I have always found explanations of the 8 fold path to be a bit hazy to me, so last night I tried to think through what each step meant for me. Here is my explanation for the the 8 fold path.
What is your feedback? Do you think my interpretations are helpful? Do you think I am off on any points? Anything you would add or any image that clarifies one of the steps for you? I am not a scholar, so I have no linguistic or translation knowledge. This is just what makes the most sense to me. Feedback appreciated.
The Noble Eight Fold Path
Right is not the opposite of 鈥渆vil鈥?or 鈥渂ad.鈥?It basically means skillful, or 鈥渋t works.鈥? The steps on the path are not all sequential, rather they are all aspects our living experience, like strands in a rope.
1) Right view 鈥?The path must begin with the realization that something is wrong; we are suffering, we don鈥檛 know who we are or why we are here, and we will die. The right view is basically the intellectual assent to the 4 Noble Truths.
2) Right intention 鈥?This is a vital and sometimes tricky step. After we have realized we are suffering, and see that we can cease to suffer, our right intention is to end our suffering. This is the reason we undertake the path. 鈥淐ome to me when you desire wisdom like a man whose hair is on fire desires water.鈥? We become properly motivated when we realize the nature of our predicament 鈥?we are suffering 鈥?our hair is on fire! If we don鈥檛 keep this focus in mind, our motivations will not be effective. If we wish to achieve enlightenment for ego gratification, to feel superior, to be admired, or to be like a god, for example, that is not right intention.
3) Right speech 鈥?Right speech is characterized by honesty, kindness and pragmatism. We should remember that our inner monologue is also part of our speech. We should speak to ourselves honestly, kindly, and usefully. We should speak integrally from the core of ourselves.
4) Right action 鈥?We should refrain from causing pain as much as possible. We should act kindly and mercifully, trying to spread good will rather than dissent. We should be patient and not hasty or anxious, yet when it is time to act, we should act decisively without mental friction. We should consider the five moral precepts. We should act integrally from the core of ourselves.
5) Right livelihood 鈥?Life is completely interconnected. We should avoid contributing to social evils as much as possible. We all live on the earth and must earn a living, but we should try to minimize the negative impact any of our actions have on the planet or any of its inhabitants. We should work integrally from the core of ourselves.
6) Right effort 鈥?Right effort means not too much effort and not too little effort. Like riding a bicycle, we need correct balance to keep moving forward. Which is better, breathing in or breathing out? Both are necessary. Discipline and daily practice are fundamental, but a sense of humor and lightness is just as important. Remember the point of all this is to ease our suffering in order to enable us to truly enjoy life, not to become disconnected, become holy rollers, or provide the ego with a new attachment 鈥?being Buddhist (for that reason I prefer the term 鈥渟tudent of the Buddha鈥檚 teachings鈥?.
7) Right mindfulness 鈥?This is the royal road, the jewel at the center of the eight fold path. It has been said that the worst thing that can be said about a man is that he did not pay attention. Meditation has a simple instruction: pay attention; become aware; look what is happening right now. 鈥淟et those who have eyes see.鈥? See the present moment again and again and again. Once you see the harmful nature of some actions and thoughts they will begin to abate. This happens naturally 鈥?we do not have to force ourselves. The mind is a creature of habit. The more time we spend in the present seeing our experiences, the more negative patterns of all kinds will loose their grip on our lives. See.
8) Right contemplation 鈥?Right contemplation is integration and culmination of the other steps. Enlightenment happens in a moment. It is a flash of insight into the nature of things. Don鈥檛 worry about 鈥渢he one permanent Enlightenment鈥?鈥?this is a trap of the ego. Worry about enlightenment with a lower case 鈥渆.鈥? Do you remember what the point of setting out on this path was? To ease our suffering. Well, this is what happens in right contemplation. We see things as they are: interconnected, alive, whole, transcending concepts. Pettiness and inconsequential concerns drop away. In this realization our suffering eases. Enlightenment is a physical description. The weight of suffering 鈥?which is the weight of illusion 鈥?is lifted from us and we have a taste of freedom and joy 鈥?the joy of being as we are and experiencing things as they are without struggling to change them or despairing that they are not some other way.
Thanks for the response, Vernon, you're the front runner for 10pts. right now! Thank you very much, Manjushri, for taking the time to share this with us. You've clearly thought carefully and deeply about the Eightfold Path. Like you, I've often wondered about how best to work with this teaching.
For me, the most important part is what I call the Ninth Step -- Right Now! If we can fully attain this moment, right now!, then we fully attain the entire Eightfold Path.
For this reason, I no longer view the Eightfold Path as sequential -- first Right View, and so on up to Right Contemplation. No step is separate from any other. That's why Right Now! completes the work all at once.
Here are a few comments on your reflections. This is just how things appear to me now -- I could never assert that my understanding is clear.
Right View
My "view" of Right View is that it cuts off delusion. Humans have three major delusions -- things are permanent, I have a self, and that conditioned things can bring me happiness. Right View points to the truth of impermanence, non-self, and suffering.
Right Intention
Maybe I've swallowed too much Zen kool-aid. I view right intention as the aspiration to bring all beings to enlightenment, no matter how long it takes. In effect, I view it as the Great Bodhisattva Vow. But I think your understanding is probably more mainstream, less sectarian.
Right Speech
I think you've got it exactly right, especially the inner dialogue. The Buddha said, and the Dalai Lama repeats him, that we should always speak truthfully, kindly, and helpfully.
Right Action
Yes. To act correctly means we must see each situation clearly, including the relationships in that situation, and bring wisdom to our action. This means that we must constantly scour our mind to see what we are "up to."
Right Livelihood
Agreed. I wrote about just this topic last week in my blog http://www.oxherding.com/my_weblog/2008/... Humans have both outside and inside jobs. How can we merge these together?
Right Effort
I also view this as paying close attention to our mind throughout the day. I continue to see how subtle and often hidden my mind-habits are. I must pay attention in every moment, without blocking out the world around me.
Right Mindfulness
See the comment above.
Right Concentration (Contemplation)
This is the only place where I would disagree, I think. I don't view this as the culmination of all the other steps on the path. We can't attain Right Intention without Right Concentration without Right Speech. In truth, at least in my experience, they all come together, or they don't come at all.
The metaphor of a "path" perhaps misleads us into thinking that there's a starting point and then, after some time, an ending point. We start hiking at the road head and then later we reach the summit.
But generations of teachers have told us that attainment is not linear. It's right at hand, in every moment, and all we need do is turn into it.
Lately I've been thinking of the Eightfold Path as a multi-dimensional matrix in which all elements are inseparably linked and "fold" into, over, and around one another in constant flux.
That's how our life is, in constant flux, always flowing into the new moment at hand. If we can attain *this* moment, then we instantly reach the summit.
Thanks again for asking your question. May this answer benefit you! It's pretty good. I think it makes as much sense as other explanations. I especially like your description of 8, Right Contemplation. Remembering why and how we set out on our path is really a great way to contextualize future steps. Sometimes I struggle with practicing and realizing Right Mindfulness too. Thanks for a great posting. Right View is about seeing situations without ego, without likes and dislikes, win or loss, right or wrong. When you are not attached, when you don't identify and associate yourself to the world. You have right view. Whatever happens is OK, you have nothing to defend. Non-attachment is right view. We don't suffer with a brain that identifies its senses as ourselves.
Right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfullness, contemplation. All pretty self-explanatory. Don't fall into the trap of dogma; it's a path to be explored, without thought of a destination.
But thanks for your viewpoint. We each get to find our own. |
