This week’s talk focuses on the perfection of viriya, typically translated as Energy/Right Effort/Persistence. Peter described contemporary understanding of energy as the provision of glucose and oxygen to the neural pathways associated with wholesome or unwholesome self-state organizations. This awareness suggests that the process of awakening involves careful attention to the flow of the energy of attention and channeling it towards minimizing craving and clinging. Right Effort is comprised of 4 applications: to notice and channel attention away from arisen unwholesome states, to notice the potential arising of wholesome states, to promote the fulfillment of arisen wholesome states, and the notice and prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states. The progress towards Awakening occurs initially in “starving” the five hindrances, then channeling the energy of attention towards nurturing sufficiently sophisticated internal investigation for discovering the characteristics of subjective reality, that is, impermanence, nonself, and the distress and confusion that comes as the result of craving and clinging. When Right Effort is sufficiently developed through persistent practice, the renunciation of duality, that is, self-and-other, supports the realization of nondual awareness.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: The Benefits Of Perfecting Right Effort And Persistence
Next week’s talk will focus on the Parami of patience.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:18 — 108.6MB)