This morning it suddenly hit me that the Buddha was very clear in his instructions. Ha ha of course he was…but it took me time to understand how clear and precise he was. Now what do I mean by this. Let me attempt to clarify.
The Noble eightfold path is the way leading to Nibbana or out of suffering. The Four Noble Truths expose the nature of this reality. The first being we suffer in the world. The nature of desire and aversion causes us to perpetually collide against the conditioned realm.
Sometimes the conditions are suitable for us, sometimes it goes against what we want. Result we suffer. Then there is no escape from aging sickness and death. The next question is : why do we suffer? I find this a very important question to ask..because it seems to imply that suffering is not a given. It gives us a glimmer of hope that something we are doing is causing us to suffer…so maybe there might be something we need to do that will release us from suffering. So why do we suffer…because of desire, aversion and delusion. We are at loggerheads against this world which is annicca(inconstant) anata(insubstantial) and dukkha(suffering) and we are hoping it will be otherwise. So where is the path out of this…we have to change our view, we have to do something differently. And what is the path leading us out of samsara and out of suffering? The Noble Eightfold Path!
We begin with Right View…we see reality as it is and make the right resolve, to end suffering and walk the path leading to Nibbana. We realise if we keep feeding our kleshas it’s only going to add to suffering. So let us at least stop adding to this pile of suffering…so Right speech, Right conduct, Right livelihood.These three moral standards are very vital…if we do not take care of this there is no progress. Then having cleaned up our act we have to engage in practice. Right Effort is required…we are going to have to continuously focus our mind practice Right Mindfulness till it stabilises in Right Concentration, Samadhi within which knowledge and insight will arise leading to a realization of Nibbana!
Right View: First right view, we see things as they are. We know there is suffering and there is a reason we suffer. We either want something or don’t want something. The essential struggle of craving and suffering. And ultimately we are in a realm which is subject to aging, illness and death. Knowing this can have a sobering effect and our usual view of life changes. We know what is possible within Samsara and we also realise what we do to make our suffering worse. This is such a vital step. Often people think Buddhism is nihilistic. But it is far from that. The story does not end here…where we are confronted with the inevitable suffering of this realm. All that arise in this realm is subject to dukka, anicca and anata…but there is something beyond this. There is the path leading to the end of suffering leading to the deathless.
Right Resolve: Getting this new perspective is already liberating. It’s almost as if we are putting a brake to our usual automatic responses to life. Getting off the hamster wheel of Samsara! Realising that we can change the way we look at things gives us agency. There are definitely things we can do to lessen and finally eliminate suffering in the long run. At the night of his enlightenment Buddha gained the insight that what we do has an effect. Our actions create a chain of reality. There are unskillful actions which lead to more suffering, there are skillful actions which alleviate suffering, leading to a more peaceful existence for ourselves and for those around us. We make the resolve to change our habits to move towards a life that is less compulsive and more conscious, a life that that is not only dedicated to fulfil our own selfish desires but to have a sense of care and service towards others around us. At the least if we do not go out and do something generous for another, a firm resolve not to cause harm to ourselves and others is the very first step.
Right Speech: A good question would be why Right Speech…why not right thought? ‘In the beginning there was the Word.’John 1:1-18. So creation begins with words uttered, sound. According to Vedic philosophy, Om is the primordial sound from which the whole universe was created. From the limitless nothingness of the Universe the first vibration of sound emits a concrete reality. If I remember correctly according to the Tibetan Book of Dying the last of our sense to go is sound? The eight fold path specifies that right speech entails the following…’Abstaining from false speech, abstaining from malicious speech, abstaining from pointless speech’ In a way through our words we are creating our reality. If we do not speak the truth,then we are creating a reality for ourselves which is false. And we all know one lie needs more lies to keep it alive. However speaking the truth doesn’t mean being unkind, often we can take on the stance of feeling self righteous and feeling we are better than another, speak out the truth with no compassion, deriding the other. Here is where ‘abstaining from malicious speech,’ steps in…we are to remember that our actions cause effects in this world. Not causing pain and discomfort towards another is also our responsibility. What about ‘abstaining from pointless speech’…chit chat, gossiping on topics which drain our energy. How many times have we experienced moments when after mindlessly talking about subjects has left us feeling more drained and feeling lazy or restless. So taking care of our speech, being mindful of what we say, how we say it, and if it is of benefit are great directives. A lot of peace can be experienced by just this! Speech is vibration. If you cannot say something good…stay silent.
