The Noble Eightfold Path (Pali: ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko
maggo; Sanskrit: āryāṣṭāṅgamārga)
is an early summary of the path of Buddhist
practices leading to liberation from samsara,
the painful cycle of rebirth.The Eightfold
Path consists of eight practices: right view,
right resolve, right speech, right conduct,
right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness,
and right samadhi ('meditative absorption
or union').
In early Buddhism, these practices started
with understanding that the body-mind works
in a corrupted way (right view), followed
by entering the Buddhist path of self-observance,
self-restraint, and cultivating kindness and
compassion; and culminating in dhyana or samadhi,
which re-inforces these practices for the
development of the body-mind.
In later Buddhism, insight (Prajñā) became
the central soteriological instrument, leading
to a different concept and structure of the
path, in which the "goal" of the Buddhist
path came to be specified as ending ignorance
and rebirth.The Noble Eightfold Path is one
of the principal teachings of Theravada Buddhism,
taught to lead to Arhatship.
In the Theravada tradition, this path is also
summarized as sila (morality), samadhi (meditation)
and prajna (insight).
In Mahayana Buddhism, this path is contrasted
with the Bodhisattva path, which is believed
to go beyond Arahatship to full Buddhahood.In
Buddhist symbolism, the Noble Eightfold Path
is often represented by means of the dharma
wheel (dharmachakra), in which its eight spokes
represent the eight elements of the path.
== Etymology and nomenclature ==
The Pali term ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo
(Sanskrit: arya astanga marga) is typically
translated in English as "Noble Eightfold
Path".
This translation is a convention started by
the early translators of Buddhist texts into
English, just like ariya sacca is translated
as Four Noble Truths.
However, the phrase does not mean the path
is noble, rather that the path is of the noble
people (Pali: arya meaning 'enlightened, noble,
precious people').
The term maggo (Sanskrit: marga) means "path",
while aṭṭhaṅgiko means "eightfold".
Thus, an alternate rendering of ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko
maggo is "eightfold path of the noble ones",
or "eightfold Aryan Path".All eight elements
of the Path begin with the word samyañc (in
Sanskrit) or sammā (in Pāli) which means
"right, proper, as it ought to be, best".
The Buddhist texts contrast samma with its
opposite miccha.
== The Eightfold Path ==
=== Origin ===
According to Indologist Tilmann Vetter, the
description of the Buddhist path may initially
have been as simple as the term the middle
way.
In time, this short description was elaborated,
resulting in the description of the eightfold
path.
Tilmann Vetter and historian Rod Bucknell
both note that longer descriptions of "the
path" can be found in the early texts, which
can be condensed into the eightfold path.
=== The Eight Divisions ===
The eight Buddhist practices in the Noble
Eightfold Path are:
Right View: our actions have consequences,
death is not the end, and our actions and
beliefs have consequences after death.
The Buddha followed and taught a successful
path out of this world and the other world
(heaven and underworld/hell).
Later on, right view came to explicitly include
karma and rebirth, and the importance of the
Four Noble Truths, when "insight" became central
to Buddhist soteriology.
Right Resolve or Intention: the giving up
home and adopting the life of a religious
mendicant in order to follow the path; this
concept aims at peaceful renunciation, into
an environment of non-sensuality, non-ill-will
(to loving kindness), away from cruelty (to
compassion).
Such an environment aids contemplation of
impermanence, suffering, and non-Self.
Right Speech: no lying, no rude speech, no
telling one person what another says about
him.
Right Conduct or Action: no killing or injuring,
no taking what is not given, no sexual acts,
no material desires.
Right Livelihood: beg to feed, only possessing
what is essential to sustain life;
Right Effort: preventing the arising of unwholesome
states, and generating wholesome states, the
bojjhagā (seven factors of awakening).
This includes indriya-samvara, "guarding the
sense-doors," restraint of the sense faculties.
Right Mindfulness (sati; Satipatthana; Sampajañña):
"retention," being mindful of the dhammas
("teachings," "elements") that are beneficial
to the Buddhist path.
