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the Noble Eight Fold Path
This is what I could gather on the NobleEight Fold Path. I got it from the internet, a book from the Dalai Lama, and a book from Thich Nhat Hanh.
Right View: to understand Impermanence. Know the Four Noble Truths. Water the seeds in you that are wholesome. We do this through mindful living—mindful breathing, mindful walking—living every moment.
Right Intention: Mind and Body unification—concentrating on our breathing brings back mind/body harmony. (1) Are you sure? (2) What am I doing? (3) Hello, Habit Energy, (4) Bodhichitta—Cultivate happiness in ourselves so as to bring happiness to many beings.
· Resist the pull of desire.
· Resist the pull of anger.
· Develop compassion.
Right Speech: Do not lie. Do not use words to hurt others. Compassionate listening brings about healing.
Right Action: Practice good conduct. Be kind and compassionate to all….practice patience. The basis of Right Action is to do everything in mindfulness: reverence for life, generosity, and sexual responsibility. Avoid the ingestion of toxins: drugs, alcohol, and certain TV shows <and other="" mass="" media="">.
Right Livelihood: Earn your living legally and peacefully: do not deal in weapons, the sale of human beings, meat, intoxicants, or poisons.
Right Effort: Good will and usefulness to others. Prevent unwholesome states that have not yet arisen; Let go of unwholesome states that have arisen; Bring up wholesome states that have not yet arisen; Maintain wholesome states that have arisen. Right Effort is the Middle Way between austerity and over-indulgence.
Right Mindfulness: It is the energy that brings us back to the present moment. Concentrate on feelings, the mind, and the body…live in the present moment. It means that when we are agitated, we know that we are agitated. Mindfulness comes from a profound awareness of your physical and verbal actions.
Right Concentration: Focus on your breathing (or a mantra)…meditation. Cultivate a mind that is one-pointed. Dwell deeply in the present moment.</and>
Right View: to understand Impermanence. Know the Four Noble Truths. Water the seeds in you that are wholesome. We do this through mindful living—mindful breathing, mindful walking—living every moment.
Right Intention: Mind and Body unification—concentrating on our breathing brings back mind/body harmony. (1) Are you sure? (2) What am I doing? (3) Hello, Habit Energy, (4) Bodhichitta—Cultivate happiness in ourselves so as to bring happiness to many beings.
· Resist the pull of desire.
· Resist the pull of anger.
· Develop compassion.
Right Speech: Do not lie. Do not use words to hurt others. Compassionate listening brings about healing.
Right Action: Practice good conduct. Be kind and compassionate to all….practice patience. The basis of Right Action is to do everything in mindfulness: reverence for life, generosity, and sexual responsibility. Avoid the ingestion of toxins: drugs, alcohol, and certain TV shows <and other="" mass="" media="">.
Right Livelihood: Earn your living legally and peacefully: do not deal in weapons, the sale of human beings, meat, intoxicants, or poisons.
Right Effort: Good will and usefulness to others. Prevent unwholesome states that have not yet arisen; Let go of unwholesome states that have arisen; Bring up wholesome states that have not yet arisen; Maintain wholesome states that have arisen. Right Effort is the Middle Way between austerity and over-indulgence.
Right Mindfulness: It is the energy that brings us back to the present moment. Concentrate on feelings, the mind, and the body…live in the present moment. It means that when we are agitated, we know that we are agitated. Mindfulness comes from a profound awareness of your physical and verbal actions.
Right Concentration: Focus on your breathing (or a mantra)…meditation. Cultivate a mind that is one-pointed. Dwell deeply in the present moment.</and>
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No.
The First teachings of the Buddha are the simplest, but equally the most meaningful and profound.
Learning, understanding and realising the Four Noble Truths & Eightfold path is a simple quest, but lasts a lifetime.
What you have put is obviously correct. but I trust you do understand that the individual teachings of each 'Spoke of the Wheel' are far more complex and intricate than this.
Yes?
http://www.accesstoinsight.org is a great resource. There is a page for beginners to get started and learn the fundamental Teachings, which I recommend. Here is a page dealing specifically with the Noble Eightfold Path. Also check out "Words of The Buddha" which covers the Four Noble Truths as taught in the Suttas.
