Let's talk about virya paramita, the perfection of energy. Virya paramita is about practicing with unflagging, enthusiastic effort -- as opposed to, say, maybe meditating for awhile after you're done watching Celebrity Bake-off Challenge on the teevee.
I confess I'm starting off the Back to Basics campaign with virya paramita because it's probably the biggest weakness in my practice. I can't hold myself up as a role model on this one. But we can explore it together.
About the paramitas: The "perfections" are guides for practice, or qualities the practitioner must cultivate to realize enlightenment. In the many texts of Buddhism you will stumble across mentions of "six perfections" and "ten perfections." Both Theravada and Mahayana have� lists of ten perfections, but the two lists are not identical. The "six perfections" are an older list of Mahayana Buddhism, to which four more perfections were added later to make ten.
I've spent a large part of the past few days reading about the paramitas. There are surprisingly few books available in English that are devoted entirely to the paramitas. Two that I found particularly helpful are Robert Aitken's The Practice of Perfection (which appears to be out of print, but it's worth tracking down a used copy, or borrowing one) and The Six Perfections: Buddhism and the Cultivation of Character by Dale S. Wright. If the Mahayana paramitas interest you at all, I recommend the latter book highly.
When considering the perfection of energy, we may want to look at the things that zap our energy. One of these common to many of us is that we live in circumstances that restrict our access to formal training. Aitken Roshi discussed circumstances that are less than optimal. Here's a quote from the book I posted awhile back --
"The first lesson is that distraction or obstruction are just negative terms for your context. Circumstances are like your arms and legs. They appear in your life to serve your practice. As you become more and more settled in your purpose, your circumstances begin to synchronize with your concerns. Chance words by friends, books, and poems, even the wind in the trees brings precious insight."
Here's the next paragraph:
"Perhaps your circumstances involve looking after small children. Your ability to attend formal meetings is restricted. How can such a situation synchronize with your practice? It is as though you plan a picnic and then it rains. Other ways of recreation open out. Other ways of practice can open out when full-time participation in sesshin is not possible -- and they will involve Virya."
What's the Roshi saying here? First, start where you are. Do what you can, even if that seems inadequate. Practice will find a way, even if you can't see it yourself.
In my early years as a Zen student I was raising two small children, one still in diapers, by myself and working full time. And my teacher was in a monastery that was a three hour drive away, so making time to go there was a project in itself.
I was exhausted all the time in those days. I remember once I popped on a knit dress to wear to work and didn't realize until the morning was half over that I'd put the dress on inside out.
On another occasion, I fell asleep before my daughter, about six years old, had been put to bed. When I woke up I noticed a chair had been pulled up to the refrigerator and the freezer door was open. I found my daughter in the living room, asleep, surrounded by empty wrappers and Popsicle sticks.
Practice for me in those days usually meant that after the kids were in bed, I'd pick the legos and Barbie doll shoes out of the carpet, stack some throw pillows on the floor and attempt to sit zazen for a few minutes before I went to bed. Usually I was nodding off to sleep as soon as I sat down.
So it wasn't ideal, but looking back on it now, I think it was enough. If I have any advice, it would be to not compare your circumstances to anyone else's. Just do what you can do, and don't worry if it's enough or not, because that's not something any of us can judge for ourselves.
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