In the vipassana movement, sati is interpreted
as "bare attention": never be absent minded,
being conscious of what one is doing; this
encourages the awareness of the impermanence
of body, feeling and mind, as well as to experience
the five aggregates (skandhas), the five hindrances,
the four True Realities and seven factors
of awakening.
Right samadhi (Passaddhi; Ekaggata; sampasadana):
practicing four stages of dhyāna ("meditation"),
which includes samadhi proper in the second
stage, and reinforces the development of the
bojjhagā, culminating into upekkha (equanimity)
and mindfulness..
In the Theravada tradition and the Vipassana
movement, this is interpreted as ekaggata,
concentration or one-pointedness of the mind,
and supplemented with Vipassana-meditation,
which aims at insight.
=== Liberation ===
Following the Noble Eightfold Path leads to
liberation in the form of nirvana:
(...) Just this noble eightfold path: right
view, right aspiration, right speech, right
action, right livelihood, right effort, right
mindfulness, right concentration.
That is the ancient path, the ancient road,
traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones
of former times.
I followed that path.
Following it, I came to direct knowledge of
aging & death, direct knowledge of the origination
of aging & death, direct knowledge of the
cessation of aging & death, direct knowledge
of the path leading to the cessation of aging
& death.
I followed that path.
Following it, I came to direct knowledge of
birth... becoming... clinging... craving...
feeling... contact... the six sense media...
name-&-form... consciousness, direct knowledge
of the origination of consciousness, direct
knowledge of the cessation of consciousness,
direct knowledge of the path leading to the
cessation of consciousness.
I followed that path.
=== Threefold division ===
The Noble Eightfold Path is sometimes divided
into three basic divisions, as follows:
This order is a later development, when discriminating
insight (prajna) became central to Buddhist
soteriology, and came to be regarded as the
culmination of the Buddhist path.
Yet, Majjhima Nikaya 117, Mahācattārīsaka
Sutta, describes the first seven practices
as requisites for right samadhi.
According to Vetter, this may have been the
original soteriological practice in early
Buddhism."Moral virtues" (Sanskrit: śīla,
Pāli: sīla) group consists of three paths:
right speech, right action and right livelihood.
The word śīla though translated by English
writers as linked to "morals or ethics", states
Bhikkhu Bodhi, is in ancient and medieval
Buddhist commentary tradition closer to the
concept of discipline and disposition that
"leads to harmony at several levels – social,
psychological, karmic and contemplative".
Such harmony creates an environment to pursue
the meditative steps in the Noble Eightfold
Path by reducing social disorder, preventing
inner conflict that result from transgressions,
favoring future karma-triggered movement through
better rebirths, and purifying the mind.The
meditation group ("samadhi") of the path progresses
from moral restraints to training the mind.
Right effort and mindfulness calm the mind-body
complex, releasing unwholesome states and
habitual patterns and encouraging the development
of wholesome states and non-automatic responses,
the bojjhagā (seven factors of awakening).
The practice of dhyana reinforces these developments,
leading to upekkha (equanimity) and mindfulness.
According to the Theravada commentarial tradition
and the contemporary Vipassana movement, the
goal in this group of the Noble Eightfold
Path is to develop clarity and insight into
the nature of reality – dukkha, anicca and
anatta, discard negative states and dispel
avidya (ignorance), ultimately attaining nirvana.In
the threefold division, prajna (insight, wisdom)
is presented as the culmination of the path,
whereas in the eightfold division the path
starts with correct knowledge or insight,
which is needed to understand why this path
should be followed.
=== Tenfold Path ===
In the Mahācattārīsaka Sutta which appears
in the Chinese and Pali canons, the Buddha
explains that cultivation of the noble eightfold
path of a learner leads to the development
of two further paths of the Arahants, which
are right knowledge, or insight (sammā-ñāṇa),
and right liberation, or release (sammā-vimutti).
These two factors fall under the category
of wisdom (paññā).The Noble Eightfold Path,
in the Buddhist traditions, is the direct
means to nirvana and brings a release from
the cycle of life and death in the realms
of samsara.
