The Perfection of Energy - Study with awareness

We should study with awareness the characteristics of realities as they naturally appear. It depends on conditions what degree of satisampajanna arises, it may be of the degree of merely reflecting on the akusala that one has committed during the day, or it may be of the degree of immediate awareness of whatever reality appears. Some people who develop satipatthana may desire to see a result of their efforts. They are striving with all their energy, because they believe that in this way the result of their practice will materialize quickly. However, since they are trying very hard they become tired and they have to stop doing so. The result of the development of satipatthana cannot be made to occur soon. The development of satipatthana is awareness of the characteristics of realities as they naturally appear in daily life, and only in this way can they be understood as anatta. If one is expecting a result of one’s practice and tries to hasten its arising, it is not the development of satipatthana.
A person of about eighty years old who had listened to Dhamma lectures at different places deeply considered the development of satipatthana. Although he was an elderly person, he was full of energy to listen to the Dhamma and to consider what he had heard. When he heard a radio program on the introduction to vipassana, he wrote down the address of the “Dhamma Study and Support Foundation” and made an effort to go to the Foundation in order to perform kusala by offering a donation. He left his house at nine in the morning and arrived at the Foundation at two in the afternoon. Here we see the viriya of an elderly  person who spent such a long time to reach the Foundation, who had no time for lunch and had to exert himself in many different ways. The perfection of viriya should be developed in daily life. When we perform kusala, viriya is essential; we should go against the current of akusala, against the stream of attachment to comfort and well-being, and in this way kusala can be accomplished.
For someone who develops satipatthana in daily life so that panna knows more thoroughly the characteristics of realities, the right conditions are present that lead to the result, namely, the realization of the four noble Truths. For him, the result will naturally occur and this is not difficult. However, the conditions leading to such a result are difficult to develop: one should gradually consider and study with awareness the characteristics of nama and rupa, as they appear through the sense-doors and the mind-door. This is a very gradual process, and viriya, energy, is necessary to be aware again and again, to be aware very often, since this is the only way for panna to be able to penetrate the arising and falling away of nama and rupa. At this very moment realities are arising and falling away, but if we do not study with awareness and begin to understand the characteristics of nama dhammas and rupa dhammas, it will not be possible to realize their arising and falling away. The cause which can bring such a result has to be developed time and again, life after life.