Right Effort

Questioner: Awareness arises when there are conditions. We cannot make awareness arise at will; awareness is anattā. It would seem, therefore, that we cannot make an effort to have awareness. I know, however, that right effort, in Pāli: sammā-vāyāma, is one of the factors of the eightfold Path. What is the characteristic of right effort?

Nina: Sammā-vāyāma or right effort is the cetasika which is effort or energy, in Pāli: viriya. The Visuddhimagga (XIV, 137) states about viriya:

Energy (viriya) is the state of one who is vigorous (vira). Its characteristic is marshaling (driving). Its function is to consolidate conascent states. It is manifested as non-collapse. Because of the words “Bestirred, he strives wisely” (Anguttara Nikāya II, 115(48)) its proximate cause is a sense of urgency; or its proximate cause is grounds for the initiation of energy. When rightly initiated, it should be regarded as the root of all attainments.

Viriya is a type of nāma but is it not true that we take it for self? There are different kinds of viriya. There is viriya which is akusala and there is viriya which is kusala. There is viriya with dāna, viriya with sīla, viriya in samatha and viriya in vipassanā, which is right effort of the eightfold Path (sammā-vāyāma), and all these kinds of viriya have different qualities.

Sammā-vāyāma of the eightfold Path arises together with sammā-diṭṭhi, right understanding and sammā-sati, right mindfulness. The development of vipassanā is not merely being mindful of realities, without investigating their characteristics. The characteristics of nāma and rūpa must be thoroughly investigated over and over again until they are understood as only a nāma or only a rūpa, non-self. Sammā-vāyāma is an indispensable factor for the development of right understanding, because much courage and perseverance are needed for the investigation of realities in order see them as they are. Sammā-vāyāma is the strength and vigour which arises each moment when there is awareness of a nāma or a rūpa and understanding of the reality which appears is being developed.

Question: You said that when sammā-diṭṭhi investigates a characteristic of nāma or rūpa which is object of mindfulness there is also sammā-vāyāma at that moment. But when there is very little awareness should we not make an effort to have more?

Nina: One may try to force the arising of awareness and try to “catch” the reality of the present moment, but then one does not know what sati is. Someone may take his attachment to sati for sati. It is true that right awareness can be developed, but this does not mean that one can force its arising. The factor which can condition its arising is understanding how vipassanā is to be developed. If we know what the object of sati is: the nāma or rūpa which appears now, through one of the six doors, sati can arise and thus right understanding can gradually develop. When a citta with right mindfulness arises, there is at that moment right effort as well. Effort in vipassanā is the strength or energy which is needed to investigate the reality which appears in order to understand it as it is, but we should remember that this effort is not self. Right effort of the eightfold Path supports and strengthens right mindfulness and right understanding.

Question: I have heard that the right effort of the eightfold Path is the effort of the “middle way”. However, it is very difficult to walk the middle way. If we make too much of an effort there is the notion of self again and if we make no effort at all we are lazy and heedless. I do not know how to walk the right way.

Nina: If we think in terms of making too much or too little effort, then we do not realize that effort is nāma and not self. We should not confuse sammā-vāyāma of the eightfold Path with what we in conventional language usually mean by “effort” or “trying”. We do not have to think of making an effort, because when there is right mindfulness there is at that moment sammā-vāyāma as well. Sammā-vāyāma arises for example when there is right mindfulness of seeing, hearing, thinking, visible object or sound which appears now. At such a moment there is courage and strength to be mindful of the reality which appears in order to develop a clearer understanding of its characteristic.

Question: When sati does not arise we cannot force its arising. Does this mean that nothing else can be done but waiting for the arising of sati?

Nina: We should not waste our life and spend it in heedlessness. Thus, we should not neglect any way of kusala for which there is an opportunity. Dāna, sīla, samatha and vipassanā are different ways of kusala we can apply ourselves to. When sati of vipassanā does not arise, we should not be lazy with regard to the other ways of kusala, because at the moments we do not develop kusala, we act, speak and think with akusala cittas and thus we accumulate akusala time and again.

