040. THE WAY TO LIBERATION
According to the Buddha, the Noble Eightfold Path is not easy to tread. It consists of right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right awareness and right concentration.
041. THE FABRIC OF THE PATH
The Noble Eightfold Path can also be expressed as a continuous wheel or a single fabric, like life itself: it has folds yet is of one piece. It concerns all that we do, all that we think and all that we are. As we perceive, think, speak and act, and our perceptions, thoughts, speech and actions shape our lives, so the nature of each of our lives is dictated, and the consequences are good or bad.
042. DIFFERENT ELEMENTS
Right view and right thought are considered to be the “wisdom” element of the Noble Eightfold Path. The second three elements – right speech, right action and right livelihood – relate to morality or “disciplined behaviour”. The last three elements – right effort, right awareness and right concentration – pertain to meditation: simply being wholly at one with what we are doing. The true expression of the Noble Eightfold Path is to see the world as it is (wisdom), to behave in keeping with the actual situation at all times (morality) and to be at one with what we are doing right now (meditation).
043. RIGHT VIEW
How we perceive things conditions our actions, and the outcome of our actions can be neutral, happiness or misery. Right view is fully grasping this.
044. RIGHT THOUGHT
If we see the world as it is, our thoughts will reflect it. However, usually we don’t – we are full of thoughts of “ought”, “must” and “should”, and we spend huge amounts of energy trying to square the world with our own individual view of reality. We also take things personally and feel resentful; the consequence is angry or greedy thoughts.
045. RIGHT SPEECH
If we can be restrained but truthful and kind in how we speak to each other, our natural tendency to ruthlessly grab what we want from life will not take hold of us and lead to unhappy consequences.
046. RIGHT ACTION
If we view the world as it is, and our thoughts and speech reflect this, then our actions will be in harmony. But because we do not feel spiritually fulfilled, we try to fill the gap with things from outside ourselves, and so our actions are not dispassionate but distorted by emotions such as anger and desire.
047. RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
If we can avoid trying to fill the spiritual void with talk, actions and work, we shall be able to choose work that satisfies the heart, which in turn brings social harmony and a capacity not to take oneself too seriously.
048. BEING PRESENT
The meditation elements of the Noble Eightfold Path (effort, awareness and concentration) point toward a practice that eliminates over time the sense of “I”, “me” and “mine”, the source of all our misery. Through Buddhist practice negative emotions are transformed into warmth, energy and the radiance of consciousness.
049. RIGHT EFFORT
Cultivating right effort helps us to give ourselves energetically to each day, no matter how difficult, and to avoid shrinking from life’s challenges.
050. RIGHT AWARENESS
Without awareness, Buddhist practice is impossible, for how could we familiarize ourselves with the inner life and open up to our surroundings?
051. RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Meditation practice helps us to become quiet inside, and as we become quiet, we become aware of our bodies, feelings, perceptions and thoughts. This familiarization begins practice.
052. MANY VEHICLES
Yana is a Sanskrit word with a wide range of meanings, one of which is “vehicle”. The word “Mahayana”, the Sanskrit name for the Northern tradition of Buddhism, translates as “Great Vehicle”, and “Hinayana”, meaning the Theravada (Southern) tradition, translates as “Smaller Vehicle”. The term “yana” extends the metaphor of Buddhist spiritual practice as a path or journey – the “vehicle” carries the practitioner along their chosen “path”. In the Lotus Sutra the Buddha states: “There is only one vehicle (Ekayana) – the Buddha-vehicle (Buddhayana) – the path of the Buddha.”
