Right Effort is the sixth tenet of the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism.  Once we establish a strong foundation for our practice through the wisdom and morality practices of the path like Right View and Right Speech, Right Effort provides the final push that helps us attain Nirvana.

Over the years, I've come to realize that having a solid motivation for practice is an important part of Right Effort.  Yes, in its purest form we should walk the path without any hope of acknowledgment or reward.  But we were all human beings before we became Buddhists.  And humans need encouragement from time to time.

In my own practice, I've found that celebrating the small victories in daily life can provide sufficient motivation for sitting on the cushion.  If life is suffering, as the first noble truth states, then anything we do to end that suffering is reason to rejoice.  The smaller and more innocuous the task, the better.

The simple act of showering and putting on clean clothes in the morning makes life calmer and more peaceful for the people around us.  This may seem insignificant at first.  However, if we sit near someone with bad body odor, we'll quickly realize that maintaining good hygiene is an act of kindness.

If we do nothing but take a shower at the start of the day, we can truthfully say that we're keeping the Bodhisattva vow to "save all beings from suffering".  But most of us do much more than that.  Perhaps we refill the coffee pot when it's empty at work or we load the dishwasher after dinner.  Maybe we call a loved one just to "check-in" or leave a 20% tip for our server at a restaurant.

If we take the time to look, we can find countless ways that we make life better for ourselves and others throughout the day.  When we reflect on our actions and give ourselves the proverbial "pat on the back", we gain motivation for our practice.  We see how far we've come, and that encouragement gives us the strength to go even farther.

Thus, the practice of Right Effort stops being a joyless gritting of teeth each time we sit on the cushion.  Instead, it becomes a celebration of all the small victories we've accumulated throughout the day.  It's the finishing touch on a long list of ways that we've made the world a better place, ending with us stepping in front of the altar to give our spirit a well-deserved rest.

Practice hard my friends, and thank you for all you do.

Namu Amida Butsu

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Right Effort- Celebrating Small Victories in Buddhist Practice