The Perfection of Energy - Kusala viriya & akusala viriya

In daily life everybody has come into contact with undesirable objects: for some people these are extremely undesirable, whereas for others these are only slightly so. This may happen when one meets another person on account of whom one is disturbed or feels displeasure. If satisampajanna (sati and panna) does not arise, one does not know that there is akusala dhamma at such a moment and hence kusala viriya has no opportunity to arise and akusala viriya arises instead. There are bound to be conditions for desire and attachment so that akusala continues to arise.
However, if someone has listened to the Dhamma and develops satipatthana, sati-sampajanna can arise and be aware of akusala when he is irritated or displeased. We should consider more deeply the meaning of sati-sampajanna. When akusala dhamma arises, satisampajanna may consider the Dhamma and realize the disadvantage of the continuation of akusala. At that moment, it may be known that it is not proper to be irritated in whatever respect, be it on account of the action or speech of someone else, or be it because we have noticed  something wrong. When, for example, akusala citta with anger arises and sati- sampajanna can be aware of its characteristic, we can see whether there is effort for giving up anger; if one continues being angry it means that akusala viriya is still strong. When kusala viriya has been further developed and awareness can arise, there are conditions for the decrease of displeasure and for metta. Thus, instead of anger which is an impure dhamma there can immediately be a change to kusala dhamma, dhamma which is pure.
When dosa arises, we have displeasure, but sati-sampajanna can arise and be aware of its characteristic and then we can see the benefit of sati-sampajanna. If someone has listened to the Dhamma and is not inert but immediately gives up akusala, kusala viriya performs at that moment its task of refraining from anger.
This kind of viriya is different from thinking that one should refrain from anger. It arises at the moment of sati-sampajanna, when energy or effort refrains from anger, and it is known that metta is the opposite of anger. This is effort to forgive, effort for metta. At such a moment we can remember that everybody, including ourselves, makes mistakes. Therefore, we should not have anger or displeasure on account of someone else or of dhammas which arise and then fall away. However, feeling and remembrance, sanna, are conditions for being slow and inert in letting go of one’s thoughts about circumstances and events and in that case akusala dhammas have the opportunity to arise.