Laziness

For many of us, laziness prevents us from practicing and may go unrecognized. The Buddha taught the eightfold noble path as the way to properly cultivate: Right View, Right Aim, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Recollection, Right contemplation. (See the post also on Right Effort)

Would You Believe…It’s Just Laziness?

Excerpt from The Life of Buddha by Victoria Urubshurow

“Chances are you’d agree, if some said to you, “Laziness is the opposite of effort.” But did you ever think of discouragement as a type of laziness? How about a sense of inferiority? How about busyness? Well, Buddha counted all three of these as form of (yes) lasizness. Let’s see how Buddhists try to get rid of laziness in the practice of right effort.

~Discouragement saps one’s enthusiasm for spiritual work, so it is considered the worst form of laziness. Actually, Buddhist feel there is no need to be discouraged, due to the Buddha’s skillful means. With the ability to target his audience, Buddha taught the spiritual path in a variety of ways, to reach many kinds of people. Due to this wealth of teachings, ther is always at least a tiny portion of dharma that a person can put into practice.

~Inferiority is feeling “How could I possibly do this?” A person who feels inferior tends to become discouraged. It may seem compassionate to feel sorry for people - including ourselves - when they feel inferior. But everyone is inferior to someone else in countless ways. However, a person can always accomplish something no matter how “bad” he or she is at it. This old adage might apply to inferiority: practice makes perfect.

~Busyness is the habit of getting caught up in activities that don’t accomplish anything. Being too busy is a type of laziness, because a person is distracted from things of spiritual value. If we think about the number of useless activities the average person gets into, we can begin to udnerstand the Buddhist point about busyness as laziness.”

Guarding the mind well is the essence of practice right effort. One who guards the mind is like a shepherd who both protects the flock from predatorees and catches any sheep who would run away into danger. predators of the mind are no virtuous mental formations that barge or creep in to destroy wholesome mental formations. If a shepherd were to sleep all day, many sheep would be hurt. Similarly if one who pretends to guard the mind is lazy, the mental condition deteriorates. The bottom line? Avoid laziness. Cultivate joyous perseverance!”