Right view

Yacababy

Hello,
I feel as though I have become a little stuck. I understand what right views should be, I believe. However I do not know how to practice right views when wrong views come so easily to mind.
So I suppose I am asking; how does one practice right views?
I have read up on it and attempting to practice but I feel as though a piece of the puzzle is missing. Thanks! ^_^
With love, Jen

federica

Another term for "Right View" is "Right Understanding" and, without knowing the precise context of the matter you're attempting to 'view' (if any) I guess that would mean 'The ability to see the issue from all sides, with equal perception'.

That's all I can contribute, right now....

Yacababy

Thanks Fede, . I suppose I don't know how to carry out the action of right view or right understanding when at times I am unable to see the object from all sides. Hmmm food for thought though

aMatt

Yacababy,

I've found that transitioning from confused or deluded view into right view happens as we make space in our minds for things to exist as they are. Like being conscious enough of our breath not to cough if a wind blows in our face, our minds are not deluded when objects appear.

The goal then isn't really to "practice" right view, but to simply be alert. Then when wrong views arise, you notice them and they dissolve. Like breathing in a smell that you judge as funky... rather than feeling aversion to the smell, you notice the smell and the judgement and keep breathing. Eventually right view simply happens, where information is present, without aversion or judging.

Just stay alert!

With warmth,

Matt

Yacababy

Thanks Matt ^_^ that makes much more sense than battling my own natural views that rise in me.
Jen

federica

Damn. I thought I was the wisest person on this forum! Seems I have awesome competition.....!!



(That WAS a joke......)

Sabre

Dear Jen,

Right view means understanding the teachings by heart. That means you don't have to rely on the words of somebody else, not even the Buddha, to explain what Buddhism means.

Right view doesn't come from intellect or thoughts. It doesn't come from reading and interpreting the suttas or whatever is said after them. Yes, these words can be immensely useful at times, but don't get stuck up in them, they aren't the pure source of right view. Right view is hidden in your heart and mind.

So you can probably already understand right view is not to be trained as a separate factor of the path, it arises as a part of it. In fact, you have to follow the entire 8-fold path to train it. That you have come this far to ask the question why wrong view arises already says you are on this path and that makes me happy to know. Now, be mindful of these wrong views helps a lot to get rid of them and replace them with right view, Matt already explained that very well.

Besides from just being mindful, you have to go very deep in meditation, deeper than anything you ever imagined possible. It may take years, but I hope we all find it. That deep essence of what you are, it's hidden in there somewhere.

With metta,
Sabre

vinlyn

For me, the Noble Eightfold Path has not been a step-by-step progression (in terms of first comes Right Wisdom, then comes Right Intention, and so forth). For me it has been being mindful of each whenever I can concentrate on that. And so, sometimes (for example when I was facing a difficult conference) I would spend time being mindful of my intention and what would make it Right Intention. That would influence my Speech and perhaps my Action. And, as I began to think and speak and act in more "rightly" ways, it all became more natural to do so.

It sort of reminds me of when I did some part-time work for a company called Smokenders...a motivational group that helped people stop smoking. Clients were told not to try to stop smoking before coming to the meetings. Then each week people would stop just one pattern of smoking. For example, the first week one might stop smoking just the cigarette after dinner. The next week they would add stopping the cigarette first thing in the morning. And so forth. Gradually, the nicotine (etc.) was decreasing in their bodies AND they were improving certain pattern habits.

After a while, certain behavior patterns (such as Right Speech) just become more natural to you. That's the practice aspect.

andyZ

I'll give me 5c as well. When you live a world and just starting your practice it's really hard to have right views all the time. Very often in my own life I become aware of my wrong views after they already manifested. Like when I get annoyed, or get angry. So I just analyze the situation, make a note of it and move on. Hopefully with time the wrong views will be spotted soon enough not to cause any real harm.

Yacababy

I think I get it now. ^_^ it cannot be practiced like basketball or dancing. If I am mindful and follow the EFP along with practicing and advancing in meditation it will "become" I hope that's what you guys mean haha. I have begun trying to deepen my meditative practices slowly and am making a serious effort to be mindful more and more every day. I can't deny that this forum has helped me a great deal. Thanks again
Jen

hermitwin

Believing karma is right view, not believing is wrong view.

Epicurus

Just be aware of what happens in your head as you do, say or decide things. After a while your head will prompt you to decide on what to do in a situation where you'd normally be on autopilot. Right View questions the motives behind your actions. And questioning is everything in Buddhism no? The answers themselves tend to be pretty obvious.

