The importance of correct motivation
mindatrisk
Veteran
It's obvious that having a pure motive for an action is best. But can it be helpful to skilfully utilise an impure motivation to achieve or attain something?
For example, i'm living in a community at the moment where there's a girl that I like. I'm going home next week to see my parents where i'm planning to do a juice fast (since the food here sucks) but have little motivation to do it for purely the sake of health. However, the thought of looking good for the girl I like will likely give my motivation the added boost to commit to the fast, whereas if I ignored that ulterior motivation and focused on doing a juice fast for pure health reasons then i'd probably not do it, and henceforth miss out on some much needed healthiness.
So, what do you think? Is it viable to utilise ulterior motivations if it helps (given awareness) or should we only act when our intentions are pure? And, does this apply for purely material pursuits (like chasing a girl) but not spiritual pursuits, or can we give our spiritual practice an extra shove with impure means? Like mindfulness for work productivity shudders...??
Comments
@mindatrisk
I think I have seen far more delusion than enlightenment eventually evolve from folks trying to use greed positively, to ever promote it as a Dharma.
Mostly it seems to offer short term gains for long term losses.
.....But waiting for some purity of intention is often just recipe for inaction.
Just trying to do what is actually called for in this present moment
has been my safest bet at practicing any Buddha Dharma.
Yeah, pure motivation is very rare, and even after 15 years I can detect muddied waters in my practice at times. It's still only when I am in pain that truly pure motivation arises. It seems to be a slow filtering process, but, as you said, one that needs to be undertaken. Whether my juice fast is done with pure motivations for health or not, I will be better off for doing it, and so long as I hold some awareness of my defilements then I can continue to correct them. Which is easy enough. All it would take is to read a few fasting testimonials to boost my health related motivation and depend less upon the 'looking good for the ladies' motivation, which, really, is generally not my thing.
In samsara whatever high Bodhisattva motivation we feel we have, it is indeed based on [spoiler alert] ... delusion. Who guessed?
Yes indeed.
Don't try and be uber-Buddhist, super-Bodhi-practitioner. We never will be anything more than a schmuck Buddha. Yes I am speaking for myself ... and everyone except the rainbow coated Dharmakaya ...
We have to move ceaselessly towards the goal despite our very human failings.
@mindatrisk your motivation might eventually be as passionate for female Buddhas as your current situation. I suppose it depends on ... your motivation ... tsk, tsk ... so simple this Dharma ...
There have been countless fantastic works of art, music, literature, architecture, etc that were inspired by love's longing. I suspect it also inspires much in fitness and in fashion. So I'd say it's not at all obvious that this shouldn't be your motivation. You're in good company.
Good luck!
@mindatrisk If you're doing the juice fast because you understand that doing it to be sexier for the lady you admire.... is actually a product of knowing that you will be doing this sexy-fication for the true reason of forcing yourself into a healthier gear..... then..... isn't that just another form of right thought and right effort? It's a crazy buddha knot of logic, but it makes sense to me.