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The path to liberation in Buddhism, as taught by the Buddha, has eight points and is known as the Eightfold Path. To sum them: this Path is being moral? (through what we say, do and our livelihoods), focussing the mind on being fully aware of our thought?s and actions, and developing wisdom? by understanding the Four Noble Truths and by developing compassion for others. |
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The path to liberation in Buddhism, as taught by the Buddha, has eight points and is known as the Eightfold Path. |
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Here is a discussion of these points, representing interpretations. There maybe more or even different interpretations than these. Nonetheless, these points are guidelines with which one examines one's own life |
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Right Understanding |
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Right Thought |
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Right Understanding The first point is also called Right View, the right way to view and understand the world. Wrong understanding occurs when one imposes one's expectations onto things; expectations about how one hopes things will be, or about how one is afraid things might be. Right Understanding occurs when one sees things simply, as they are. It is an open and accommodating attitude. One abandons hope and fear and takes joy in a simple straight-forward approach to life. |
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Right Speech |
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Right Thought The second point of the path is also called Right Intention. It proceeds from right view. If one is able to abandon one's expectations, hopes and fears, one no longer needs to be manipulative. One doesn't need to try to force situations into preconceived notions of how they should be. One works with what is. Our thoughts are pure. |
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Right Action |
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Right Speech The third aspect of the path is Right Speech. Once one's intentions are pure, one no longer needs to be embarrassed about one's speech. Since one isn't trying to manipulate people, one don't have to hesitate about what one says, nor does one need to bluff one's way through a conversation with phony confidence. One says what needs to be said, very simply in a genuine way. |
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Right Livelihood |
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Right Action The fourth point on the path, Right Action or Discipline, involves a kind of renunciation. One needs to give up the tendency to complicate issues. One practices simplicity. One has a simple straight-forward relationship with one's dinner, job, house, and family. One gives up all the unnecessary and frivolous complications that usually clouds our relationships. |
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Right Effort |
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Right Livelihood Right Livelihood is the fifth step on the path. It is only natural and right that we should earn our living. There are, however, jobs that exploit or damage ourselves and others, which may not be on the path of Right Livelihood. Often, many of us don't particularly enjoy our jobs. We should form a simple relationship with it, and one needs to perform it properly, with attention to detail. |
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Right Mindfulness |
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Right Effort The sixth aspect of the path is Right Effort. Wrong effort is struggle. One often approaches a spiritual discipline as though one needs to conquer one's "evil side" and promote our "good side." One is locked in combat with one's self and tries to obliterate the tiniest negative tendency. Right Effort doesn't involve struggle at all. When one sees things as they are, one can work with them, gently, and without any aggression. |
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Right Concentration |
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Right Mindfulness Right Mindfulness, the seventh step, involves precision and clarity. One is are mindful of the tiniest details of our experience. One is mindful of the way one speaks, performs one's job, one's posture, and attitudes toward our friends and family, in every detail. Right Concentration Right Concentration, or Absorption, is the eighth point of the path. Usually one is absorbed in absentmindedness. One's mind is completely captivated by all sorts of entertainment and speculation. Right Concentration means that one is completely absorbed in Now-ness, in things as they are. This can only happen if one has some sort of discipline, such as sitting meditation. We might even say that without the discipline of sitting meditation, we can't walk the Eightfold Path at all. Sitting meditation cuts through our absentmindedness. It provides a space or gap in our preoccupation with ourselves. The Goal Most people have heard of nirvana. It has become equated with a sort of eastern version of heaven. Actually, nirvana simply means cessation. It is the cessation of passion, aggression and ignorance; the cessation of the struggle to prove our existence to the world, to survive. One doesn't have to struggle to survive after all. One has already survived. One is surviving now, and the struggle was just an extra complication that one has added to one's life because one lost confidence in the way things are. One no longer needs to manipulate things as they are into things as one would like them to be. /Talk? |
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/Talk? |
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