Tu Viện Quảng Đức, 105 Lynch Rd, Fawkner, Vic 3060. Australia. Tel: 9357 3544. quangduc@quangduc.com* Viện Chủ: HT Tâm Phương, Trụ Trì: TT Nguyên Tạng *   

15. Right Effort

12/05/202012:10(Xem: 2547)
15. Right Effort
Buddhist Sunday School Lessons (Venerable Sumangalo)

Duc The Ton 28
RIGHT EFFORT

Venerable Sumangalo


None of the points of the Noble Path has any real meaning if it is not joined to effort. Even the finest motor-car is useless if there is no petrol in the tank. The petrol is the energy that makes the car run. Another name for Right Effort is Right Energy. If this sixth point is missing, then the other points of the path have no life in them. When Right Effort is missing in anyone’s life, we use an unpleasant word to describe that condition. The word is Laziness. If we do not overcome laziness, we cannot make any real progress on the road to happiness.

Each of us must make real effort to lead a good, moral helpful life. Usually we say there are four main efforts which we must make if we wish our lives to be according to the Buddha’s teaching. These four big efforts are:

  1. The effort to avoid evil not yet existing in our lives.
  2. The effort to overcome evil which already exists in our thoughts and acts.
  3. The effort to preserve the good already developed in our thinking and acting.
  4. The effort to develop good not yet existing in our minds, hearts and actions.
So many of us have good ideas and good intentions, but we do not use effort to put our good ideas into practice. This is somewhat like being a bird with but one wing. Another mistake that is made by many people, boys and girls included, is the bad habit of putting off until tomorrow or next week or next month what we know we ought to do today. The only time we can be sure of is today. Yesterday has gone and tomorrow has not come. The best time to begin to put forth Right Effort is this very day. The sooner we practise all the points of the Eightfold Path, the sooner we shall find real happiness. Boys and girls who start to follow this pathway very early in life will soon find out that it is the only road to true and lasting happiness. But nothing can be done until a start is made. A boy who sits on the beach and looks at the water, wishing he knew how to swim, will never know until he makes an effort to swim. Another way of naming Right Effort is Right Trying. No one can get happiness or any good thing out of life until he really tries. Let us all try to use our best efforts to be happy and actually use Lord Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives.

Once there lived an old farmer, his wife and children. He had land that stretched for many acres but, because of his old age, the vast area was left to grow into a forest. Trees that shot us sky-high could be found everywhere. Even his attap hut was surrounded by trees. One fine day, the old farmer asked his elder son, who had grown up into a strong and healthy man, to clear the land so that it might be farmed once more. His son, being young and active, quickly got hold of an axe and started chopping a huge tree beside the hut. The side of the tree near the hut was chopped and finally the tree gave way, and it fell down on top of the hut killing the old farmer, who was the only one inside at that time. If the son had chopped the tree on the other side of the trunk, then it would not have fallen on the hut.

Thus we see that although the son had the right intention of helping his aged father, yet he did not make the right effort to carry out his will properly. Wrong Effort is usually harmful in its effects. It is only through Right Effort that things can be done as the doer wishes, or as they ought to be done. Right Effort must always be guided by Right Thought.

 


RIGHT EFFORT

Constant let thine effort be

From delusion’s slavery,

By the Truth, thy mind to free,

Wisdom to attain.

 

Break the bonds of sense-desire

Holding thee in error’s mire,

And with all thine heart aspire

Purity to know.

 

Strive the ego to deny,

Let all selfish cravings die,

To all beings low and high

Love and kindness show.

 

Never let thine effort cease

Till in ultimate release

And in Buddha’s perfect peace

Thou hast reached thy goal.

                             -A. R. Zorn.

 

QUESTIONS

  1. What meaning does Right Effort have for you?
  2. How many sub-divisions are there to Right Effort? What are they?
  3. What must we use in order that we may put our good ideas and intentions in practice?
  4. When is the best time for us to put forth Right Effort? Yesterday or tomorrow or today?
  5. What is the main cause of wrong efforts?
  6. A motor car cannot run without petrol. We cannot have happy, successful lives if we do not use…?
  7. If a boy wishes to learn to swim, can he learn by sitting on the beach and looking at the water? What must he do?
  8. Is Right Understanding of much value if it is not coupled with Right Effort?
  9. What do we call people who do not like to make effort?
  10. How far can a bird fly with one wing? How much value do the other seven points of the Noble Path have if Right Effort is missing? Is it like trying to fly with one wing?


