The Practice of the Four Right Efforts (8)

Original text: 如是广辨四正断已。复云何知此中略义。谓为显示于黑白品舍取事中。增上意乐圆满。及加行圆满。是故宣说四种正断。当知此中。由生欲故。增上意乐圆满。由自策励。发勤精进。策心持心故。加行圆满。

Explanation: After the four right strivings (samyak-prahāṇa) have been extensively discussed in this way, how can one know the essential meaning contained therein? The essential meaning of the four right strivings is to demonstrate that, in the process of abandoning and taking up with regard to the black and white categories of wholesome and unwholesome things, the intensified aspiration is fulfilled, and the preparatory practice of abandoning evil and increasing goodness is also fulfilled; therefore the four right strivings are proclaimed. You should know that, in the cultivation of the four right strivings, because the desire to abandon evil and increase goodness has already arisen in the mind, the intensified aspiration is fulfilled; and because one can spur oneself on from within one's own mind, further generating diligent and vigorous effort, continually exhorting and sustaining the mind, the preparatory practice is thereby fulfilled.

Before reaching the four right strivings, in the cultivation of the four right diligences, one has not yet generated a strong desire, so the intensified aspiration is not yet fulfilled and the four right strivings do not manifest; the self-exhortation and self-encouragement are not yet strong enough, and the force of spurring and driving the mind is not yet great enough, so the four right strivings do not manifest. Only when the aspiration and the exhortation are both fully and completely fulfilled do the four right strivings appear; at that point, the four right diligences have been completely cultivated.

Original text: 修瑜伽师。唯有尔所正应作事。谓为断灭所应断事。及为获得所应得事。先当生起希愿乐欲。为断诸缠。复应时时正勤修习止举舍相。为断诸缠及随眠故。更应修集对治善法。为现如是一切所作。说四正胜及四正断。是名略义。

Explanation: For a yogi engaged in cultivation, only these are the things he ought rightly to do: in order to extinguish those things that should be abandoned, and to obtain those things that should be obtained, he should first generate longing, aspiration, and desire. In order to sever the various entanglements (paryavasthāna) of afflictions, he should also at all times diligently and rightly cultivate the signs of cessation (śamatha, meditative concentration), of exertion (raising and encouraging one's own mind), and of equanimity (abandoning evil and unwholesome dharmas). In order to sever the various entanglements of afflictions as well as the latent tendencies (anuśaya), he should further accumulate the wholesome dharmas that serve as antidotes. In order to manifest all of these things that ought to be done, the four right victories and the four right strivings are proclaimed; this is called the essential meaning of the four right strivings.

Regarding these dharmas of the four right diligences mentioned above, some people are unwilling to cultivate them and hold them in contempt, considering these dharmas to be very basic, a Small Vehicle dharma not worth spending time on, believing it would be fine to devote all their energy to steeping themselves in Mahāyāna dharmas. But if the four right diligences are not cultivated, the mind does not turn toward goodness, virtue is not complete, and one's virtue does not match one's aspirations; then one cannot realize the Mahāyāna dharma, and all that steeping remains merely theory in the end. Theory, under certain conditions and causes, can be forgotten and lost; even if it is not forgotten, theory is ultimately just theory, without practical value—one may die and fall into lower realms because of evil and unwholesome dharmas, and mere theory cannot save one's life. Only after cultivating the four right strivings and severing the coarse and heavy entanglements of afflictions can the virtuous characteristics of the five aggregates be revealed. Only when virtue is complete does one qualify to become a greatly virtuous bodhisattva or a greatly virtuous noble Saṅgha member, and only then is one qualified to lead the multitude and together accomplish the Buddha's Way.