We should not neglect the way of kusala which is studying and considering the teachings. If we study the teachings and often consider what the Buddha taught about nāma and rūpa there are conditions for the arising of sati at any moment.

Question: When there are akusala cittas an effort should be made for kusala cittas. The person who develops samatha and the person who develops vipassanā will make an effort for kusala in different ways. Is that right?

Nina: Samatha is the development of calm by means of a suitable meditation subject. The kusala citta which applies itself to samatha is accompanied by right effort, sammā-vāyāma, but this kind of effort is different from sammā-vāyāma of the eightfold Path. Sammā-vāyāma in samatha supports the citta which develops calm in order to temporarily eliminate akusala cittas. Sammā-vāyāma of the eightfold Path supports the citta and the accompanying mental factors, when there is right mindfulness of whatever reality appears, in order that it will be known as it is, as non-self. When there is akusala citta, it can be realised as a type of nāma, arising because of conditions, not self.

It is important to know what one is developing, samatha or vipassanā. When people say that they develop vipassanā but do not want to be aware of akusala cittas, they are not on the eightfold Path. Most people are afraid of gross defilements, but does one realize the danger of latent tendencies which have been accumulated? Latent tendencies are dangerous; they are a condition for akusala cittas to arise; they are the condition for us to be born again and again. Vipassanā is the only way to eradicate all defilements and also the latent tendencies. Therefore, vipassanā is the highest way of kusala.

Question: Are there many moments of mindfulness needed before there can be a clear understanding of realities?

Nina: In the beginning there cannot be a clear understanding of nāma and rūpa. We often mention the words nāma and rūpa but we should keep in mind that these words denote realities which can be known through direct experience in our daily life. Seeing, hearing or thinking are nāmas which can be directly known when they appear. Visible object, sound or hardness are rūpas which can be directly known when they appear. We still think of a self who sees, hears or thinks, but what we take for a person are in fact many different elements which can be known one at a time. Hearing is only an element, a type of nāma which experiences sound. Hearing cannot experience any other object. Through mindfulness of hearing when it appears we will learn that not a self hears, but that hearing hears. When sound appears sound can be the object of mindfulness; there is at that moment no thought of the sound of a voice or the sound of a particular thing. When there is mindfulness of sound, its characteristic can be investigated and this is the way to know sound as it is: a rūpa which is experienced through the ears, not a thing which belongs to a person, not a “self”. Most of the time there is forgetfulness of realities. At the moment sati arises there is mindfulness of one reality at a time, a nāma-element or a rūpa-element.

Right understanding of nāma and rūpa can only develop at the moment there is mindfulness of their characteristics as they appear through the six doorways. Each moment of developing right understanding is extremely short, it arises and then falls away immediately. In the beginning there will be only be a few moments of sati and then there are bound to be countless moments of forgetfulness of realities. Many moments of sati are needed in order that the characteristics of nāma and rūpa can be investigated, but this should not make us discouraged. A moment of right mindfulness is never lost, it conditions mindfulness again, later on. It is unpredictable when sati will arise, because it is anattā, non-self. The development of satipaṭṭhāna is the only way to have less ignorance of realities. If we really see the danger of ignorance it can be a condition for the arising of sati and then there is right effort as well.

It is important to know the difference between thinking about nāma and rūpa and the paññā which directly knows the characteristic of the nāma or rūpa which appears. We may think that we know nāma and rūpa from direct experience, but is there a clear understanding of their different characteristics? Do we know already through direct experience the difference between the characteristic of nāma and the characteristic of rūpa? We have learned that nāma is the reality which experiences something and that rūpa is the reality which does not know anything, but now we should know their different characteristics through the direct experience, in being mindful of them. So long as there is doubt about the difference between nāma and rūpa, there cannot be a clear understanding of them.

