Energy is the Fifth Mental Perfection:
Energy means enthusiasm
Energy means effort
Energy means exertion
Energy means interest
Energy means endeavour
Energy means eagerness
Energy means initiative
Energy means intensity
Energy means action
Energy means force
Energy means power
Energy means drive
Energy means hyper
Energy means keenness
Energy means devotion
Energy means dedication
Energy means determination
Energy means commitment
Energy means enjoyment
Energy
pave the way for success in all & any project ...
Energy
is thereby instrumental for all the perfections!!!
Without Energy
no achievement can ever be accomplished..
The proximate cause for Energy
is a sense of urgency!!!
The characteristic of Energy
is Striving, it's function is
Effort, and the manifestation of Energy
is Endurance.
The blessed Buddha said about the perfection of Energy:
Get up! Sit up!
Of what use are your dreams ?
How can you sleep, when mentally sick,
stabbed by the arrow of urge & craving.
Sutta
Nipata 331
Get up! Sit up!
Push on your training, until reaching sole peace!
Don't let the king of death -Mara- see you sloppy &
thus delude & dominate you like a stringed toy doll...
Sutta Nipata 332
Possessed of Energy & Endurance
be always Earnest in your training.
The clever One is not satisfied before the
goal of ending all misery, is wholly achieved.
Theragatha
585
It is too cold, it is too hot...,
It is too early, it is too late!
Such bad excuses, make one
give up the training & miss one
more precious opportunity...
Digha
Nikaya
This straight Way has now been clearly shown:
Don’t hesitate, walk forward & do not turn around.
Urge yourself to advance further by your own Energy,
only thus will you obviously approach & attain Nibbana!
Theragatha 637
The effort to prevent & to eliminate evil,
to develop & to maintain good: These are
the 4 right efforts, taught by the Buddha.
Anguttara
Nikaya 7
And what, friends, is feeding the Energy Link to Enlightenment,
not yet arisen, & food too for boosting of any present Energy ?
1: The element of initial initiative,
2: The element of launching into action,
3: The element of persistent endurance.
Systematic attention to these 3 aspects, is feeding the yet unarisen
Energy
Link to Awakening, & food too for boosting of any already present
Energy.
Samyutta
Nikaya XLVI 51 Bojjhanga-samyutta
At such times, friends,
when the mind is Slow, Sluggish, and Heavy:
Then it is the Right Occasion: for cultivating the
Investigation-by-curiosity enlightenment-factor,
for cultivating the Energy-of-Enthusiasm enlightenment-factor,
for cultivating the Rapture-of-Joy enlightenment-factor...
Why is it so ? When the mind is slow, sluggish, and heavy,
it is Easily Raised Up by exactly these 3 mental qualities.
Suppose, friends, that a man wants a fire to blaze up,
and he put on dry grass, dry wood sticks and blow it
with dry hot air and do not cover it with any dust,
would that man then see his fire blaze up ?
Certainly So, Lord...
SN V, 46. Bojjhanga-samyutta
When Moggallana where sitting nodding in the jungle night:
Well then, Moggallana, whatever experience you had in mind when
drowsiness demoralized you down, don't attend to that experience,
don't follow it. Remember instead the Dhamma, as you have heard &
memorized it, reflect on & examine it! Then raise up & repeat
aloud
the details of Dhamma, as you have learnt it! Then pull both your
earlobes and rub your limbs with both your hands.! Then get up from
your seat, and after washing your eyes with cold water, look around
& upward in all directions and identify the major stars & planets!
Then attend to the experience of inner light, resolve on the clear
perception of daytime, by night as by day, and by day as by night!
By means of an Awareness thus open, unhindered & vivid, develop
the
bright mind. It's possible, that by doing this, you will shake off your
lethargy... But if by doing this you don't shake off your laziness,
then
continually noting what is both in front & behind set of a distance
to
meditate walking back & forth, your senses inwardly settled, while
your mind is not getting lost outwards. It is possible that by doing
this
you will finally shake off all your mental sluggishness...
Anguttara Nikaya VII 58
Born as the Brahmin Mahajanaka, the Bodhisatta was once,
aboard a sinking ship far from shore. All the crew were in great panic...!!!
The Bodhisatta though ate his belly full of sugar & ghee, oiled
his clothes
and swam continuously for 7 days towards the shore, until he was rescued
by an ocean guarding female devata. Later he remembered:
"Even far out at sea, where many men were lost, yet still unruffled
by worry
was my mind. Just kept swimming: This was my perfection of Energy."
Mahajanaka-Jataka no. 539
SPREADING FAME
One who exerts effort,
one who is alert and always aware,
one who does good deeds voluntarily & deliberately,
one who is kind and considerate in all dealings,
one who is restrained & controlled,
one who lives according to the real truth of Dhamma,
carefully & seriously,
the Fame of such one grows ever & exceedingly.
Dhammapada Illustration 24 Background Story 24
SAFETY
By arousing and inspiring oneself to
putting forth stable & energetic effort;
By meticulous carefulness;
By well trained, well restrained self-control,
the wise & clever ones make themselves an
island safe no flood nor fever can ever overwhelm.
Dhammapada Illustration 25 Background Story 25
More on Energy (viriya):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Energy_Viriya.htm
More of the 10 mental perfections (paramis):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Ten_Perfections.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_10_mental_perfections_(parami)_in_three_levels.htm
Enthusiastic is Energy!
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