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Good morning everybody. Last week I talked about Kshanti paramita, the practice that goes beyond patience. Today I want to talk about its complement, Virya Paramita. Virya is usually translated as zeal or enthusiasm. They really go together, patience and enthusiasm. They need to be in balance. Enthusiastic energy without patience could lead to different problems. Energy without patience wants to push and doesn't take the time to listen. I think one of the defining characteristics of a terrorist would be energy without patience. On the other hand, patience without enthusiasm might be too passive and disengaged. There needs to be some energy in our practice. The first verse in the chapter on Virya in Shantideva's Bodhisattvacharyavatara says just this:
Having patience, I should develop enthusiasm;
For Awakening will dwell only in those who exert themselves.
Just as there is no movement without wind,
So merit does not occur without enthusiasm.
I think it is the most important of all the paramitas. Awakening will dwell only in those who exert themselves. Without the energy to practice and keep on, everything would fall apart. We'd just stay home and watch television all day. But with energy and enthusiasm, we can do all the other practices to benefit all beings. We can be generous, virtuous and patient - even patience requires energy. We can devote ourselves to our meditation practice and develop wisdom and understanding. And practicing all those things inspires us and brings us joy to continue. Shantideva said,
What is enthusiasm? It is finding joy in what is wholesome.In one traditional analysis, there are 3 forms in which virya is practised. One is the practice of vowing. Vows are extremely important in Buddhist practice. Buddhism began with the Buddha's vow to get to the truth of suffering. Making a vow, and then keeping it in our hearts and minds, even if it's an impossible one, or at least one that is conventionally impossible, animates, enlivens and inspires our practice. We can repeat our vow each time we start zazen. We can write it down and put it on a home altar, in a window sill, or just on the fridge.
The second form is the practice of creating virtue. Strive to integrate the teachings into your life. Practise with the 6 Paramitas and with the Brahma Viharas: Lovingkindness, Compassion, Sympathetic joy & Equanimity. That is creating virtue. So is studying or copying a religious text. In some temples, people get together to copy the heart sutra. My friend Valorie Beer copied the entire Lotus Sutra in calligraphy. It took her two years.
The third form is benefiting others. Strive to bring more harmony to the relationships around you. You can give a smile, a kind look, or just recognize a beggar who often feels unseen by people passing by. Support other practitioners in their practice.
One of the things that I really appreciated about being in the monastery at Tassajara was that we were an isolated community of people dedicated to practice. It wasn't so much the isolation as it was knowing that everyone you came into contact with was in your community. Every day for weeks and months the only people you saw were people who were mutually supporting each others practise of deepening their appreciation and understanding of the dharma and bringing it into their lives.
One of the small practices was that in walking around the monastery grounds, whenever you met someone on a path, you always stopped and bowed to each other. No other interaction was expected, but in this way we acknowledged and honoured the presence of each other. We showed mutual respect to everyone we came upon. When I returned to city life, I had an urge to continue bowing to people I passed on the sidewalk. Sometimes I did, forgetting that they weren't aware of the practise. Eventually I decided to try to imagine these bows without actually doing them so as not to make people feel uncomfortable. I realized that just like in the monastery everyone that I met was also working on their dharma, working on how they could understand how to be alive and in the world. And I wanted to continue to acknowledge and show respect for that.
I don't always remember to do this any more. But talking about it now has been a good reminder for me to come back to practicing virya paramita in this way.
Virya Paramita is very closely related to "Right Effort," part of the Noble Eightfold path which the Buddha taught. It is Virya that gives us the energy to make Right Effort. In classical Buddhism there are four ways to make right effort.
This list is an example of the clear logical analysis that can be found in much of classical Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh has a very down to earth way of describing this kind of right effort or exertion. He likens both the positive and negative qualities or mind states to plant seeds. Our effort should be to refrain from watering the seeds of evil and harmful states, and to make effort to starve them if they are already growing. And we should water the seeds that are good and beneficial, and nurture their growth once they have sprouted. We can apply energy to do this in ourselves and we can do our best to starve harmful states and behaviours and encourage beneficial states and behaviours in the people we meet. Maybe this sounds like a lot of work.