Question: I think that I can experience the impermanence of seeing. I know that it has fallen away when other phenomena appear. When, for instance, there is hearing it is clear that seeing has fallen away.

Nina: Knowing impermanence by way of thinking is not the same as the direct understanding of the arising and falling away of realities. It is difficult to realize this. During the time we call in conventional language a “moment” there are countless cittas arising and falling away, succeeding one another. If one has not cultivated right understanding to a high degree the impermanence of cittas cannot be realized.

Question: I see that it is important to know impermanence through direct experience in order to eliminate wrong understanding of realities. How can I ever be quick enough to know the impermanence of cittas?

Nina: This can never be known so long as there a concept of self who tries to take hold of realities. Only paññā can realize the nāma or rūpa appearing at the present moment.

Question: What can be known by direct experience when one has only just begun to develop insight?

Nina: There can be mindfulness of a characteristic which appears through one of the six doors. But there cannot yet be a precise knowledge of nāma and rūpa. Someone told me that he assumed that everybody knew the difference between nāma and rūpa; for example, between the nāma which experiences sound, hearing, and the rūpa which is sound. He was wondering how anybody could have doubts about it. However, we should know the difference between theoretical knowledge and the paññā which has direct understanding of realities. Only when paññā has been developed in vipassanā can it have a precise knowledge of the reality which appears at the present moment.

Question: There are many phenomena arising at the same time. In what order should I be aware of phenomena?

Nina: It is true that there are many phenomena arising at the same time. For example, our body consists of many different rūpas which arise and fall away. The rūpas which are solidity, cohesion, temperature and motion always arise together and fall away together. But only one characteristic can be experienced by citta at a time, because citta can have only one object at a time. Thus, when the citta is accompanied by sammā-sati, right mindfulness, there can be mindfulness of only one reality at a time. When we say that hardness appears or presents itself it means that hardness is the object which citta experiences at that moment. If sati accompanies the citta, then sati has the same object as the citta; it is mindful of that object. When there is mindfulness of the characteristic of hardness, paññā can realize it as only hardness; it is not a body, not a self, it is only a kind of rūpa which is experienced through the door of the body. It is beyond control what the object of awareness will be. There is no rule which tells us of which phenomena there should be awareness and in which order.

Direct understanding of realities by being mindful of them is not the same as theoretical knowledge of them, but theoretical knowledge of nāma and rūpa is a helpful foundation for the development of vipassanā. When we read the suttas we notice that the Buddha spoke time and again about understanding nāma and rūpa which appear through the six doorways. We read for example in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Salāyatana-vagga, Kindred Sayings on Sense, Third Fifty, Ch V, par 146, Helpful) that the Buddha said to the monks:

I will teach you, monks, a way that is helpful for nibbāna. Do you listen to it. And what, monks, is that way? Herein, monks, a monk regards the eye as impermanent. He regards objects, eye-consciousness, eye-contact as impermanent. That pleasant, unpleasant or neutral feeling experienced, which arises by eye-contact -that also he regards as impermanent.

He regards the ear…the nose…the tongue…the body…He regards mind, mind-states, mind-consciousness, mind-contact as impermanent. The pleasant feeling or unpleasant feeling or neutral feeling…arising therefrom, he regards that also as impermanent.

This, monks, is the way that is helpful for nibbāna.

Would thinking about realities as impermanent lead to nibbāna? We cannot become detached from the concept of self merely by thinking. Only the paññā which directly understands the characteristics of nāma and rūpa which appear at the present moment can see them as they really are, as impermanent and non-self.

If we mistakenly think that we know the truth already we are not able to understand the real meaning of this sutta. Why would the Buddha time and again stress that the eye, seeing-consciousness and visible object, that all realities appearing through the six doors are impermanent? In order to remind people to be aware of nāma and rūpa, so that one day they would see realities as they are.

