Buddhist Sangha - Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path

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First Noble Truth - Right Understanding
Second Noble Truth - The Origin of Suffering
Third Noble Truth - The Cessation of Suffering
The Fourth Noble Truth - The Way To The Cessation of Suffering

First Noble Truth - Right Understanding

The Path begins with the Right Understanding of the Four Noble Truths:

· There is suffering in life.

· Suffering comes from ignorance which leads to craving, grasping and clinging.

· We can become free from suffering and achieve happiness.

· The way to become free from suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path

What Is Suffering?

Suffering is not getting what we want. Suffering is getting what we do not want. Suffering is when things are different from the way we want them to be. Some versions of the Path begin with the statement that, "Life is suffering." The translation that we use does not say this. Life is not all suffering. Life can be very joyful when we let go of selfish craving.

Pain and Suffering

Pain in life is inevitable but suffering is not. Pain is what the world does to you, suffering is what you do to yourself. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

Second Noble Truth - The Origin of Suffering

When we have a pleasant feeling we become greedy and want more of it. When we have an unpleasant feeling we become angry and push it away. When we do not have feelings of pleasure or pain we stop paying attention to life and fall into delusion.

Why do we respond to pleasure, pain and neutral feelings with greed, anger and delusion? We respond this way because of ignorance.

What are we ignorant of? We do not know that everything in the world is impermanent, imperfect and without a separate self. Craving never works because the things that we chase after fade away, have flaws and depend on outside conditions. When we don't get what we crave we react with anger or retreat into delusion.

Third Noble Truth - The Cessation of Suffering

Is there a way out of suffering? So far the Buddha's teaching is a bit discouraging. We have suffering caused by ignorance leading to craving. Are we doomed to suffer forever? NO!

The Buddha tells us that there is a way out of suffering. Because he does not want to create a new craving he emphasizes the term cessation of suffering. When we look further we find that his cessation of suffering is Nibbana or Nirvana.

What is Nibbana?

Nibbana or Nirvana is the extinction of ignorance which leads to the extinction of craving which leads to the extinction of suffering. Nibbana is a state of mind that we can achieve here and now in this world.

Is Nibbana Passivity?

Its easy to make the mistake of thinking that the end of craving is the end of purposeful activity. We fear falling into a state of mental paralysis since wanting anything is craving. Nibbana is not passivity, it is freedom from enslavement to greed, anger and delusion.

A person who is free from craving can act from the motivation of loving kindness for all living beings. The enlightened person seeks the happiness of himself or herself and the happiness of all other beings. Such motivation is free from ignorance, craving and does not produce suffering.

The Fourth Noble Truth - The Way To The Cessation of Suffering

This teaching is the practical method of achieving the end of suffering. The Path is traditionally divided into three general areas:

Path Factor	Characteristic
Right Understanding	Wisdom
Right Intentions	Wisdom

Right Speech	Conduct
Right Action
Right Livelihood

Right Effort	Meditation
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration

The Path is not to be "walked" in sequence from 1 to 8. Rather each part is emphasized when needed and then revisited when the student's understanding allows further progress.

Path Factors

We already saw that Right Understanding is the Four Noble Truths. If we look at the other factors of the Path we can see how they help us in our journey.

Right Intentions

The intentions that we aspire to are:

of renunciation, free from craving
of good will, free from aversion
of compassion, free from cruelty

Renunciation

Renunciation? This is a word that most people are not happy to see. Does the Buddha want us to give up everything, our families, homes, cars and, worst of all, sex?

There are conservative schools of Buddhism which hold that, yes, you must give up all of these things and more. This is a legitimate and sincere view and many of those who give up everything find great freedom and joy. However, there are many other legitimate practitioners who have faith that life in the world as an ordinary person can be a pathway to liberation from suffering.

This is a question that each practitioner must meet with a sincere and open heart. The only right way is the way that you honestly believe is best for yourself and all living beings.

There are some things that clearly must be renounced in order to follow the path. We must renounce greed, anger and delusion if we hope to make any positive change in our lives. The conscious renunciation of selfish craving is one of the most crucial intentions.

Good Will and Compassion

We can never be happy if we feel aversion to others and cause them harm. The Buddha taught that only by raising up feelings of love and compassion for others can we be free of our own suffering.

Right Speech, Action and Livelihood

These are the factors of right conduct in the world which are absolutely necessary for happiness. Is it possible to spend the day lying, causing pain and cheating others and still achieve happiness for ourselves? The Buddha teaches us that harmful conduct brings pain to both others and to ourselves. Only by avoiding harm to the world can we bring an end to our own suffering.

Right Effort, Mindfulness and Concentration

These meditation factors of the Path deal with the cultivation of the mental state necessary for us to break out of our old habits of delusive thinking. In meditation we learn how to use our minds to let go of the ideas that cause us suffering. We get in touch with things just as they are. When we do this, we become free.

How Meditation Differs From Other Practices

Why do Buddhists meditate instead of praying, reading, talking or following other methods of spiritual development? This question goes to the heart of Buddhism and to why our path is different from any Western spiritual practice.

In our society we think that ultimate truth is expressed in words, ideas and theories. The Buddha taught that conceptual thinking is fine for ordinary day to day problem solving but it does not lead to the highest truth. Concepts are pale shadows of ultimate reality. Liberating insight can only be experienced through direct, non conceptual experience.

Meditation is the means by which we experience reality in itself, unfiltered and uncolored by thoughts, ideas and preconceptions. When we see things as they are, then we achieve insight and freedom.

What Happens In Meditation?

Truth is being with things just as they are. Truth is letting go of greed, anger and delusion. Truth is opening up to the universe and living your life in harmony with all things.

Meditation peels away the clutter in our minds that keeps us from seeing things as they are. Normally we are full of thoughts of the past or the future. We fear, we regret and we fantasize about what was, should be and might be. This is delusion and only when we are free from delusion can we achieve enlightenment.

For more on the Noble Eightfold Path, go to BeyondtheNet and see an explanation by Bhikku Bodhi.

BeyondTheNet