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 unhealthy states, and then
one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19)
Abandoning doubt, one abides having gone beyond doubt; unperplexed about
healthy states, one purifies the mind of doubt. (MN 51) Just as a
person, laden with goods and wealth, who undertakes a long journey
across a dangerous wilderness, would make it safely through with their
goods to safety, so would one rejoice and be glad about the abandoning
of doubt. (DN 2)
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Our text likens
doubt to the insecurities felt while undertaking a dangerous journey,
something that would have been commonplace to the merchants of ancient
India. It is a sense of uneasiness around vague but real threats, and
the image describes very well what today we might call anxiety. Might
anxieties be regarded as unhealthy states, and might it be possible to
simply abandon them, as described here?
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Notice when you
feel anxious about or wary of little things in your daily experience,
and see if you can just abandon them. I'm not referring to a diagnosed
anxiety disorder here but to the many small worries we have that might
respond to this sort of approach. Ask yourself if these doubts are
helpful, and when you realize they are not, see if you can let go of
them simply by deciding "not to go there” just now.
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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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