1. Right understanding, a knowledge of the true nature of existence.
2. Right thought, thought free from sensuality, ill-will and cruelty.
3. Right speech, speech without falsity, gossip, harshness, and idle babble.
4. Right action, or the avoidance of killing, stealing and adultery.
5. Right livelihood, an occupation that harms no conscious living being.
6. Right effort, or the effort to destroy the defilements of the mind and to cultivate wholesome
qualities.
7. Right mindfulness, the perfection of the normal faculty of attention.
8. Right concentration, the cultivation of a collected, focused mind through meditation.
The eightfold path is not so much a religious path as one of psychological discernment. The outward appearance of holiness of those following this path is inconsequential and proves nothing as far as spiritual advancement. It is in the strict internalization of these steps that liberation is found. Simply because one knows the scriptures by heart doesn't bring spiritualty, but by the practice of the path and these steps, liberation may be discovered.
Although it is convenient to speak of the various aspects of the eightfold path as eight steps, they are
not to be regarded as separate steps, taken one after another. On the contrary, each one must be
practiced along with the others, and it might perhaps be better to think of them as if they were eight
parallel lanes within the one road rather than eight successive steps.
The first step of this path, right understanding, is primarily a matter of seeing things as they really
are--or at least trying to do so without self-deceit or evasion. In another sense, right understanding
commences as an intellectual appreciation of the nature of existence, and as such it can be regarded as
the beginning of the path; but, when the path has been followed to the end, this merely intellectual
appreciation is supplanted by a direct and penetrating discernment of the principles of the teaching
first accepted intellectually.
While right understanding can be regarded as the complete understanding of the Buddha doctrine, it is
based on the recognition of three dominating characteristics of the relative universe, of the universe of
time, form and matter. These three characteristics can briefly be set out in this way:
Impermanence: All things in the relative universe are unceasingly changing.
Dissatisfaction: Some degree of suffering or dissatisfaction is inherent in en-selfed life, or in life
within the limitations of the relative universe and personal experience.
Egolessness: No being--no human being or any other sort of being--possesses a fixed, unchanging,
eternal soul or self. Instead, every being consists of an ever-changing current of forces, an
ever-changing flux of material and mental phenomena, like a river which is always moving and is never
still for a single second.
The self, then, is not a static entity but an ever-changing flux. This dynamic concept of existence is
typical of deeper Buddhist thought; there is nothing static in life, and since it is ever-flowing you must
learn to flow with it.
Another aspect of right understanding is the recognition that the universe runs its course on the basis of
a strict sequence of cause and effect, or of action and reaction, a sequence just as invariable and just as
exact in the mental or moral realm as in the physical. In accordance with this law of moral action and
reaction all morally good or wholesome will actions eventually bring to the doer happiness at some time,
while unwholesome or morally bad will-actions bring suffering to the doer.
The effects of wholesome and unwholesome will-actions--that is to say, the happiness and suffering that
result from them--do not generally follow immediately; there is often a considerable time-lag, for the
resultant happiness and suffering can arise only when appropriate conditions are present. The results
may not appear within the present lifetime. Thus at death there is normally a balance of "merit" which
has not yet brought about its experience of happiness; and at the same time there is also a balance of
"demerit" which has not yet given rise to the suffering which is to be its inevitable result.
After death, the body disintegrates, of course, but the life-current continues, not in the form of an
unchanging soul, but in the form of an ever-changing stream of energy. Immediately after death a new
being commences life to carry on this life current; but the new being is not necessarily a human being,
and the instantaneous rebirth may take place on another plane of existence. But in any case, the new
being is a direct sequel to the being that has just died.
Thus the new being becomes an uninterrupted continuation of the old being, and the life-current is
unbroken. The new being inherits the balance of merit built up by the old being, and this balance of
merit will inevitably bring happiness at some future time. At the same time, the new being inherits the
old being's balance of demerit, which will bring suffering at some time in the future.
In effect, in the sense of continuity, the new being is the same as the old being. In just the same
way--that is, in the sense of continuity only--an old man is the same as the young man he once was, the
young man is the same as the boy he once was, and the boy is the same as the baby he once was. But the
identity of the old man with the young man, and with the boy, and with the baby, is due only to
continuity; there is no other identity.
Everything in the universe changes from day to day and from moment to moment, so that every being at
this moment is a slightly different being from that of the moment before; the only identity is due to
continuity. In the same way, the being that is reborn is different from the previous one that died; but
the identity due to continuity remains as before.
These teachings are basic to the Buddha-doctrine--the illusory nature of the self, the law of action and
reaction in the moral sphere, and the rebirth of the life-forces--but there is no need for anyone to
accept anything that does not appeal to his reason. Acceptance of any particular teaching is unimportant;
what is important is the continual effort to see things as they really are, without self-deceit or evasion.
So much for a brief outline of the doctrine under the heading of right understanding. The second step,
right thought or aim, is a matter of freeing the intellectual faculties from adverse emotional factors,
such as sensuality, ill-will, and cruelty, which render wise and unbiased decisions impossible.
Right speech, right action, and right livelihood together make up the moral section of the path, their
function being to keep the defilements of the mind under control and to prevent them from reaching
adverse expression. These defilements, however, cannot be completely eradicated by morality alone, and
the other steps of the path must be applied to cleanse the mind completely of its defilements.
Now in the next step--right effort--we enter the sphere of practical psychology, for right effort in this
context means effort of will. In other words, the sixth step of the path is self-discipline, the training of
the will in order to prevent and overcome those states of mind that retard development, and to arouse
and cultivate those that bring about mental progress.
The seventh step of the path is also one of practical psychology; this is the step called right mindfulness,
and it consists of the fullest possible development of the ordinary faculty of attention. It is largely by
the development of attention--expanded and intensified awareness--that the mind can eventually become
capable of discerning things as they really are.
The primary function of the, seventh step, right mindfulness, is to develop an increasing awareness of the
unreality of the self. However, it functions also by continually improving the normal faculty of attention,
thus equipping the mind better to meet the problems and stresses of the workaday world.
In the Buddha-way, mindfulness consists of developing the faculty of attention so as to produce a
constant awareness of all thoughts that arise, all words that are spoken, and all actions that are done,
with a view to keeping them free from self-interest, from emotional bias, and from self-delusion.
Right mindfulness has many applications in the sphere of everyday activities. For example, it can be
employed to bring about a sharpened awareness, a clear comprehension, of the motives of these
activities, and this clear comprehension of motive is extremely important.
In right concentration, the last of the eight steps, the cultivation of higher mind-states--up to the
meditative absorptions--is undertaken, and these higher mind-states serve to unify, purity, and
strengthen the mind for the achievement of liberating insight.
In this ultimate achievement the delusion of selfhood, with its craving and suffering, is transcended and
extinguished.
This penetrating insight is the ultimate goal of all Buddhist practices, and with it comes a direct insight
into the true nature of life, culminating in realization of the Unconditioned. While the Unconditioned is
the extinction of self, it is nevertheless not mere non-existence or annihilation, for the extinction of self
is nothing but the extinction of a delusion. Every description of the Unconditioned must fail, for it lies
not only beyond words but beyond even thought; and the only way to know it is to follow the Noble
Eightfold Path to its end.
This, then, is the original Buddhism; this is the Buddhism of the Noble Eightfold Path, of the path that
leads from the bondage of self to liberating insight into reality.
