High Self-Control
The Four Right Efforts
Generate desire,
exert energy, and
control and direct the mind towards
the non-arising of evil, unprofitable states
that have not yet arisen.
Generate desire,
exert energy, and
control and direct the mind towards
the abandoning of evil, unprofitable states
that have arisen.
Generate desire,
exert energy, and
control and direct the mind towards
the acquisition of good, profitable states
that have not yet arisen.
Generate desire,
exert energy, and
control and direct the mind towards
the persistence, clarification, development,
increase, refinement, and perfection
of good, profitable states that have arisen.
§
There are four efforts.
The effort to restrain,
the effort to abandon,
the effort to make become,
and the effort to watch over.
The effort to restrain.
[aka: Guarding the Gates of the Senses]
Seeing an object with the eye, do not become interested in examining either general features or details. Interest gives scope to pleasant and unpleasant sensations and they in turn give rise to wanting and wanting to get away. So make effort and exert control over reaction to contact of visible object with the organ of sight. And the same control should be used in dealing with the other organs of sense. This is called 'the effort to restrain.'
The effort to abandon.
In the case of unprofitable states that are found to be present, make effort and exert control to abandon that unskillful state, to expel it, eradicate it, drive it away. This is called 'the effort to abandon.'
The effort to make become.
Here the effort is to bring into existence, grow and perfect the whole of the system, but it is usually put in the form of an instruction to cultivate the Seven Dimensions of Self-Awakening in that developed, this is the manner of living of the perfected ones.
So:
Make become the dimension of self-awakening that is Minding, that is based on seclusion and dispassion and ends in giving up of self.
Make become the dimension of self-awakening that is Dhamma Research, that is based on seclusion and dispassion and ends in giving up of self.
Make become the dimension of self-awakening that is Energy Building, that is based on seclusion and dispassion and ends in giving up of self.
Make become the dimension of self-awakening that is Enthusiasm, that is based on seclusion and dispassion and ends in giving up of self.
Make become the dimension of self-awakening that is Impassivity, that is based on seclusion and dispassion and ends in giving up of self.
Make become the dimension of self-awakening that is Serenity, that is based on seclusion and dispassion and ends in giving up of self.
Make become the dimension of self-awakening that is Objective Detachment, that is based on seclusion and dispassion and ends in giving up of self.
This is called "the effort to make become."
The effort to watch over.
Again, here the effort is to preserve and protect any aspect of the system which one has managed to put together. Since this is a system where the attempt is to 'get rid of', not 'acquire', what is to be protected is technique in identification of the signs indicating skillful states of detachment: pointlessness, signlessness, emptiness; states of serenity characterized by absence of lust, anger, and blindness. This is called "the effort to watch over."
§
These four types of person are found in the World.
What four?
The type that relies on the outcome of his effort,
not on the outcome of his past deeds.
The type that relies on the outcome of his past deeds,
not on the outcome of his effort,
The type that relies on both the outcome of his effort
and the outcome of his past deeds, and
The type that relies on neither the outcome of his effort
nor the outcome of his past deeds.
§
"Resolve:
"Beggars, I have realized two things:
Not to be content when things are going well,
and not to give up when it is a struggle.
And how does one not give up when it is a struggle?
By resolving:
"Let my skin and flesh and blood dry up
while I wither to the bone
if only I can hang on long enough
to win what may be won
by the strength of a man,
by the energy of a man,
by the effort of a man."
By my energetic effort, Beggars,
I won unsurpassable freedom from bondage.
And you, too, Beggars,
do not be content when things are going well,
and do not give up when it is a struggle,
but resolve:
"Let my skin and flesh and blood dry up
while I wither to the bone
if only I can hang on long enough
to win what may be won
by the strength of a man,
by the energy of a man,
by the effort of a man.
§
In the same way, Beggars,
as a man with his turban on fire
makes effort to unravel that turban
so as to escape the fire,
in the same way, Beggars,
do not be lax in effort!
In the same way, Beggars,
as a man trapped in a house on fire,
struggles to escape the blaze,
in the same way, Beggars,
do not be lax in effort!
§
Do not laugh ... ha ha ha
and sing ... tra la la
and dance to the beat of the drum tum tum tum
My Friends;
for laughter
is but weeping,
singing
is but lamentation,
and dancing
is but the prelude to madness.
Do not weep and lament, my friends,
for weeping and lamentation
only makes your friends sad,
your enemies glad,
and doesn't do a bit of good
for anyone.
[AN 3.103]