I've heard both of these Pali terms translated to the English term "effort".
1: sammā-vāyāma: the 6th item in the 8-fold path.
2: virya: the 2nd of the 5 faculties/powers/Indrias.
If 2 terms are used instead of 1, they probably represent slightly different concepts but the similarity and difference between these 2 is unclear to me.
My best guess from my fuzzy understanding is ...
Gil Fronsdal has identified virya as being a kind of "heroic effort".
It's part of the 5 Indrias and Indra was the god that ruled the other gods so perhaps this refers to an heroic effort to rule over the hindrances?
sammā-vāyāma is associated with the 4 right exertions.
As such it seems to be about moving away from unwholesome states and towards wholesome states.
The 2 terms seem very similar.
The only difference I can detect is that the "heroic" modifier associated with virya suggests a stronger emphasis on courage and/or aggression.
Is this correct?
Asked by Alex Ryan
(604 rep)
Apr 6, 2020, 02:50 PM
Last activity: Apr 7, 2020, 03:20 PM
Last activity: Apr 7, 2020, 03:20 PM