Janna · Aug 24, 2026
PART - II
THE PHASE OF HARD PRACTICE
Most meditation centers do not teach the Right Effort stage carefully. They focus on the Right Mindfulness stage, beholding the Buddha-nature, and the four levels of meditation, causing practitioners to mistakenly think that they've reached a very high level of meditation, hence their blessing loss. In fact, the Right Effort phase has many big issues. If you didn't mastered this phase, you probably follow a wrong path.
For long-standing Buddhadharma, the disciples of Buddha must strengthen their meditation practice from the Right Effort stage. Meditation monasteries must have good theory and techniques for the Right Effort phase. And thanks to the basics of the Right Effort phase, practitioners make steady progress, and they know where they are.
If we don’t understand clearly about the Right Effort, we cannot know where we are and will lose our blessings, and as a result, we all will give up. If many people like us, Buddhadharma will be destroyed very quickly. Buddhadharma still exists because there are people who attempt to meditate heading to selflessness. If Buddhists don’t try to practice meditation anymore, Buddhadharma is empty.
The period of hard work without results, or a little fruit and lose, really test the patience of meditators. We should practice meditation and qigong, do good deeds, and improve our morality. These three precious foundations of meditation must be cultivated forever. When we have enough blessings, our spirituality will develop in meditation.
At the Right Effort stage, meditators must sense the whole body and be aware of it. It’s not an easy thing. It’s hard to keep our awareness on the body but not outside because when we look at something, our awareness will leave the body; when we hear something, our awareness will leave the body; when we think of something, our awareness will leave the body, too. So it’s really hard.
Abide in the body and know it is impermanent. Many people don’t practice it carefully, so later on, when they are about to reach the Awareness state, they keep going forward and backward and cannot achieve this state eventually. So we must practice abiding in the body very well and don’t let our consciousness out the body, and we will keep our Awareness state.
Also, it’s hard to feel the breath clearly. But luckily, we have Yin-Yang qigong to help us sense the breath faster. We inhale a little and then exhale three times slower. Inhale and exhale with the nose, while in Yin-Yang qigong, exhale with the mouth. Never try to inhale much, or you will choke on the chest. Inhale shallowly, and the mind will be still.
When the mind is at rest, we have some periods that we have no thoughts at all. But it’s nothing special. Still, keep your awareness of the body and the breath attentively then you can reach the Awareness state. Many make a mistake that when having an empty mind, they forget the awareness of the body and the breath, their minds will thereby be chaotic again.
No matter what state of mind is, let dwell in the body and clearly recognize the breath. Even when you attain Awareness state, you mustn’t forget to dwell in the body and the breath.
Then our Awareness is overcoming our thoughts, occupying almost the mind. We come to know many new miraculous things but ignore all of them but keep dwelling in the body and recognizing the breath.
When we suddenly reach a new state that our minds are calmer and purer and we don't cling to anything, it's time we’ve eradicated the Greed hindrance, and it's the beginning of the Right Mindfulness stage.
Written by:
Janna
Related Articles:
Instruction on Meditation: Essential Methods and Practice Guide
The Three Phases of Meditation
The Peace of Mind – Meditation, Morality and Inner Peace
The Appearance of the Awareness State | Meditation
What Is Meditation? The Path to Inner Peace, Awakening & Liberation
The Wisdom of Winning and Conquering Yourself
The Beauty of the Soul: Kindness, Morality, and True Happiness
Injustice – How to Face Misunderstanding and Unfairness in Life