Meditation Corner, Fall 1999

MEDITATION PRACTICE. It's enough to drive you crazy. But wait---we meditate so as not to BE crazy. That's not even to mention nirvana, enlightenment and all those other nifty sounding words. But how much effort should we bring to our sitting practice? In some Zen circles you hear: "Just sit." Other teachers speak of "effortless effort." Well, O.K., so what's that mean--- my cushion is a lounge chair, too? O vey, is this meditation hard or what?

Hundred Mountain took the effort to ask about effort in meditation practice. We posed the question to an estimable authority, Mahathera Henepola Gunaratana, a meditation master who founded the Bhavana Society near High View, West Virginia, USA. "Bhante G," as he is known to friends and students, is author of one of the most plain-spoken and useful guides to meditation practice around, "Mindfulness in Plain English," a Wisdom Books best-seller. He was interviewed in his office at the Bhavana Society by Hundred Mountain Journal editor Douglas Imbrogno.

HM: In Zen there's the admonition to "just sit." But what effort do you bring to all this? We Westerners are very goal-oriented and strive and struggle to achieve our goals. I think sometimes we go into meditation thinking "If I just try hard enough, I'll achieve this." What is the balance between just sitting and effort?

BHANTE G: You have to have an effort, you must make an effort. It is absolutely necessary. There are three factors absolutely necessary in meditation: effort, mindfulness and understanding. The degree of effort you have to make, you have to understand at each level. If you go overboard and exert your energy without balancing mindfulness and understanding, then you are simply striving very hard and you burn up a lot of energy.

What kind of understanding? You know at any given moment how much effort you have to make. And that effort is not a sort of haphazard effort, it is a committed effort.

Before you make effort, you should know "Is this the time for me to practice?" Suppose we have so many other things lined up and all of them are around? No matter how hard you try you cannot do the practice.Therefore we have to understand the situation: when to exert Right Effort.

Also you have to have insight---mindfulness---to know that if you apply too much unnecessary effort, that would ruin meditation. You have to have that awareness of the reality around you in your life. And with that understanding and mindfulness, you choose the time and place to exert effort.

Once you've chosen the place and time to practice, by all means apply every ounce of effort to overcome laziness, drowsiness, restlessness , worry and so forth. These are very common, simple ordinary obstacles. We call them hindrances, We call them hindrances because they hinder our progress.

HM: Meditators may begin practice with great enthusiasm. But as they go on with their daily lives, they come to see, "Omigosh! There are big hindrances to my practice!" And there seem to be SO MANY of them...

BHANTE G: When hindrances arise, we should not be lazy. We should not think, "Well, I'm not for it. I'm simply wasting my time because they always come and block my practice." One should not think that way. One must think: "This is humanly possible. THIS I can do. I can overcome my sleepiness. I'm not always lazy, drowsy, sleepy and lethargic. I have done many many things in my life, I have achieved so many things in my life. I can make effort. I have energy. So I must overcome this. THIS is possible for me. This is not something I cannot do."

So one must exert oneself, one must say to oneself: "Look, you, Mister or Miss X--- don't be lazy, don't chicken out!" Don't think that this is not something for you. You can do this. And you pick up energy that way.

BHANTE G: One should not think, "Well, I must make a gentle effort, an effortless effort." Effortless effort is a lazy man's advice. There is no such thing as effortlesss effort. Things don't come to us just like air.

You know, laziness, drowsiness, greed, hatred, lust and so forth come to us ve-e-ry naturally. [LAUGHS] Good things don't come to us that naturally. We naturally have them in us, but we have to work very hard to arouse them.

Our mind is like water. Water always goes to the lowest place. Similarly, our mind drags us into the lower state of things. To lower, base ideas, to lazy practices and so forth. That way, we will go down the drain with all this rubbish in our mind.

Our effort is to get rid of this rubbish. And we must turn up the effort, we must make the effort to overcome this. Repeating the same thing again and again and again until we achieve it. That is the first stage of effort. In Pali, it is called arambhadhatu. That means the element of beginning.

When you read a book or have a discussion with a friend or perhaps somebody gives a very powerful speech, you may get enthusiastic and start meditation practice right away. And the next day, or the day after that, or three days later, they slowly slide back to the same lethargic conditions

BHANTE G: When we sit to meditate, after we have found a suitable place, a suitable time and so forth, we should not slip back into the same old unwholesome habits. That is called the second stage of effort---nikkamadhatu. That means "proceeding" with the element of effort.

Then , still a person can become lazy. Then one must put down his or her last card and say "This is it! I will not budge even if my legs have to be amputated. Even if my back is going to kill me. Let my flesh whither, my blood dry, reduce me to a skeleton, I will not budge!" That is the third kind of effort. It is called parakkamadhatu. 'Parak' is valor. You know, in the army you are encouraged in your exercise of valor and the bravery you bring to your work. Meditators need that kind of effort.

Now, at the same time this has to be supported by understanding and mindfulness. If meditators don't have understanding and mindfulness and simply make effort, then they break their neck. So they must know when to apply the effort, and apply it to the fullest extent. They must learn where to apply it, how to apply it, when to apply it.

Sometimes people come here [to the Bhavana Society] with all good intentions to meditate. They book the place in advance and want to stay here for a week, two weeks, a month. Then, a few days later, they say, "Ah, Bhante, I have to go. My so-and-so is expecting me, I have to do such and such, I have not finished my job of such and such..." So the person has made all these arrangements for months and finally this is what happens.