The Blessed Buddha once said: Friends: There are four efforts:
the effort to avoid, the effort to
overcome, the effort to develop, and the effort to maintain...
What, friends, is the effort to avoid? In this case, when perceiving
a form with the eye, a sound with the ear, a smell with the nose,
a taste with the tongue, a touch with the body, a thought of mind,
one neither fixes to the overall appearance nor to any its details...
One strives to avert the arising of evil and detrimental states, such
as greed, urge and longing, by remaining with guarded sense-doors!
One watch & note the senses, keeping under control the senses...
This is the effort to avoid!
What, friends, is the effort to overcome? In this case, one does not
accept any thought of sensual lust, ill-will, irritation, or any other
evil and detrimental states that may have arisen! One dispels them,
destroys them, causes them to disappear right there and then...
This is called the effort to overcome!
What, friends, is the effort to
develop? In this case, one develops
the links enlightenment, which when bent on solitude, detachment &
ceasing, ends in release, namely: Awareness, Investigation, Energy,
Joy, Tranquillity, Concentration and Equanimity...
This is called the effort to develop!
What, friends, is the effort to maintain? In this case, one keeps the
mind firmly focused on any advantageous object of concentration
that may have arisen, such as the mental image of a skeleton, of a
festering corpse infested by worms, of a swollen, decaying corpse,
bluish-black riddled with pus and
maggot dripping holes...
This is called the effort to maintain!
These, friends, are the four Right Efforts.