SherabDorje

"1. Right View

Right view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realise the Four Noble Truth. As such, right view is the cognitive aspect of wisdom. It means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning. Right view is not necessarily an intellectual capacity, just as wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence. Instead, right view is attained, sustained, and enhanced through all capacities of mind. 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. Since our view of the world forms our thoughts and our actions, right view yields right thoughts and right actions."

http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html#Right_View

Yacababy

Thanks Sherab, very thought provoking.

DhammaDhatu

I feel as though I have become a little stuck.

This is the role of right effort.

"And what is right effort?

There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, arouses persistence, upholds & exerts his intent:

(1) for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen...

(2) for the sake of the abandoning of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen...

(3) for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen...(and)

(4) for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, & culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen:

This is called right effort.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.141.than.html

You may read the following discource that describes in a very practical way how the Buddha used right effort & right understanding before his enlightenment.

Dvedhavitakka Sutta: Two Sorts of Thinking

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.019.than.html

Best wishes

Yacababy

Thanks DD

fivebells

...I do not know how to practice right views when wrong views come so easily to mind.

Hold the view in attention. Attend to all physical and mental sensations arising with the view.

Yacababy

Thanks fivebells. I just have to remain diligent. I appreciate the help

Sabre

I think you've accumulated a lot of right view in this thread!

Yacababy

Haha I must say reading it over that I agree. Thanks Sabre

Vincenzi

Just don't hold views whose supporting evidence and arguments doesn't hold up.

upekka

when we see a flower we say 'I see a flower' and we think there is 'I' and there is 'a flower'
that is our view (wrong view)

but
according to Buddha's Teaching there is 'eye+flower+eye consciousness' and there is just 'seeing'
this is Right view

with Right view there is no greed or hate because there is no delusion that we have something to hold onto
but
with wrong view there is greed or hate because there is delusion that we have 'the flower' or 'I' to hold on

Trying to find these two differences whenever possible for all six sense bases is the way to practise Right view

Yacababy

when we see a flower we say 'I see a flower' and we think there is 'I' and there is 'a flower'
that is our view (wrong view)

but
according to Buddha's Teaching there is 'eye+flower+eye consciousness' and there is just 'seeing'
this is Right view

with Right view there is no greed or hate because there is no delusion that we have something to hold onto
but
with wrong view there is greed or hate because there is delusion that we have 'the flower' or 'I' to hold on

Trying to find these two differences whenever possible is the way to practise Right view

Thanks! This is a very good example it's very hard but I think I will get the hang thanks to all of the help I have here.

SeaOfTranquility

Hi Yacababy,

Perhaps think of Right View as the result of your practice, not the practice itself.

The practice that leads to Right View is to bring attention and awareness to how you view things in the present moment with the purpose of seeing how things really are. Not right vs wrong, but open to seeing.

Tikal2012

The way I've been taught is that right view, as the first factor in the eightfold path, is knowing suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way leading to the cessation of suffering (the four noble truths). Whenever a 'wrong view' might come to mind, what you need to do is let go of the thinking about it, relax the tension in your mind and body caused by the thinking, and return to the wholesome object of meditation, which in this case is breathing in and relaxing your body, and breathing out and relaxing your body.

sukhita

"1. Right View

Right view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realise the Four Noble Truth. As such, right view is the cognitive aspect of wisdom. It means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning. Right view is not necessarily an intellectual capacity, just as wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence. Instead, right view is attained, sustained, and enhanced through all capacities of mind. 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. Since our view of the world forms our thoughts and our actions, right view yields right thoughts and right actions."

http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html#Right_View

The way I've been taught is that right view, as the first factor in the eightfold path, is knowing suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way leading to the cessation of suffering (the four noble truths). Whenever a 'wrong view' might come to mind, what you need to do is let go of the thinking about it, relax the tension in your mind and body caused by the thinking, and return to the wholesome object of meditation, which in this case is breathing in and relaxing your body, and breathing out and relaxing your body.

These two posts reflect the way I look at "Right View", or "Right Understanding". My summary would be:

Right Understanding is the understanding of things as they are, and it is the Four Noble Truths that explain things as they are. Right Understanding is therefore ultimately reduced to the understanding of the Four Noble Truths. This real deep understanding is called 'penetration', seeing things in its true nature, without name and label. Seeing dukkha, impermanence, and conditionality - anatta. This 'penetration' is possible only when the mind is freed from impurities/mental defilements through ethical conduct and mental cultivation (meditation and mindfulness).