I wish you all the best on your Path!
The Noble Eightfold Path out of dukkha is still the Noble Eightfold Path out of dukkha whoever teaches it. We have living teachers, not just dead ones. That, in the end, is the symbolic meaning of the Tibetan tulkus.
Moreover, the Dharma Seals of impermanence and non-self must lead us away from cults of personality - even of the Buddha Shakyamuni; although not of Buddhahood per se.
Perhaps, but I get a figurative headache trying to read most of them. They are like one point being made, but repeated 23 times. Drives me mad I tell ya. If a modern author did that I don't think anyone would buy the book.
Agreed...but...
How do we know that what the Dalai Lama and Thich Naht Hanh (or any teacher) are teaching in line with what the Buddha taught if we don't read the Suttas? It is in the spirit of the Dhamma, in my opinion, that we check to see if these teachers are in line with the Buddha's Teaching.
The repetition is there for good reason. Before the Suttas were ever written down, Bhikkhus would remember the Suttas through chanting them. The more repetition, the easier it is to remember. It is easier to remember with more repetition. More repetition = Easier to remember. Plus there is less chance of important Teachings (those which are repeated the most) of disappearing if they are repeated often and in many different Suttas.
The Buddha turned the Wheel of Dharma. We must, therefore, test that what is being taught carries the Dharma Seals, whatever language is being used. Clinging to the Historical Buddha is still clinging.
How could you have know what these were if not for the Suttas? You'd have to become a Samma-Sambuddha or a Pacceka-Buddha yourself if it weren't for the historical Buddha.
Pardon my ignorance but most of what was written by the OP could be effectively pursued and there are many laypeople without ~Buddhist~ background that have achieved aspects of 'the path'.
So, my question is, in what way would two people differing in their knowledge (in terms of intricacy as you put it) differ in terms of their actual practice?
It occurs to me that one could quite effortlessly reach certain conclusions
and realizations by careful living. Is this not so?
Perhaps, but to put all 8 factors of the Path into practice is an entirely different matter. If someone is successfully putting all 8 factors into practice then they deserve to be called Ariyas (Noble).
Is the point to learn what the buddha taught or learn truth? Buddhism isn't about blind faith. Sure, I have learned that the buddha speaks truth. That being said, my quest is still for truth, not a man who lived 2500 years ago. Of course I mean that respectfully. That's just how I look at it. I follow the buddha cuz his teachings are consistent with my logic, I don't base my logic around his teachings. So the source isn't that important to me, as is the truth. That being said, the buddha is the greatest teacher there is. But no matter who i'm learning from it's the message that's important.
How are we going to know where to begin? The Buddha has given us the framework of the Four Noble Truths. The Suttas all deal with The Four Noble Truths. If I had never heard of the "Four Noble Truths" I would be totally lost. As soon as I heard about the Four Noble Truths I had a framework. I examined the Four Noble Truths using logic and reasoning and it all seemed to make sense which increased my faith to try to practice the Noble Eightfold Path. Logic and reasoning alone are insufficient though, the Buddha himself discovered the Truth not through mere logic, but through the Middle Way.
Anyone who can discover the Four Noble Truths and practice the Noble Eightfold Path by themselves, without ever hearing about it from another, deserves to be called a Buddha. For this reason I bow my head to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, because I am extremely grateful that I do not have to re-invent the wheel.
Agreed, not blind faith, but it is important to acknowledge that faith (Saddha) is considered one of the Five Spiritual Faculties. Without the initial faith that "maybe the Buddha has something worthwhile to teach us" we wouldn't even bother reading the Suttas (or reading books written by modern authors, or whatever it is that sparked your interest in Buddhism).
In order to know that the Buddha speaks the Truth we first have to know what the Buddha said...this was the point I was trying to make, nothing more.
I do not wish to discount Gotama's role but would ask: do you need to read or even have heard of Euclid's Elements to learn geometry?
,..hence the signature, do what is right! Now how hard is that? I know that training the mind takes considerable effort, but it's also a good thing to achieve.
I have to say I don't know much about geometry.