พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าความเพียรชอบ 4 ประการ คือสังวร ปหาน ภาวนา และอนุรักขนา เป็นเครื่องมือสำคัญที่จะช่วยลดสัดส่วนอกุศลและเพิ่มสัดส่วนกุศลธรรมในตัวเรา นำไปสู่การหลุดพ้นและชีวิตที่แสนอัศจรรย์The teacher explains that the Four Right Efforts — restraint, abandonment, development, and preservation — are essential tools for reducing the unwholesome proportion within us and increasing the wholesome, leading toward liberation and a truly wondrous life.
A student asked the teacher to elaborate on the Four Right Efforts (sammappadhāna).
The Four Right Efforts
The teacher explained that the Four Right Efforts are: 1) the effort of restraint — striving to prevent unwholesome states from arising; 2) the effort of abandonment — striving to eliminate unwholesome states that have already arisen so they don't recur; 3) the effort of development — striving to cultivate wholesome states within oneself and to help society find ; and 4) the effort of preservation — striving to maintain and further develop wholesome states that have already arisen, both for oneself and for the collective good.
Living well requires that proportion within us continually increases while proportion continually decreases. The Four Right Efforts are essential for adjusting this balance toward the wholesome, because as the wholesome proportion grows, our very standing changes — we approach a state of greater and sanctity, and our success and fulfillment become more complete.
Restraint and Abandonment Depend on Right Mindfulness
Restraint requires guarding the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, taking no delight in the unwholesome — this requires recognizing it in time, which depends on trained through repeated practice of recollection. If we train , we become able to restrain and prevent the unwholesome from seizing our heart. Abandonment applies once the unwholesome has already taken hold: we must strive to expel it by recognizing it clearly — seeing which thoughts are truly our own and which have been overlaid onto us. The moment we recognize that a thought is not truly ours, it dissolves on its own — because being recognized is precisely what the unwholesome fears most.
Development and Preservation Lead to a Truly Wondrous Life
Development means striving to establish wholesome states within ourselves, relying on a meditation practice as our dwelling place of , staying continuously aware. When a wholesome sphere is established, it draws in pure energy called merit to cleanse defilement. Preservation means striving to keep that arisen wholesomeness firmly established, through faith in that very Dhamma. The more continuously we maintain wholesome states, the more deeply we are carried into refined inner dimensions, and the Triple Gem shines ever brighter at the center of our being.
Freedom from all defilement depends on restraint and abandonment; reaching a truly wondrous life depends on development and preservation. All four must be cultivated and practiced together, continuously.