A Teaching From The Long Retreat
Sunday, March 8th, 2009Concurrently with other activities at Karuna Meditation Center, a three-year retreat is being held for a small group of practitioners who have dedicated this period of their lives to the study and practice of Buddhist meditation. Special regular teachings are given to this group. Recently, a teaching was given on “The Four Efforts”.
The Four Efforts were discussed by Geshe Chekawa, a 12th-century Tibetan master, who commented on four things as being of great importance to each meditator in each session. These are:
1. Does the intention of the practice align with the motivation for practice?
2. Understanding and having confidence in the method.
3. Knowing and recognizing the variety of effects that practice can produce.
4. Accepting the results of your practice.
The teaching that was given explains these four points in detail and discusses how they relate to meditation and to life. To download a .pdf file of the transcript of this talk, click Four Efforts (PDF).