Question: I find it difficult to know from direct experience the difference between the nāma which experiences sound and the rūpa which is sound. How can I ever know the difference between nāma and rūpa unless I make an effort? Or would it be better in the beginning to ignore the difference between nāma and rūpa, such as hearing and sound, and rather know different characteristics of rūpa which appear through the bodysense?

Nina: All nāmas and rūpas which appear through the different doorways should be known. We should not select any particular kind of nāma or rūpa as object of awareness. That would not be the right path. Hearing can be known and sound can be known as well, they are both realities which each have a different characteristic. We cannot, however, have a clear understanding of realities within just a short time. The characteristics of nāma and rūpa are clearly distinguished from each other when the first stage of insight-knowledge is attained. Even this stage, which is only a beginning stage, cannot be attained unless there has been mindfulness over and over again of nāma and rūpa. Could we say that we know already different kinds of nāma and rūpa as they appear through the different doorways? Are we no longer confused as to the doorway through which an object is experienced?

Question: No, I certainly cannot say that.

Nina: How could there be a precise knowledge of realities when their characteristics are not yet known from direct experience, as they appear one at a time through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind-door? All these considerations help us to realize how little we know. If we wrongly assume that we know realities as they are we cannot develop right understanding. But when we see how little we know we are more truthful and then we may be able to begin to develop right understanding.

When right understanding develops we begin to realize the difference between theoretical knowledge of realities and the paññā which directly knows the characteristics of phenomena when they appear one at a time. We realize that a few moments of awareness are not enough; that we need to be mindful of nāma and rūpa countless times in order to become more familiar with their characteristics. In that way a more precise knowledge of nāma and rūpa can be developed.

Question: In the Visuddhimagga, in the definition of effort, it is said that its proximate cause is “a sense of urgency” or “grounds for the initiation of energy”. What can urge us to be mindful now?

Nina: The Buddha pointed out that it is a matter of urgency for us to develop right understanding of realities; he encouraged people to be mindful, at any time and any place. He pointed out the sorrows of past lives, of the present life and of the lives in the future which will occur if one has not made an end to rebirth.

In the Theragāthā (Vajjita, Canto II, 168) we read about Vajjita who attained arahatship. The text states:

 A traveller I these long, long ages past,                                
 And round about the realms of life I've whirled;                         
 One of the many-folk and blind as they,                                  
 No ariyan truths had I the power to see.                                 
 But earnestly I strove for light and calm;                               
 And now all shattered lies the endless way.                              
 All future bournes abolished utterly,                                    
 Now comes never more rebirth for me. 

We do not know how long we will be in this plane of existence nor whether we will be able to develop insight in the next life. When we read in the scriptures about birth, old age, sickness and death, and about the dangers of rebirth, we can be reminded to be aware of realities now, at this moment. When we see that mindfulness now is urgent and that it should not be put off, it can help us to be less neglectful.

Sammā-vāyāma, right effort, is an indispensable factor of the eightfold Path; it supports and strengthens right understanding and right mindfulness. One needs vigour and courage to be mindful without delay and to consider and investigate the characteristics of nāma and rūpa untiringly, so that right understanding can grow. Realities such as seeing, visible object, hearing, sound, feeling or thinking appear countless times during the day, yet often there is no mindfulness but forgetfulness of realities. If there is no mindfulness now, will there ever be the wisdom which sees things as they are?

Question: You say that thinking about the dangers of rebirth will remind people not to be heedless. I doubt whether it is helpful to be frightened by the thought of hell.

Nina: All of the Buddha’s teachings are most valuable. That is why we should continue reading the scriptures. For different situations in life we will find in the teachings the right words which will encourage us to be mindful. Often we are heedless and forgetful of realities, but when we read about the danger of rebirth in hell it reminds us to continue to develop right understanding. We should not be frightened by the thought of hell -that is akusala. But we should remember that only if vipassanā is developed and enlightenment is attained will we escape the danger of an unhappy rebirth.

When we see the extent of the defilements we have accumulated and are still accumulating, we can be urged to develop right understanding now, at this moment.