Effort and the Buddha, pt.1
November 17th 2008 13:05
Last blog I write about a zen saying that I like:
Great Doubt.
Great Faith.
Great Effort.
adding briefly my opinion that "great love" is the missing part. I want to now write about each of the three original prescriptions, starting with Effort (I call them prescriptions because I think that is what they are: prescribed ways of living, ways of thinking, ways of acting. These are not the basis for a larger philosophical system, just simple prescriptions on how to live life),
Effort is something I have long had troubles with. I had this belief, you see, that the person who takes a casual approach to things, who inputs little energy into what they are doing, and still manages to come out on top, was the best type of person. This person had talent. After all, they didn't even need to try! The poor souls who slaved away relentlessly at their task were just pathetically trying to resist their fate. Effort, in other words, was the refuge of the weak.
There are many stories, real and fictional, regarding this "non-committal genius" archetype. The most common one is the rockstar - this person is extremely lazy, cares little for the world or success or discipline, but when it comes to music, they are without peer. They don't even have to try, they just pick up their instrument and do their thing, and they wow everyone who hears. This is the type of person that had appealed to me up until very recently. Or it was wasn't the "person" or "type" which appealed to me, as much as it was the way that they went about things. I thought that people who took work seriously were lame. I thought that people who took uni work seriously were lame. I saw them making their focussed, sometimes strained efforts and I thought I knew something that they didn't - that by not caring, that by not committing to any task, they could be free.
I now believe that I was wrong. Firstly, it is in committing to tasks that we are able to fully enter the present moment, and when we are not in the present moment, we are not free. You can't get into the present moment by not caring. It is through care that we get in touch with the moment, that we can access the zone. Sure, you can enter some sort of dreamworld in your head, and that can be a really nice feeling sometimes, but if it is your normal state, and not just a periphery to your main task of expending effort, then it won't take long for your mind to wither, to go blank and dull. Secondly, by engaging ourselves in effort, we lift our energy levels. I'm sure that we all at some point have had a massive sleep, only to wake up and find ourselves more tired than when we slept. I'm sure that we all have had days where we had nothing to do, no obligations to meet, and all we wanted to was sleep out of pure boredom.
Of course the Buddha knew all this, and is one of the (many) reasons why his saying "Chop wood, carry water", contains such strong truth. There is another quote I always liked, I can't remember where I first saw it, which reads "work cures the three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty". It is just so true. I don't plan to ever stop working as long as I live.
Great Doubt.
Great Faith.
Great Effort.
adding briefly my opinion that "great love" is the missing part. I want to now write about each of the three original prescriptions, starting with Effort (I call them prescriptions because I think that is what they are: prescribed ways of living, ways of thinking, ways of acting. These are not the basis for a larger philosophical system, just simple prescriptions on how to live life),
Effort is something I have long had troubles with. I had this belief, you see, that the person who takes a casual approach to things, who inputs little energy into what they are doing, and still manages to come out on top, was the best type of person. This person had talent. After all, they didn't even need to try! The poor souls who slaved away relentlessly at their task were just pathetically trying to resist their fate. Effort, in other words, was the refuge of the weak.
There are many stories, real and fictional, regarding this "non-committal genius" archetype. The most common one is the rockstar - this person is extremely lazy, cares little for the world or success or discipline, but when it comes to music, they are without peer. They don't even have to try, they just pick up their instrument and do their thing, and they wow everyone who hears. This is the type of person that had appealed to me up until very recently. Or it was wasn't the "person" or "type" which appealed to me, as much as it was the way that they went about things. I thought that people who took work seriously were lame. I thought that people who took uni work seriously were lame. I saw them making their focussed, sometimes strained efforts and I thought I knew something that they didn't - that by not caring, that by not committing to any task, they could be free.
I now believe that I was wrong. Firstly, it is in committing to tasks that we are able to fully enter the present moment, and when we are not in the present moment, we are not free. You can't get into the present moment by not caring. It is through care that we get in touch with the moment, that we can access the zone. Sure, you can enter some sort of dreamworld in your head, and that can be a really nice feeling sometimes, but if it is your normal state, and not just a periphery to your main task of expending effort, then it won't take long for your mind to wither, to go blank and dull. Secondly, by engaging ourselves in effort, we lift our energy levels. I'm sure that we all at some point have had a massive sleep, only to wake up and find ourselves more tired than when we slept. I'm sure that we all have had days where we had nothing to do, no obligations to meet, and all we wanted to was sleep out of pure boredom.
Of course the Buddha knew all this, and is one of the (many) reasons why his saying "Chop wood, carry water", contains such strong truth. There is another quote I always liked, I can't remember where I first saw it, which reads "work cures the three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty". It is just so true. I don't plan to ever stop working as long as I live.
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Comment by Wilson Pon
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Business Rope
Comment by Kris
Quotable Quips
Banana and Mango