Nyanatiloka Buddhist Dictionary

energy, exerts his mind and strives" (A. IV, 13).(1) "What now, o monks, is the effort to avoid? Perceiving a form, or a sound, or an odour, or ataste, or a bodily or mental impression, the monk neither adheres to the whole nor to its parts.And he strives to ward off that through which evil and unwholesome things might arise, such asgreed and sorrow, if he remained with unguarded senses; and he watches over his senses,restrains his senses. This is called the effort to avoid.(2) "What now is the effort to overcome? The monk does not retain any thought of sensual lust,or any other evil, unwholesome states that may have arisen; he abandons them, dispels them,destroys them, causes them to disappear. This is called the effort to overcome.(3) "What now is the effort to develop? The monk develops the factors of enlightenment, bent onsolitude, on detachment, on extinction, and ending in deliverance, namely: mindfulness (sati),investigation of the law (dhamma-vicaya), energy (viriya), rapture (píti), tranquillity (passaddhi),concentraton (samádhi), equanimity (upekkhá). This is called the effort to develop.(4) "What now is the effort to maintain? The monk keeps firmly in his mind a favourable objectof concentration, such as the mental image of a skeleton, a corpse infested by worms, a corpseblueblack in colour, a festering corpse, a corpse riddled with holes, a corpse swollen up. This iscalled the effort to maintain" (A. IV, 14).padhániyanga: 'elements of effort', are the following 5 qualities: faith, health, sincerity, energy, and wisdom(M. 85, 90; A. V. 53). See párisuddhi-padhániyanga.páguññatá: 'proficiency', namely, of mental concomitants (káya-páguññatá), and of consciousness(citta-páguññatá), are 2 mental phenomena associated with all wholesome consciousness. Cf. Tab. II.pahána: 'overcoming', abandoning. There are 5 kinds of overcoming: (1) overcoming by repression(vikkhambhana-pahána), i.e. the temporary suspension of the 5 hindrances (nívarana, q.v.) during theabsorptions, (2) overcoming by the opposite (tadanga-pahána), (3) overcoming by destruction(samuccheda-pahána), (4) overcoming by tranquillization (patipassaddhi-pahána), (5) overcoming by escape(nissarana-pahána).(1) "Among these, 'overcoming by repression' is the pushing back of adverse things, such as the5 mental hindrances (nívarana q.v), etc., through this or that mental concentration (samádhi,q.v.), just as a pot thrown into moss-clad water pushes the moss aside....(2) " 'Overcoming by the opposite' is the overcoming by opposing this or that thing that is to beovercome, by this or that factor of knowledge belonging to insight (vipassaná q.v.), just as alighted lamp dispels the darkness of the night. In this way, the personality-belief (sakkáyaditthi,s. ditthi) is overcome by determining the mental and corporeal phenomena ... the view ofuncausedness of existence by investigation into the conditions... the idea of eternity bycontemplation of impermanency ... the idea of happiness by contemplation of misery....(3) "If through the knowledge of the noble path (s. ariyapuggala) the fetters and other evil thingscannot continue any longer, just like a tree destroyed by lightning, then such an overcoming iscalled 'overcoming by destruction' " (Vis.M. XXII, 110f.).(4) When, after the disappearing of the fetters at the entrance into the paths, the fetters, from themoment of fruition (phala) onwards, are forever extinct and stilled, such overcoming is calledthe 'overcoming by tranquillization'.(5) "The 'overcoming by escape' is identical with the extinction and Nibbána" (Pts.M. I. 27).(App.).