A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Saturday, October 26, 2024
Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
Whatever a person frequently
thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their
mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders healthy states, one has
abandoned unhealthy states to cultivate healthy states, and then one’s
mind inclines to healthy states. (MN 19)
Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts
the mind, and strives to maintain arisen healthy mental states. One
maintains the arisen awakening factor of equanimity. (MN 141)
Reflection
The mind is
constantly changing, and every moment is different from every other.
Still, there are some mental and emotional states that are good for us
and we want to sustain, and others we are better off abandoning. We
cannot always rely on the healthy states to naturally persist once they
occur, and it is a skillful use of effort to work to maintain them.
Doing so will incline the mind steadily in the direction of greater
health.
Daily Practice
When you find
yourself feeling generous, look for ways to maintain that attitude of
generosity by additional thoughts and acts of generosity. When you
notice kindness or compassion arising in your experience, recognize it
as healthy and see how you can nurture the emotion so it lingers in your
mind a bit longer. At every opportunity, find ways to encourage your
best qualities to continue once they have arisen.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna One week from today: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States
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