Right Action: Most religions universally prescribe certain moral directives in terms of behaviour. This is to ultimately bring about more harmonious living. It makes complete sense to have a society laid down on certain rules of behavior. If we look at the world at the places it is falling apart and chaotic, hot with pain and suffering we might also see a moral decay. Right action involves:
Abstaining from killing living beings: It’s quite telling that a bulk of entertainment ranging from games to movies make a show of violence. In a way if we see a lot of violence there are a few things that happen. It makes violence permissible, especially in games, exploding, shooting all become actions a lot of young people indulge in for fun. Now you might argue…well there is no living being involved…it’s just a game, no living being was killed. Yes but we are encouraging those neural pathways that get rewarded with violence. What can start as killing an ant and feeling no empathy and remorse can lead to pathological behavior where killing another being leads to cold murderers.
Abstaining from taking what is not given: Not taking what is not given. This framing is important. Yes the simple action is not stealing…but this is more than that…not taking what is not given. There is a taking into the idea of permission. The other is aware and giving freely what you are taking. This can also relate to having a coercive non upfront way of business dealings. In modern work culture the motivation is always to get more…a profit based economy. Something to consider as well…in terms of our digital footprint. How much of our personal data is being taken without us giving? If a society is built on this value then interaction amongst humans is concentual, there is mutual respect. Not just taking to fulfil one’s needs, but taking into consideration the person you are taking from giving it to you. A give and take creates balance and is a check on one group of society becoming too powerful leaving many impoverished and desperate.
Abstaining from sexual misconduct: A layperson is not expected to be celibate like all Buddhist monastics. Misconduct implies adultery, rape, or sex with someone who is engaged to another, imprisoned, or ordained as a monastic. Once again this keeps society in harmony. Any of the above acts leads to pain. In a way if we step out to commit sexual misconduct we cannot help but break the previous two. How so? Adultery implies there has to be some form of false speech, rape is taking what is not given freely. It also bring up someone who is engaged to another…well technically you could argue that hey this person is not married so why not? But let’s think again…there will be one person in the dark and the couple that are indulging in the act is breaking trust. This causes pain, rifts, people getting angry, jealous. So if our actions violate other people’s boundaries it leads to more pain and yes…suffering. Remember this was a path leading to peace and out of suffering. I am guilty of leading a liberal life in terms of my sexual choices in the past. Yes I got swept away by passion, love desire and dived in without a second thought many times. Even justified my behavior with breaking the shackles of authoritarian social norms. As a liberated woman sexual freedom is my birthright! That is what I believed… And what has it led me to…confusion, pain, guilt, suffering, remorse, jealousy, anger, self loathing. The path to peace is abstaining from sexual misconduct…you have a better chance than if you follow the third precept.
So to summarise the fourth step is committing to take care of our actions. If we were to just do this we are halfway along the path. At least we are becoming a person who is wholesome and around whom others feel safe and happy. Someone who will not kill another, not steal from another or commit any sexual misconduct. Simple but we all know what it feels to be around a person who provides that assurance. A lot of suffering would just not arise. So lets work on right action.
Right Livelihood:
I like the addition of right livelihood…because we live in a world where a lot of work is justified simply because it brings in money. But having that sense of trust and keeping right livelihood and not doing things immoral for worldly gains.
I did a bit f research on the subject.
“A lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which five? Business in weapons, business in human beings, business in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison.”
— AN 5.177
“And what is right livelihood? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, having abandoned dishonest livelihood, keeps his life going with right livelihood: This is called right livelihood.”
According to the Buddha, A balanced livelihood is part of right livelihood.
“Herein, Vyagghapajja, a householder knowing his income and expenses leads a balanced life, neither extravagant nor miserly, knowing that thus his income will stand in excess of his expenses, but not his expenses in excess of his income.
“Just as the goldsmith, or an apprentice of his, knows, on holding up a balance, that by so much it has dipped down, by so much it has tilted up; even so a householder, knowing his income and expenses leads a balanced life, neither extravagant nor miserly, knowing that thus his income will stand in excess of his expenses, but not his expenses in excess of his income.”
— AN 8.54
his income will stand in excess of his expenses, but not his expenses in excess of his income. In a culture where credit card debt is actively encouraged this is something to consider. To live within one’s means. Once again a consumerist culture encourages impulsive spending habits and soon before we know it we are working way to hard, trying to pay of our debts. Definitely an antidote to peace! Also we are caught and not free…walking towards liberation is not possible if we have financial worries.
The path of virtue is vital. Often modern people find it difficult to meditate, concentrate or focus their mind. It is important to note how the Buddha emphasised cleaning up your act before deciding to take up deeper aspects of the path. This is not a moralistic directive alone but a practical one. If our minds are overtaken by unskillful ways of being we cannot find peace in our meditation. All our worries and thoughts will take up our attention. We have a subconscious knowing that something is not right, our life is messy and a part of our mind will bring these up more. So does that mean we don’t start meditating before we are completely purified in our ways. Not so, as we are works in progress moving on to right effort will start to change us.
