R8_TransferTest

Part 6. Right Effort

Right Effort is the sixth aspect of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. It is the first of three aspects that concern themselves with mental discipline, concentration and meditation. It’s important to recognize that the same mental energies that go into self-discipline, honesty, and kindness can just as easily create desire, envy and aggression. The practice of Right Effort should be our guide when traveling the highways of our minds. Without the practice of Right Effort, our mental energies can be misguided and create more harm than good. The practice of Right Effort is really about focusing our mental energies on continually developing wholesome states of being.

The Pali Canon describes ways to practice Right Effort in our thoughts and actions:

1. Prevent unwholesome states that have not yet risen.
2. Let go of the unwholesome states that have already arisen.
3. Cultivate wholesome states that have not yet arisen.
4. Maintain the wholesome states that have arisen.

Easier said than done.