The Four Right Exertions (also known as, Four Proper Exertions, Four Right Efforts, Four Great Efforts, Four Right Endeavors or Four Right Strivings) (

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

: '; Skt.: ' or ') are an integral part of the

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

path to Enlightenment (understanding). Built on the insightful recognition of the arising and non-arising of various mental qualities over time and of our ability to mindfully intervene in these ephemeral qualities, the Four Right Exertions encourage the relinquishment of harmful mental qualities and the nurturing of beneficial mental qualities. The Four Right Exertions are associated with the

Noble Eightfold Path The Noble Eightfold Path () or Eight Right Paths () is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth, in the form of nirvana. The Eightfold Path consists of eight pra ...

's factor of "right effort" (''sammā-vāyāma'') and the Five Spiritual Faculties' faculty of "energy" ('' viriya''); and, are one of the seven sets of Bodhipakkhiyadhamma, factors related to ''bodhi''.

In the Pali literature

The Four Right Exertions are found in the Vinaya Pitaka,

Sutta Pitaka Sutta may refer to: *The Pali version of the Sanskrit term Sutra **In Buddhism, a discourse of the Buddha: see Sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indi ...

, Abhidhamma Pitaka and Pali commentaries. Additionally, a similar-sounding but different concept, the "four exertions," is referenced in the literature as well. These two concepts are presented below.

Four Right Exertions

The Four Right Exertions (''cattārimāni sammappadhānāni'') are defined with the following traditional phrase: :"There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for: :" the sake of the non-arising 'anuppādāya''of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen. :" i... the sake of the abandonment 'pahānāya''of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen. :" ii... the sake of the arising 'uppādāya''of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen. :" v... the maintenance non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, & culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen." This elaboration is attributed to

the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

in response to the following questions: * "What is right effort?" ( SN 45.8, in the context of the

) * "What is the faculty of energy?" ( SN 48.10, in the context of the Five Spiritual Faculties) * "What are the four right strivings?" ( SN 49.1''ff''.) This formulation is also part of an extensive exposition by Ven. Sariputta when addressing the question of "What is this Dhamma that has been well-proclaimed by the Lord uddha" ( DN 33). In addition, in a section of the Anguttara Nikaya known as the "Snap of the Fingers Section" ( AN 1.16.6, '), the Buddha is recorded as stating that, if a monk were to enact one of the four right exertions for the snap of the fingers (or, "only for one moment") then "he abides in jhana, has done his duties by the Teacher, and eats the country's alms food without a debt." A similar ''two''-part elaboration is provided by the Buddha in SN 48.9, again in the context of the Five Spiritual Faculties, when he states: :"And what,

bhikkhu A ''bhikkhu'' (, ) is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male, and female monastics (''bhikkhunī''), are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the pratimok� ...

s, is the faculty of energy? Here, bhikkhus, the noble disciple dwells with energy aroused for the abandoning of unwholesome states and the acquisition of wholesome states; he is strong, firm in exertion, not shirking the responsibility of cultivating wholesome states. This is the faculty of energy." What constitutes "unskillful" or "unwholesome" (''akusala'') and "skillful" or "wholesome" (''kusala'') qualities is taken up in the Abhidhamma Pitaka and the post-canonical Pali commentaries. In general, the unskillful states are the three defilements (''

kilesa Kleshas (; ''kilesa''; ''nyon mongs''), in Buddhism, are mental states that cloud the mind and manifest in unwholesome actions. ''Kleshas'' include states of mind such as anxiety, fear, anger, jealousy, desire, etc. Contemporary translators use ...

''): greed (''lobha''), hatred (''dosa'') and delusion (''moha''). Skillful states are the defilements' opposites: non-greed (''alobha''), non-hatred (''adosa'') and non-delusion (''amoha'').

Four Exertions

Throughout the

Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

, a distinction is made between the fourfold "exertions" (') and the four "Right Exertions" ('). While similarly named, canonical discourses consistently define these different terms differently, even in the same or adjacent discourses. The four exertions (''cattārimāni padhānāni'') are summarized as: # Restraint (') of the

senses A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the surroundings through the detection of stimuli. Although, in some cultures, five human senses were traditionally identified as su ...

. # Abandonment (') of defilements. # Cultivation (') of Enlightenment Factors. # Preservation (') of

concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...

, for instance, using charnel-ground contemplations.Translations primarily based on Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), entries fo
"" (p. 411)"saŋvara" (p. 657)"pahāna" (p. 448)"bhāvanā" (p. 503)
an
"anurakkhā" (p. 41)
(all pages retrieved on 2007-05-29). Examples of discourses that expand on the four exertions are DN 33, set of four #10 (Walshe, 1995, p. 490); and, AN 4.14 (Jayasundere, n.d., sutta 4, "Exertions (b)," retrieved 2007-05-30). For more information on charnel-ground contemplations, see, for instance, the

Satipatthana Sutta The ''Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta'' ( Majjhima Nikaya 10: ''The Discourse on the Establishing of Mindfulness''), and the subsequently created Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta (Dīgha Nikāya 22: ''The Great Discourse on the Establishing of Mindfulness'' ...

Notes

Sources

* Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). ''The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya''. Boston: Wisdom Publications. . *

Buddhaghosa Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Sinhalese Theravādin Buddhist commentator, translator, and philosopher. He worked in the great monastery (''mahāvihāra'') at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajyavāda schoo ...

, Bhadantacariya & Bhikkhu (trans.) (1999). ''The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga''. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions. . * Jayasundere, A.D. (trans.) (n.d.). "Caravaggo" ( AN 4, ch. 2). Retrieved on 2007-05-30 from "METTANET - LANKA" at: https://web.archive.org/web/20130705174936/http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara2/4-catukkanipata/002-caravaggo-e2.html. * Thera (trans.) & Bhikkhu Bodhi (ed.) (1991). ''The Discourse on Right View: The Sammaditthi Sutta and its Commentary'' (The Wheel Publication No. 377/379). Kandy:

Buddhist Publication Society The Buddhist Publication Society (BPS) is a publishing house with charitable status, whose objective is to disseminate the teachings of Gautama Buddha. It was founded in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in 1958 by two Sri Lankan lay Buddhists, A.S. Karunaratn ...

. Retrieved on 2007-08-25 from "Access to Insight" (1994) at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/wheel377.html. * Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). ''The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary''. Chipstead:

Pali Text Society The Pāli Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts." Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The ...

. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/. * Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1987, 1996). ''Magga-vibhanga Sutta: An Analysis of the Path'' ( SN 45.8). Retrieved on 2007-05-28 from "Access to Insight" at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn45/sn45.008.than.html. * Upalavanna, Sister. (trans.) (n.d.). "Ekadhammapali: One thing" ( AN 1, ch. 16). Retrieved on 2007-08-25 from "METTANET - LANKA" at: https://web.archive.org/web/20110116045748/http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara1/1-ekanipata/016-Ekadhammapali-e.html. * Walshe, Maurice O'C. (1995). ''The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya''. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. . {{Buddhism topics Buddhist practices

In the Pali literature

Four Right Exertions

Four Exertions

See also

Notes

Sources