The Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path (āryāṣṭāṅgamārga) described by the Buddha leads the way to end suffering. It’s a practical guideline for ethical and mental development with the goal of freeing the individual from attachment and delusion. The Eightfold Path is a very practical tool, it’s something you have to always be doing to really understand the truth about all things. It’s only through practice can the individual reach a higher level of existence and ultimately reach Nirvana. The Eightfold Path is not something you do in steps or take turns doing, it’s practiced holistically; to be practicing Right Speech or Action, you must be also practicing Right Intention.

Right View and Right Intention are grouped in Wisdom (Prajna). Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood are grouped in Ethical Conduct (Sila). Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration are grouped in Concentration (Samadhi).

1. Right View (sammā-diṭṭhi)
The deep understanding to see things as they really are. Right View is first because we need Right View to see and understand everything before think it, speak it, do it, and live by it.  It is to understand how our reality, life, nature, and the world as they really are – to see these things as impermanent and imperfect. It begins with the intuitive insight that all beings are subject to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of the true nature of all things.

2. Right Intention (thinking) (sammā sankappa)
Right Intention referes to the volitional aspect; the mental energy to control our actions. This is the commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement; ridding ourselves of whatever qualities we know to be wrong and immoral. There are 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.
3. the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop compassion.

3. Right Speech (sammā-vācā)
In short, Right Speech is:

1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully.
2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against others.
3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others.
4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth.

4. Right Action (sammā-kammanta)
Right Action refers to doing wholesome, compassionate deeds. Right Action can also refer to the Five Precepts. The Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta states to:

1. to abstain from taking life (harming sentient beings and suicide).
2. to abstain from taking what is not given (stealing, robbery, fraud, dishonesty).
3. to abstain from sexual misconduct.

5. Right Livelihood (sammā-ājīva)
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.
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 (Diligence)(sammā-vāyāma)
To some, Right Effort should be the First of the Eightfold Path, because Right Effort is the individual’s will to achieve wholesome ethics and deeds. It is the mental effort and energy in doing wholesome or unwholesome thoughts and deeds. It’s the same energy that fuels desire, envy, violence, and aggression, but it’s also the energy that fuels self-discipline, honesty, benevolence, and kindness. Right Effort  has four types of endeavors:

1. Prevent the unwholesome that has not yet arisen in oneself.
2. Let go of the unwholesome that has arisen in oneself.
3. Bring up the wholesome that has not yet arisen in oneself.
4. Maintain the wholesome that has arisen in oneself.

7. Right Mindfulness (sammā-sati)
Right Mindfulness is the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear consciousness. Mindfulness exercises a powerful grounding function. It anchors the mind securely in the present, so it does not float away into the past and future with their memories, regrets, fears, and hopes. Right mindfulness is cultivated through a practice called “the Four Foundations of Mindfulness” (cattaro satipatthana): The body, feelings, mind, and phenomena (mental objections).

8. Right Concentration (sammā-samādhi)
Right Concentration is described as one-pointedness of mind, meaning a state where all mental faculties are unified and directed onto one particular object. Right concentration for the purpose of the eightfold path means wholesome concentration, i.e. concentration on wholesome thoughts and actions. Samadhi in meditation can be developed through mindfulness of breathing (Anapanasati), through visual objects (Kasina), and/or through repetition of phrases (Mantra). For meditation, the meditating mind focuses on a selected object. It first directs itself onto it, then sustains concentration, and finally intensifies concentration step by step.

Smile and be well!