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Shifu Nagaboshi
The concept of Right Effort is well known as a section of the Eightfold Noble Path laid out by the Buddha, but beyond the most simple and obvious interpretations, what is the significance of this formulation?
Right Effort is the energetic will :
to prevent evil and unwholesome states of mind from arising
to eliminate such evil and unwholesome states that have already arisen,
to produce or cause to arise good and wholesome states of mind not yet arisen,
to develop and bring to perfection the good and wholesome states of mind already present.
This is often viewed simply as an injunction to do good and avoid evil. However, instead of moral requisites, a list of do's and don'ts, Right Effort is a fourfold formulation for the development of wisdom, reflecting as it does the nature of the internal and external realms that we inhabit.
It mirrors the simple truth that each moment is the result of past moments and is also creating the future. Recognising this, we conduct ourselves accordingly, and this recognition is also in itself the cultivation of wisdom.
Right effort can be explained with the analogy of gardening. In the garden of consciousness, as in any garden, it is not enough to merely pull out the weeds or plant new shrubs: what is required is a fourfold approach. We have to remove the weeds and prevent their return by pulling them by the roots and by tending the garden regularly. We also have to plant flower seeds, lay the vegetable patch, and water and nurture these plants. What is needed is an all-inclusive approach of action and ongoing effort.
Without this, even beneficial effort can be subject to negation or suffer reversion. We can negate the beneficial with counter-balancing unbeneficial actions which actually neutralise any positive progress, for example, by engaging in meditation and Dharma study but still befuddling our minds by getting drunk every Friday night. We can also counter-balance the beneficial by reversion, drifting back to old habits. We can see this in the idle chatter that often occurs immediately following meditation or a particularly intense class, and in self-undermining tactics that surface after we have embarked on a positive change and which serves to reverse any progress.
It is true that in many cases, effort concentrated solely on doing the beneficial will automatically decrease the unbeneficial. For example, training several nights a week will inevitably reduce the time that can be spent in the pub. In the garden, weeding alone at least gives the possibility for desirable plants to grow. But it is also true that in many cases, the tendency or habitual desire for the unbeneficial is only rendered temporarily inactive by this approach: it is possible that the unbeneficial tendency is simply lying latent and awaiting for an opportune moment or the right conditions to resurface.
Therefore, any single-pronged approach requires time - time for the new to become so habitual that it supersedes the old. Much more efficient, then, is an approach that actively reduces the unbeneficial while actively developing the beneficial.
Subtle tendencies -latent or inactive, beneficial, unbeneficial or indeterminate - were referred to by Vasubandhu and other teachers of the Yogacara system as bija or 'seeds'.
Bija represent latent groupings of actions which will require eventual expression. The form and nature of that expression is determined by the previous activities which formed them and gave them the capacity to become seeds. Instead of fading away, they sink into the regulative foundations or functions of our basic consciousness, awaiting an opportunity for future expression. In this sense, they are like literal plant seeds. They obey the laws of the seasons: in the winter of consciousness they sleep, in the spring they come into being, in the summer they blossom, in the autumn they fade.
However, unlike plant seeds, they are capable of changing or being transformed by the nature of subsequent patterns or bija. It is difficult to undo bija that relate to the physical form, but bija consisting purely of conscious patterns can potentially be accessed and modified by the nature of future bija. For example, a series of moments of destructive tendencies can be modified by a greater series of constructive moments. Nevertheless, to lessen or dissolve the tendencies or predispositions of bija is not an easy task.
Some bija are very powerfully specific and the resulting expressions are often inevitable. This is more commonly true with those related to physical karma or physical actions against others which incur physical results. But even in the ensuing suffering we can still apply the principle of Right Effort in our response to that suffering.
In the same way that proclivities represent one specific type of result coming from many different types of actions or sets of actions, it is not always necessary to have a specific act for their emergence. Therefore the bija of certain type of karmic activity can be completely undone by many bija of another type of activity. This may explain the event referred to in the sutras in which Angulimala undergoes a short intense period of suffering which, Shakyamuni explains, is the result of a much longer set of actions in the past.
We are constantly in a state of being caught up by our past and creating our future. All the actions that we experience are the result of past and present moments coming together. We do not know all the forces that are present in us at any one moment and we don't fully know all the causes of that present moment. Because of this, when we initiate an action of mind or body we can never be sure of what all its results will be. Even actions done with good intent can have unforeseen disastrous consequences. So the criteria of simple good motives or good intent is not enough to accommodate the potentialities which are explained in the Yogacara system as being due to bija.
Simply refraining from unbeneficial acts would put us in a neutral position - we would not be creating unbeneficial bbija for the future, but we would still have the results of past actions (good or bad) awaiting expression. In such a case, we would be in danger of developing laziness or lethargy towards the beneficial and we would also make it easier for unskilful tendencies to strengthen.
In order to avert such a situation, the necessity for an additional layer is obvious. And this is the effort to generate the skilful, that which leads to wisdom and Enlightenment. This is actively sowing good seeds, creating good bija for the future.
When all four efforts are made simultaneously - dissolving the unbeneficial, preventing the unbeneficial from arising, creating and developing the beneficial - then, returning to the gardening analogy, this is like planting flower seeds in our weed-free garden, and watering and tending the grounds.
The first step in this process is establishing the intention to begin the task. Deciding to pay attention to the state of our garden rather than allowing it to run wild. In Buddhism, this point is represented by the act of taking the precepts, when we accept the need and the potential for transforming our consciousness and recognise the value of the precepts in helping us with this task. In gardening terms, this is like obtaining the tools and equipment which make it possible to begin.
It is not possible to predetermine specific courses of action to cater for the expression of each bija. Instead, what is taught is a generalised approach which caters for all potentialities and can accommodate the facets and characteristics of the majority of potential results that bija may produce. The best summary of this general all-embracing approach lies within that which we call Right Effort.
Right Effort is not a recipe for ideal consciousness, an ideal state or an ideal world because - like a garden - our consciousness undergoes seasons, so there will always be times when the bad will predominate for long or short periods. But these have to be accepted as the eternal flow of consciousness. The only way to make any sense of them is to persevere in Right Effort, dissolving the unbeneficial, developing the beneficial and leaning towards wisdom.
"All that we have is the result of what we have thought: all that we are is founded on our thoughts and formed of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain pursues him, as the wheel of the wagon follows the hoof of the ox that draws it. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness pursues him like his own shadow that never leaves him."
Verses 1 and 2 of the Dhammapada
"Evil tendencies of the unrestrained and careless go on increasing if they neglect doing what ought to be done and do what ought not be done. But for those who are mindful of fleshly activities, who do not do what should not be done, and steadfastly do what should be done, their evil tendencies go on decreasing and come to an end."
Verses 292 and 293 of the Dhammapada"