Page 128 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

It consists in unremitting work on oneself and upon one's own

mind by way of Preventing, Eradicating, Developing and
Maintaining. This classification is given as an incentive and a

reminder, because it is so easy to slacken off. People start with
lots of enthusiasm : they are all for Buddhism, all for meditation,
all for the spiritual life. But very often it quickly wears off.

Enthusiasm wanes, and after a while it is almost as though it had
never been at all. This is because the forces of inertia within

ourselves, the forces holding us back and keeping us down, are
very strong indeed even in simple matters like getting up early in
the morning to meditate. You might make a resolution to get up

half an hour earlier, and you might succeed once or twice, or
even three times, but by the fourth morning temptation will

almost certainly have set in, and it will be a matter of quite
serious mental struggle and conflict whether you get up or
whether you stay a few minutes longer in that warm, cosy bed.

You are nearly always the loser, of course, because the forces of
inertia within ourselves are so very strong. It is so easy for

enthusiasm to wane, dwindle, and vanish.

Before we discuss these Four Exertions in detail, however, there

is one very important observation to be made. We cannot even
begin to prevent, eradicate, develop or maintain, unless, to begin

with, we know ourselves, that is to say, unless we know which
way our minds are going, or know what the contents of our
minds are. And to know ourselves requires very great honesty

indeed — at least, great honesty with ourselves. It is not
expected that we should always be completely honest with other

people, but at least so far as the Four Exertions are concerned
we should

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