Effort vs. non-effort

November 8, 2003

Hi, everyone,

I've been following the strand on effort/non-effort with great

interest. In the book "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry" by Jack

Kornfield he talks about the effortless way vs. the way of effort and

says: (pp.98)

"Perhaps to be accurate, we could add a fifth way to the four

paths of spiritual unfolding described by the Buddha. That is the

way that involves no effort, no speed, and no journey. Instead of

passing through the gate of oneness or the gate of sorrow, we pass

through the gateless gate, the realization that the whole idea of

journey and striving is an illusion. Where we're going is here.

To understand this better, we need to acknowledge two

complementary ways in which awakening and illumination are

discovered. One is through the path of striving and effort, the

other through the path of noneffort. In the path of effort you

purify yourself, you struggle to release all the obstacles to being

present, you focus yourself on awakening or illumination so fully

that everything else falls away. Finally you are forced to release

the one last grasping, the desire for enlightenment, and in this

letting go, everything becomes clear. In the path of noneffort,

there is no struggle. You open yourself to the reality of the

present. To rest in the sense of naturalness is all that is asked.

Out of this, all understanding and compassion follow.

In fact, both ways are at times part of everyone's journey.

Both ways lead to letting go. As one of my teachers, Dipama, would

say, "Both ways are best." Wise effort is important. Yet no matter

how arduous the path, and how much effort is expended, in the end the

awakening of the heart comes as an act of grace, like a spring wind

that wafts away all our concerns and fears, that refreshes the heart.

To meditate and pray and listen is like throwing the doors and

windows open. You can't plan for the breeze. As Suzuki Roshi puts

it, "You can't make a date with enlightenment." And a similar saying

goes, "Gaining enlightenment is an accident. Spiritual practice

simply makes us accident-prone."

My own personal preference for my individual sadhana is the

effortless way. My ego-tendencies have typically been ones of

avoidance and escapism from the reality of day to day living. So,

for ME, finally surrendering to the flow of my life as it unfolds and

learning to rest in the present moment as a gift, as the presence of

God in the formed and formless expressions of my day, is the

only 'effort' that seems to make sense to me, given my particular ego-

based structure. This is not to say that I don't attempt to look at

and correct the ways my personality operates to deny me that

experience of Presence. Both ways of effort/noneffort seem to operate

hand in hand, or close on the heels of each other in my life. The

main thing that I think affects the outcome of any effort in life is

the degree to which we practice out of a sense of love for the

practice itself without any other motive. In that place of love and

acceptance, the effortless moment of 'present' awareness arises. It

feels natural and contented and at rest, even in the midst of the

activity. The practice itself, as experienced in the eternal mMoment,

becomes the reward, and not a stepping-stone to something bigger or

better. Love, Pam

November 8, 2003

-

pamkowal

Ammachi

Saturday, November 08, 2003 7:19 PM

Effort vs. non-effort

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

This is what I have been trying so crudely to say, and it's what my Taoist

friend has been telling me: thank you so much for the beautiful clarity. I

have nearly worn poor yogaman out with my meanderings and you summed it up just

exquisitely- with total surrender, all does become Love, and all acts of

devotion are truly that. My one split second experience with this - or a

glimpse of something quite similar also led me to believe that physical space is

completely irrelevant and not even as we believe it to be. There seemed to be

no borders between me and anything else and the "space" within the room I was in

felt much, much too large to have been contained within it. Nor could the

stillness -so absolutely filled with an aura of utter peace and rightness - have

occured as it did because I was in a classroom full of teenagers at the time and

there is never anything close to silence with 25 thirteen year olds present.

The whatever didn't last long and has only occured one other time but I don't

know what borught it on or, conversely, what stopped it.

I do believe we should live in the best way possible but I still cannot help

but believe that awakening can, and does, occur within the twinkling of that

proverbial eye if the seeker simply stops seeking long and truly believes -

without having to find it first.

So, thank you, Pam, and dear Yogaman, Pam said just what I've been thinking

and have been unable to get clear. You two have been Amma-sends for me lately.

I don't know if it is having finished my japa and celebrated the convergence

to the best of my ability, but tonight feels as expectant as Christmas Eve did

when I was little.

Love,

Snehalata