The Paramita of Vigor

Vigor is the opposite of laziness. If you are listening to the lecture and falling asleep, you are not being vigorous! If you listen to the lecture, but strike up a lot of false thinking, you are not being vigorous. If you listen and talk to your friends at the same time, you are not being vigorous. What, then, is vigor? Not sleeping, not having false thinking, and not chattering! Sitting quietly, paying full, respectful attention is being vigorous. Vigor is something you cultivate yourself. You don’t go around telling other people to do it. Whether or not other people are vigorous is not your business. If you feel like you are falling asleep, then stand up! If that doesn’t work, kneel to listen to the Sutra lecture. Vigor means fighting with the lazy worms inside of you—killing them all. “I’ve taken the five precepts, so I shouldn’t kill. Wouldn’t I be breaking precepts by killing a lazy worm?” If you kill off the lazy worms, then you will be vigorous.

You should be as vigorous as a tiger! See how fast they run?

“I’ve never seen a tiger,” someone says.

Then I will introduce you to a small tiger. Have you ever seen a cat? It can jump and it can climb trees. It can run faster than mice.

Vigor: You get up at four in the morning and don’t rest until ten at night. That’s vigor. If you take breaks all day long, you are not vigorous. Vigor just means you keep working.

There is physical vigor and mental vigor. Using physical vigor means practicing the Way in the six periods of day and night. In the morning you rise and do morning recitation, determined not to be late, not to make other people have to wait for you. If you make people wait for you all the time, instead of merit, you are committing offenses. It is said,

You can change the course of a thousand rivers,But don’t disturb a cultivator’s mind.

If you cause a cultivator to have one false thought, you’re in for trouble! If you make everyone wait for you and cause them to be mad at you, then, instead of creating merit, you have committed offenses, great offenses!

Using mental vigor means being mindful of the Buddha, Dharma, and the Sangha throughout the six periods of day and night. You do not have any false thoughts. At all times you are respectful of the Triple Jewel and you think about making offerings to the Triple Jewel.

Now we will discuss the Ten Advantages of Vigor. If you cultivate vigor by striking up your spirits and cultivating the ascetic practices, then you will gain these benefits. That’s why, in our Chan sessions, we say, “Strike up your spirits! Don’t sleep!”

1. Others cannot defeat one. If one has the true skill of vigor, one will win all debates. No one will win over one. One shall win because of vigor. If two armies are engaged in a battle and one is very high spirited, while the other is drowsy and lazy, the vigorous ones will certainly conquer the lazy ones.

2. The Buddhas will receive and protect one. The Buddha will look upon one and think, “This living being is pretty good. He’s a straight ahead cultivator, not lazy at all.” The Buddha will take care of one. Wouldn’t you call that an advantage?

3. One will be protected by non-humans. Not only will the Buddhas protect one, but the gods, dragons, and the eightfold division will protect one as well.

To be continued