Buddhism's Eightfold Path

I spoke yesterday of the four noble truths of Buddhism. To sum up:

1. The only consistent thing in life is suffering.
2. We suffer because of our desire.
3. The only way to eliminate suffering is to eliminate desire.
4. The only way to eliminate desire is to follow the way, aka as the eightfold path.

Here is the eightfold path, with more explanation to follow. Also please visit thebigview.com for a more detailed explanation. Please note that the quoted examples of the eightfold path below come from thebigview.com's website.

1. Right view. This is to see things how they are and to understand the four noble truths. Now, for you logicians out there, you might say this is already a circular argument, but understanding the four noble truths and say, living them (which is the purpose of the eightfold path) are two different tasks.

2. Right intention.

While right view refers to the cognitive aspect of wisdom, right intention refers to the volitional aspect, i.e. the kind of mental energy that controls our actions. Right intention can be described best as commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. Buddha distinguishes three types of right intentions: 1. the intention of renunciation, which means resistance to the pull of desire, 2. the intention of good will, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion, and 3. the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop compassion.

3. Right speech. Basically, don't lie, don't engage in hurtful speech, and try to limit frivolous conversation that lacks a reason or depth.

4. Right action. Something akin to the Ten commandments.

The second ethical principle, right action, involves the body as natural means of expression, as it refers to deeds that involve bodily actions. Unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind. Again, the principle is explained in terms of abstinence: right action means 1. to abstain from harming sentient beings, especially to abstain from taking life (including suicide) and doing harm intentionally or delinquently, 2. to abstain from taking what is not given, which includes stealing, robbery, fraud, deceitfulness, and dishonesty, and 3. to abstain from sexual misconduct. Positively formulated, right action means to act kindly and compassionately, to be honest, to respect the belongings of others, and to keep sexual relationships harmless to others.

Additional details on right action can be found in the precepts of Buddhism.

5. Right livelihood.

Right livelihood means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally and peacefully. The Buddha mentions four specific activities that harm other beings and that one should avoid for this reason: 1. dealing in weapons, 2. dealing in living beings (including raising animals for slaughter as well as slave trade and prostitution), 3. working in meat production and butchery, and 4. selling intoxicants and poisons, such as alcohol and drugs. Furthermore any other occupation that would violate the principles of right speech and right action should be avoided.


6. Right effort. Basically, the expenditure of mental energy to try and prevent unwholesome states, the effort to abandon them if one has occurred, the effort to create wholesome states, and the effort to maintain wholesome states once they are obtained.

7. Right mindfulness. This is the ability to gain control over our perceptions in order to see them more clearly. This is a tough one, but to me it's like taking a deep mental breath before attaching significance, judgements, connections, conclusions, etc., to our impressions, and to do this in an active, concentrated fashion, which leads to...

8. Right concentration. All of these activities should work together and support each other to enable wholesome states and actions. This is accomplished and trained through meditation. Eventually increased concentration is made more habitual, allowing the Buddhist to obtain a more perfected, wholesome state, closer to Nirvana.

Maybe I'll go into the precepts next or perhaps into the meat of the practice - meditation. Thanks for reading.