RIGHT EFFORT
Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States
Whatever a person frequently
thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their
mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders unhealthy states, one
has abandoned healthy states to cultivate the unhealthy states, and then
one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19)
Abandoning sluggishness, one abides free from sluggishness; one purifies
the mind of sluggishness. (MN 51) Just as a person who had been gravely
ill, suffering, with no appetite and weak in body, would recover from
that illness and regain their strength, so would one rejoice and be glad
about the abandoning of sluggishness. (DN 2)
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Some mental and
emotional states drag us down into suffering and obstruct our ability
to see things clearly, and some states move us away from suffering and
enhance our ability to see what is really going on. Sluggishness is
unhealthy—not wrong or bad but unhelpful to the project of understanding
and diminishing suffering. Whenever it arises, it is worth making an
effort to abandon it by stirring up and applying some energy.
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Focus your
attention on that moment when you recognize you are sleepy or lazy or
otherwise feeling sluggish and counter it with an upsurge of energy,
whether physical or mental. There is a transition point at which the
mental state of sluggishness is met with the mental state of energy, and
your experience is thereby transformed. Learning to be aware of such
nuances in experience is the essence of mindfulness practice.
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Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna
One week from today: Developing Unarisen Healthy States
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