You Can’t Relax Your Way to Awakening
December 13, 2018
There’s a Pali phrase that the Thai ajaans repeat a lot, viriyena dukkhamecceti: It’s through effort that we put an end to suffering. And as Ajaan Lee said, we hear it but we don’t believe it. We’re looking for the Pali phrase that would say, “It’s through relaxing that we put an end to suffering.” We go through the Canon trying to find the passages indicating that there’s no need for an act of will, that as soon as you’re developing admirable friendship everything will follow right in line. We also focus on other passages that portray the path as one nice step after another nice step, without much difficulty.