Basics of Buddhism - 3 - The Eightfold Path

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Based on the translations found in Awakening the Buddha Within, these eight practices are:

1.      Wise View: Seeing things as they truly are, not through the filters of our past experiences.

2.      Wise Intentions: The Buddha emphasized, "As we think, so we become." Changing our intentions changes the way we see and experience the world.

3.      Wise Speech: Speaking in a way that supports us and others on their spiritual path.

4.      Wise Action: Acting in ways that are wise and compassionate.

5.      Wise Livelihood: Working in a way that supports oneself and others on their spiritual journey.

6.      Wise Effort: Having a passion for enlightenment.

7.      Wise Mindfulness: Practicing mindfulness by being fully present in each moment.

8.      Wise Concentration: Practicing meditation to train our minds.

These eight practices are designed to invigorate our daily lives with compassionate awareness, honesty, and curiosity. These practices are usually translated as a “path”, but in the original teachings, they were described more like a wheel with eight spokes or an eight-limbed concurrent process. It's not necessary to start at the first step and end at the last, but rather to incorporate each as the situation arises.

For me, wise implies what is most skillful—in other words, what does the most good and the least harm.

The Eightfold Path can be broken down into three sections: wisdom, ethics, and meditation. Let's look at these three separately.

Wisdom:

The first two steps are part of the wisdom training: wise view and wise intention. We all have a certain view of the world. We may hang on to the view that our parents told us, or we may have come up with our own perspectives through our life experiences. If I were to ask you, "How do you describe the world?" what would you say? What would your parents have said? Is it a scary place? A difficult place? A wonderful place? An unfair place? A beautiful place? We often view the world from our past experiences and the vision that others have ingrained in us.

Wise intention is how we decide what to do. What are your intentions in your life? What do you value? If you could describe your values in three words, what would they be? Now, think about your thoughts, words, and actions this last week. How well did those match your values that you just described? The Buddhist path is designed to help us live our values. The first step is being clear about what we value, then putting those values into practice every day.

Ethics:

Ethics include the next three steps of wise speech, wise livelihood and wise action. 

Wise speech is about being more careful with how we respond with words (internally or verbally, via e-mail or text, etc.). We can learn to create a gap between stimulus and response by asking ourselves these five questions: "Is it true?" "Is it helpful?" "Is it inspiring?" "Is it necessary?" "Is it kind?" They neatly form the acronym THINK. Answering these five questions may cut out about 75 percent of what we say to ourselves and to others!

Wise action is about acting in ways that encourage and inspire. With greater awareness, we create more options for how to respond to any stimulus. Habit and past experience are not the only ways to choose how to act. Wise action can come from a place of reflection and intention for good. What action will ease suffering? What action will create the most good?

Wise livelihood can sometimes be thought of as limited to only a few jobs that really "do" any good. Instead, wise livelihood includes not only what you do to make a living but also how you do it. How do you show up for work? How do you interact with your coworkers? We can practice working in a way that supports ourselves and others on their spiritual journey.

Meditation:

Lastly, we have the meditation training of wise effort, wise mindfulness, and wise concentration.

Wise effort is about having a passion for awakening. It often feels easier to just do what we have been doing, even if it causes us suffering—there is usually some short-term payoff that makes us forget about the pain down the road. Conditioning and habits sometimes lead us in the wrong direction. The practice of wise effort encourages us to reach within and find that passion for happiness and, as the Dalai Lama proclaims, to "never give up!" Dig deep within you to find the power, strength, and inspiration to change—it is in there! We all have it—no one is left out. In the coming weeks, there will be moments when an old way of thinking will arise, a craving to go back to the old ways; it will at times seem far easier to go back than to practice these darn teachings. But! Within each of us is an amazing ability to change. Find that motivation now so you'll have it at your fingertips when the going gets tough.

Wise mindfulness and wise concentration are such a big deal that we'll save those for next time...