First, there's mindfulness that places us in the present moment. Then there's investigation, exploration, or discovery that helps us to see all the choices we have in the moment. When you see the green light or the red light ahead as you drive, you see, "Oh, there's a choice here." And then there's the effort factor of awakening, where something inside of you, with time, almost doesn't require a lot of reflection, planning, calculating, and bringing up the calculus of stress and freedom. It just feels like, "Oh, that's the natural thing to do. That's the easeful way. That's where the doors are open. That's where freedom is found." Of course we choose that.

And so the choice becomes more and more effortless, more and more a delight, and joyful. My hope for all of you is that if you do this, a day will come when the word "effort" just brings you a big smile: "Oh, I am so lucky to be able to make effort! Wow, this effort thing is fantastic!" Wouldn't that be great?

Along the way, what's happening is you're beginning to manifest your freedom, your ability to be free. To simply choose to be mindful is an expression of freedom. To choose to discover, to look more carefully, to investigate is an engagement of your freedom. To make your choice is an enactment of freedom.

That is very different than being the victim of our experience, or carrying the burden of the weight of the world on our shoulders with everything being so hard and uphill. We can feel impacted, piled up with responsibility where there's no freedom. To choose freedom over and over again is not second nature for many people, but this is what we're working with and how we're setting ourselves free—in the big sense as well—by all these small movements of manifesting our freedom in mindfulness, investigation, and the choices we make.

So thank you, and I look forward to continuing this series.