Typing for Quang Duc Homepage in Melbourne, Australia:
Quảng Đại Thắng (Brendan Trần) & Quảng Đại Khánh (Nathan Trần)
https://quangduc.com/p52208a68074/buddhist-sunday-school-lessons-venerable-sumangalo
In Trang
Gửi ý kiến của bạn
Tắt
Telex
VNI
Tên của bạn
Email của bạn
Trang đầuTrang trước78910111213Trang sauTrang cuối

03/10/2011(Xem: 4513)
His Holiness said that often we give so much importance to the secondary things and neglect the fundamental thing which is human warm heartedness.

03/10/2011(Xem: 7393)
As soon as he alighted down from the airplane in Monterrey, His Holiness was received by Tsewang Phuntso, Liaison Officer for Latin America...

08/08/2011(Xem: 6959)
Now we'll try the walking meditation. How to do it? Well, first you find a level track about 15 to 20 paces and walk back and forth noting the parts of the steps in the walking. Don't worry, it's all explained in the diagrams that follow, and there's a flow chart with more instruction as well - we look after you very nicely here.

06/05/2011(Xem: 5735)
Buddhism teaches that we should try to develop our intellectual capacity to the fullest so that we can understand clearly. It also teaches us to develop love and kindness...

15/02/2011(Xem: 3441)
“Who and what am I?” “Why do I exist?” Each of us, during some part of our life, wonders about these questions. While we’re aware of our own being, we don’t actually know how or why we came to be. Our existence poses a great mystery. Our view of who we are and why we’re here, consciously or unconsciously, affect every moment of our lives.

11/01/2011(Xem: 4112)
In the year 563B.C. on the border of modern day Nepal and India, a son was born to a chieftain of the Sakya clan. His name was Siddhartha Gotama and at the age of thirty-five, he attained, after six years of struggle and through his own insight, full enlightenment or Buddhahood. The term 'Buddha' is not a name of a god or an incarnation of a god, despite later Hindu claims to the contrary, but is a title for one who has realised through good conduct, mental cultivation, and wisdom the cause of life's vicissitudes and the way to overcome them. Buddhism is perhaps. unique amongst the world's religions in that it does not place reliance for salvation on some external power, such as a god or even a Buddha, but places the responsibility for life's frustrations squarely on the individual. The Buddha said:

04/01/2011(Xem: 3648)
Although different people have different views of what Buddhism is, I think it’s difficult to say, “Buddhism is this, therefore it should be like that.”

29/10/2010(Xem: 4742)
Buddhism has awakened considerable interest in the West, and there are many persons who enjoy positions of some note in western society who are either Buddhist...

20/09/2010(Xem: 3919)
What Is Buddhism? The Buddhist Society of Western Australia

31/08/2010(Xem: 6192)
Venerable Pannyavaro is an Australian Buddhist monk who has devoted his life to the meditational aspects of the Buddha's teachings. During his meditation training, he practiced under several meditation masters in Sri Lanka and Burma, including Venerable Sayadaw U Janaka of Chanmyay Meditation Centre, Rangoon, who is the foremost disciple of the renowned Burmese meditation master, the late Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw. Pannyavaro was involved in the beginnings of a number of the very early Buddhist communities in Australia. He later went to Thailand and received higher ordination at Wat Borvornivet in Bangkok under Venerable Phra Nyanasamvarva, the Sangha Raja of Thailand. Since 1974, he has from time to time studied and practised Vipassana meditation in most of the major Theravada Buddhist countries, including long periods of intensive practise with teachers at the Mahasi Sayadaw centres in Burma.
Trang đầuTrang trước78910111213Trang sauTrang cuối
facebook youtube google-plus linkedin twitter blog
Nguyện đem công đức này, trang nghiêm Phật Tịnh Độ, trên đền bốn ơn nặng, dưới cứu khổ ba đường,
nếu có người thấy nghe, đều phát lòng Bồ Đề, hết một báo thân này, sinh qua cõi Cực Lạc.

May the Merit and virtue,accrued from this work, adorn the Buddhas pureland,
Repay the four great kindnesses above, andrelieve the suffering of those on the three paths below,
may those who see or hear of these efforts generates Bodhi Mind, spend their lives devoted to the Buddha Dharma,
the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Quang Duc Buddhist Welfare Association of Victoria
Tu Viện Quảng Đức | Quang Duc Monastery
Senior Venerable Thich Tam Phuong | Senior Venerable Thich Nguyen Tang
Address: Quang Duc Monastery, 105 Lynch Road, Fawkner, Vic.3060 Australia
Tel: 61.03.9357 3544 ; Fax: 61.03.9357 3600
Website: http://www.quangduc.com ; http://www.tuvienquangduc.com.au (old)
Xin gửi Xin gửi bài mới và ý kiến đóng góp đến Ban Biên Tập qua địa chỉ:
quangduc@quangduc.com , tvquangduc@bigpond.com
VISITOR
110,220,567