Tag: Skillful Effort

Personal Development

Mindfulness as Method for the First Great Effort, Part 3: Gunaratana’s Guidance, Part A

…Thus the question we continue to try to answer is: How to prevent negative or unwholesome, i.e. unskillful, states from arising in the first place?

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, in Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness, answers thus: “By maintaining unremitting mindfulness. Just that.”

One’s ability to do this, however, is limited by how developed one’s faculty of mindfulness is, and by how habituated to its exercise the mind is…. Continue reading Mindfulness as Method for the First Great Effort, Part 3: Gunaratana’s Guidance, Part A

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Personal Development

Mindfulness as Method for the First Great Effort, Part 2: Five Specific Practices

In a previous post, I explored how the First Great Effort — to prevent unskillful states from arising — is not an all-or-nothing operation, but instead a progressive exercise in relative prevention. In this post, I’ll start to explore actual practice methods for making the first great effort. First to quickly contextualize this: The First Great Effort is one of Four Great Efforts, which belong … Continue reading Mindfulness as Method for the First Great Effort, Part 2: Five Specific Practices

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Personal Development

Mindfulness as Method for the First Great Effort, Part 1: Considering Preventing and Arising

In this post, I want to return to the First Great Effort, and consider awareness as a primary method for making this type of effort. Somewhat recently, I posted a more general description and consideration of the first great effort, which forms part of the path-factor of Skillful Effort. In that post (link below), it was said that “the most basic and general practical method … Continue reading Mindfulness as Method for the First Great Effort, Part 1: Considering Preventing and Arising

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Personal Development

Skillful Effort: Receptive Aspects of Dealing with Unskillful States

In my previous two posts, I tried to outline the first and second Great Efforts, which form part of the Right Effort path-factor. The first and second great effort are both about dealing with unskillful or “unwholesome” states. They are also both rather active. In this post I’ll talk about more receptive aspects of using skillful effort to deal with unwholesome states. Sayadaw U Tejaniya, … Continue reading Skillful Effort: Receptive Aspects of Dealing with Unskillful States

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Personal Development

Skillful Effort: The Second Great Effort

In the previous post, I described and reflected on the first of the Four Great Efforts, which are a canonical rubric for understanding one dimension of the path-factor of Skillful Effort. In this current post, I’ll consider the Second Great Effort. Whereas the First Great Effort consists in preventing unskillful states from arising in the first place, the second great effort is an attempt to … Continue reading Skillful Effort: The Second Great Effort

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Personal Development

Skillful Effort: The First Great Effort

This post is about the philosophical practice and topic of Skillful Effort. There are at least two major dimensions to Skillful Effort, one dealing with the manner in which we exert effort, the other with the immediate ends toward which we direct our exertions. Today I’ll approach this second dimension, using a canonical rubric known as the Four Great Efforts. These are four interrelated, immediate … Continue reading Skillful Effort: The First Great Effort

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