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

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist '' Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Bud ...

: ';

Skt. Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

: ' or ') are an integral part of the

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

path to

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

(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 (Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) 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 practices: ...

'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 The Vinaya (Pali & Sanskrit: विनय) is the division of the Buddhist canon ('' Tripitaka'') containing the rules and procedures that govern the Buddhist Sangha (community of like-minded ''sramanas''). Three parallel Vinaya traditions rema ...

, Sutta Pitaka, Abhidhamma Pitaka and

Pali commentaries Aṭṭhakathā (Pali for explanation, commentary) refers to Pali-language Theravadin Buddhist commentaries to the canonical Theravadin Tipitaka. These commentaries give the traditional interpretations of the scriptures. The major commentaries w ...

. 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 wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

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'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics (" nun", '' bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhi ...

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

. In general, the unskillful states are the three defilements (''

kilesa Kleshas ( sa, क्लेश, kleśa; pi, किलेस ''kilesa''; bo, ཉོན་མོངས། ''nyon mongs''), in Buddhism, are mental states that cloud the mind and manifest in unwholesome actions. ''Kleshas'' include states of mind su ...

''): 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 Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During ...

, 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. # 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''), ar ...

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 Indian Theravada Buddhist commentator, translator and philosopher. He worked in the Great Monastery (''Mahāvihāra'') at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajjavāda school and in t ...

, 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. Retrieved on 2007-08-25 from "Access to Insight" (1994) at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/wheel377.html. *

Rhys Davids Rhys Davids as a surname may refer to: *Thomas William Rhys Davids, British scholar, founder and president of the Pāli Text Society, husband of next * Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids, British scholar, second president of the Pāli Text Society, ...

, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). ''The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary''. Chipstead:

Pali Text Society The Pali 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