So it won't surprise you to learn that the enemy of virya is laziness. Actually the Sanskrit word that is translated as laziness means "not to make use of." So instead of saying "Don't be lazy" it would be more accurate to say, "Don't waste time." Shantideva and others identify three ways that we waste time. The first is holding back from doing what we know to be good. This is what we usually call laziness, but it is just one of the ways that we usually waste our time. Another way that we waste time is by using our energy to do things that are trivial or even harmful. We are used to calling these things a waste of time. The third way that we waste time is by becoming discouraged. We use our energy to punish ourselves, or through discouragement we give up and don't even try any more.
One of the classical ways to counteract our tendency to waste time is to consider our mortality. Death is certain, the time of death is uncertain. If something is important, we'd better get to work on it. It would be a pity to put it off and then die before we get a chance. As Dogen said in Fukanzazengi,
You have gained the pivotal opportunity of human form. Do not use your time in vain...form and substance are like the dew on the grass, destiny like the dart of lightning - emptied in and instant, vanished in a flash.
But if recollection of your mortality doesn't give you more energy, drop it and try something else. Don't allow this thought to discourage you. Remember that the enlightened sages of old were once just like you and me. Remember that you and I through making right effort, through using our energy and not wasting it, will become just like them.
There are said to be four ways to support and sustain the practice of virya paramita. They are aspiration, firmness, joy and moderation. Aspiration is a genuine desire to do good, to bring about good results. Remember that this needs to be done in the spirit of generosity, within the guidelines of good conduct, and tempered by patience. It should express wisdom and understanding that come from deep meditation. In case you didn't catch on, these are the other five paramitas. Virya, especially the kind of virya that sustains the aspiration to walk the bodhisattva path, needs the support and guidance of all the other paramitas as much as it supplies the energy to guide and support them.
Firmness refers to self-confidence, not allowing oneself to become discouraged. Shantideva says,
First of all, I should examine well what is to be done,Once you know what you should do. Confidently maintain your enthusiasm. This is not the same as stubbornness to get your way. You also need to be energetic in your avoidance of that kind of selfishness.
To see whether I can pursue it or cannot undertake it.
If I am unable, it is best to leave it,
But once I have started I must not withdraw.
Whoever has self-importance is destroyed by it,One way to sustain self-confidence is not to buy in to self doubt and discouragement, but to see them as thoughts coming and going.
Is disturbed and has no self-confidence.
For those with self-confidence to not succumb to the power of the enemy,
Whereas the former are under the sway of the enemy of self importance.
If I find myself in a crowd of disturbing conceptions,I like that line, "Like a lion among foxes." To me that indicates confidence and assurance without false pride or arrogance. One of my favourite verses of encouragement comes from Rumi's invitation to the sema, the whirling dance of the sufis:
I shall endure them in a thousand ways;
Like a lion among foxes,
I will not be affected by this disturbing host.
Whoever you may be, come.We associate virya with words like zeal, enthusiasm and joyful energy.
Even though you may be
An infidel, a pagan, or a fire worshipper, come.
Our brotherhood is not one of despair.
Even though you have broken
Your vows of repentance a hundred times, come.
Just like those who yearn for the fruits of play,In other words, the Bodhisattva's work brings her joy. She plunges into this joyous activity "Just as an elephant tormented by the mid-day sun Plunges into a cool, refreshing lake." can you imagine that?
Bodhisattvas are attracted
To whatever task they may do;
They never have enough, it only brings them joy.
After all this talk of aspiration, firmness and joyful energy, you might be surprised to hear that moderation is also an important part of virya. Moderation means knowing when to rest. It means knowing the difference between resting and wasting time, and resting when we need to because we are not going to quit. We don't complete the bodhisattva path so that we can do something else. There isn't anything else. We need energy to stay on this path, so we do what we need to in order to sustain this energy.
I'd like to come back to the topic of wasting time for a moment. I for one have a long history of all of the different forms of wasting time. I think most of us do. Some may be more susceptible to discouragement, some to trivial pursuits and others to just holding back for whatever reason. But I wonder if virya paramita is actually our natural state that just gets covered over by laziness. I wonder whether virya is not so much something we need to develop as it is something that we need to uncover. I wonder if this could be what virya paramita means. Zeal beyond zeal might be zeal before zeal. By this I mean before we say "zeal" it's already there. All that's required of us is not to waste our time, but rather to make use of it for the purpose of benefiting all beings.
© 2007, Burai Rick Spencer