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How does practicing the 8 fold path make you feel?
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Comments
really? I have never heard or read about that...
what's exactly noble view? is it related to the four stages?
From Buddhism Connect, a free email dharma teachings.
The Eightfold Path
Summary: The eightfold path is a basic buddhist teaching. Lama Shenpen discusses with a student, how she teaches this, without it being particularly referred to.
A student asks:
I participate in a forum, where many of the practitioners are Theravadan. What they consider basic to Buddhism is the eightfold path, the four noble truths, the precepts, and meditation. I have seen the four noble truths in Never Turn Away, by Rigdzin Shikpo, and meditation of course with the precepts.
But I haven't heard too much talk of the eightfold path. Are the paramitas absorbing the eightfold path? I think you commented one time that the eightfold path is an advanced teaching? But then what is the fourth noble truth until the eightfold path is reached? It seems that the eightfold path to me is a formulation of mind, behaviour, body or behavioural medicine. A formulation with the instruction 'do everything right'. I am sure there is more instruction how to go about this and so I am curious.
Lama Shenpen replies:
The eightfold path begins with right view. It is called the Aryan eightfold path so right view has to refer to the Enlightened view of the Aryas. In other words, rather than the view being the result of the path, it is the basis of the path. When the view is right, the thought or intention can be right, which means the speech and action can be right as also the way of life (livelihood), mindfulness, effort and concentration. As you say though, the eightfold path is often taught as being a formula for how one should live one’s life right from the beginning. One adopts a right view or at least one’s best approximation to the right view even if it’s simply to view the ten unskilful actions as being what need to be given up and the ten skilful actions as being what need to be put into practice.
On the basis of such a right view, one can adopt the right thought or intention and so on. It does in fact work as a formula for how an ordinary person whatever their level of realisation should live their lives. However, unless the eightfold path is based on the right view of the Enlightened Arya, it’s not the fourth noble (Arya) truth. It is a preliminary practice leading up to realising the Arya’s right view.
Although I don’t often talk about the eightfold path as such I do talk about how to deepen one’s view, how to meditate in order to be able to focus (concentrate) properly and how to take that awareness into the actions of body, speech and mind, and into how we make life choices, how we distinguish what to give up and what to cultivate (mindfulness) and how generosity and discipline, keeping one’s word and practising kshanti (forbearance) increase the energy of the practice mandala making meditation and realisation possible. So all the elements are there even though not fitted into the formula of an eightfold path.
We need a lot of instruction in regard to every one of these elements - as an eightfold path or otherwise.
Hope this helps.
now that I remember, noble is just the name... it is the noble eightfold path.