Right Effort: How often have we said…oh my mind is too busy I cannot meditate…or this is just who I am I cannot change…or every time i sit down to mediate my mind is running…i don’t have patience to sit through this. This is where the quality of effort plays a big role. When we set out to put in effort then we are expressing a hope and trust for a different possibility. We are taking responsibility and wiling to put in the work, override the obstacles to realise the goal.
Right Effort is to exert oneself to develop wholesome qualities and release unwholesome qualities. As recorded in the Pali Canon, the Buddha taught there are four aspects to Right Effort. Very simply:
The effort to prevent unwholesome qualities — especially greed, anger, and ignorance — from arising. This has to do a lot with right view and looking at the conditions of our lives. All these unwholesome qualities might give us a momentary kick but in the long run they only lead to a more toxic environment in our mind. So to prevent means taking care of our virtue and action so that we let less of these unwholesome qualities to arise.
The effort to extinguish unwholesome qualities that already have arisen. Now what about when these just rise up. We all know certain situations that trigger us. Grrr that particular person, situation that makes your blood boil. Or not being able to resist ice cream when you might have already eaten too much. There has to be an effort and self restraint exercised in this form of right effort. We have to learn to extinguish or minimise these qualities, so that we might see them arise…but what we do next is vital…do we indulge them and give into action and thought patterns motivated by these unwholesome qualities? If we do we…what ever the excuse your mind wants to give you justifying the behaviors…know one thing for certain no one achieved peace and wisdom by indulging in anger, greed or delusion.
The effort to cultivate skillful, or wholesome, qualities—especially generosity, loving-kindness, and wisdom (the opposites of greed, anger, and ignorance)—that have not yet arisen. When we give up something we have to replace it with something at the start. Instead of a bad habit pattern we cultivate a good habit pattern. It’s a bit like changing your diet. At first having to give up all the junk food is painful. What is supposed to be good food seems painful and dull. But if we persevere soon our body goes through the detox process and soon we start to enjoy the wholesome food. We experience feeling better, happier and even our friends say we look better. The wholesome qualities of the Bramhaviharas are a bit like this. At first cultivating thoughts of goodwill compassion like a exercise seems ingenious and a bit silly. But if we persevere and keep to the protocol soon we will start feeling nourished by these wholesome patterns of emotion. For once our mind will become soemething we like, we can gain a sense of feeling good with our wholesome thoughts.
The effort to strengthen the wholesome qualities that have already arisen. Once we realise the diet is working it is easier to keep to it. Similarly when we experience our mind feels good light wholesome then we want to protect it strengthen it. Here let’s take the example of yoga asana practise. So you start practising and at first the poses are very difficult, but you kept showing up and now you are getting the hang of it. You are even enjoying doing some of the poses. Then the next natural response that arises is you want to get stronger and better. Same with cultivating wholesome states of mind…once we start to realise the benefits and taste the effect…we want to develop mindfulness, lovingkindness, focus, energy…because they feel so much better!
Right Mindfulness:
Modern understanding of mindfulness is very different from what the Buddha taught. Often people think mindfulness is simply paying attention to the present moment. That is not what the Buddha taught. The seventh factor belongs to the concentration division of the path. Here we are taking about cultivation of meditation.
A section taken from access to insight site, if you are interested please read more here.
This is a deep subject…to summarise this is undertaking a process of investigation of our body,mind, emotion and the nature of life. This is not just going through the day as pop meditation tips might say…oh just be mindful of every activity through the day is practising mindfulness. That is not what the Buddha said. This is undertaking a practise of meditation and cultivation of the mind. By repeated practise we can dissect and discover the nature of reality. What we take as constant we realise is changing. There are many exercises that one can take up whether standing, walking, sitting or lying down…but in all there is a view of observing and investigation without getting pulled by habitual tendencies of craving and aversion.
Right Concentration: Our society is very good at weakening our abilty to concentrate. Constant sensory inputs keep us slave to the addictions of the world. Always hungry never satisfied. That is because we have not dived into cultivating the states of concentration of the mind. If we have taken up the previous seven factors as our practise…and ok if we have old karmic imprints being able to settle into a concentrated state of mind will be possible. Here too there are levels to be developed. The more time we spend in this following the right method certain factors like bliss and peace will arise to indicate we are doing the right thing. The promise is this will ultimately refine the mind to gain insight into the true nature of reality and then we will be truly liberated.
The Buddha was an excellent teacher of both humans and celestial beings. He set out a simple path. All of these are within our capacity..how much we practise and how deep we go depends on us. That is what is so beautiful about the path. It is all up to you….
May the Buddha Dhamma and noble Sangha guide me to walk the Noble Eight Fold Path in this life and lives to come until I realise Nibbana.
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