== Further explanation ==
=== Right view ===
"Right view" (samyak-dṛṣṭi / sammā-diṭṭhi)
or "right understanding" explicates that our
actions have consequences, that death is not
the end, that our actions and beliefs also
have consequences after death, and that the
Buddha followed and taught a successful path
out of this world and the other world (heaven
and underworld or hell).
Majjhima Nikaya 117, Mahācattārīsaka Sutta,
a text from the Pāli Canon, describes the
first seven practices as requisites of right
samadhi, starting with right view:
Of those, right view is the forerunner [...] And
what is the right view with effluents, siding
with merit, resulting in acquisitions?
'There is what is given, what is offered,
what is sacrificed.
There are fruits, and results of good and
bad actions.
There is this world and the next world.
There is mother and father.
There are spontaneously reborn beings; there
are contemplatives and brahmans who faring
rightly and practicing rightly, proclaim this
world and the next after having directly known
and realized it for themselves.'
This is the right view with effluents, siding
with merit, resulting in acquisitions.
Later on, right view came to explicitly include
karma and rebirth, and the importance of the
Four Noble Truths, when "insight" became central
to Buddhist soteriology.
This presentation of right view still plays
an essential role in Theravada Buddhism.The
purpose of right view is to clear one's path
from confusion, misunderstanding, and deluded
thinking.
It is a means to gain right understanding
of reality.
In the interpretation of some Buddhist movements,
state Religion Studies scholar George Chryssides
and author Margaret Wilkins, right view is
non-view: as the enlightened become aware
that nothing can be expressed in fixed conceptual
terms and rigid, dogmatic clinging to concepts
is discarded.
==== Theravada ====
Right View can be further subdivided, states
translator Bhikkhu Bodhi, into mundane right
view and superior or supramundane right view:
Mundane right view, knowledge of the fruits
of good behavior.
Having this type of view will bring merit
and will support the favourable rebirth of
the sentient being in the realm of samsara.
Supramundane (world-transcending) right view,
the understanding of karma and rebirth, as
implicated in the Four Noble Truths, leading
to awakening and liberation from rebirths
and associated dukkha in the realms of samsara.According
to Theravada Buddhism, mundane right view
is a teaching that is suitable for lay followers,
while supramundane right view, which requires
a deeper understanding, is suitable for monastics.
Mundane and supramundane right view involve
accepting the following doctrines of Buddhism:
Karma: Every action of body, speech, and mind
has karmic results, and influences the kind
of future rebirths and realms a being enters
into.
Three marks of existence: everything, whether
physical or mental, is impermanent (anicca),
a source of suffering (dukkha), and lacks
a self (anatta).
The Four Noble Truths are a means to gaining
insights and ending dukkha.
=== Right resolve ===
Right resolve (samyak-saṃkalpa / sammā
saṅkappa) can also be known as "right thought",
"right intention", or "right aspiration".
In this factor, the practitioner resolves
to leave home, renounce the worldly life and
dedicate himself to an ascetic pursuit.
In section III.248, the Majjhima Nikaya states,
And what is right resolve?
Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom
from ill will, on harmlessness: This is called
right resolve.
Like right view, this factor has two levels.
At the mundane level, the resolve includes
being harmless (ahimsa) and refraining from
ill will (avyabadha) to any being, as this
accrues karma and leads to rebirth.
At the supramundane level, the factor includes
a resolve to consider everything and everyone
as impermanent, a source of suffering and
without a Self.
=== Right speech ===
Right speech (samyag-vāc / sammā-vācā)
in most Buddhist texts is presented as four
abstentions, such as in the Pali Canon thus:
And what is right speech?
Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech,
from abusive speech, and from idle chatter:
This is called right speech.
Instead of the usual "abstention and refraining
from wrong" terminology, a few texts such
as the Samaññaphala Sutta and Kevata Sutta
in Digha Nikaya explain this virtue in an
active sense, after stating it in the form
of an abstention.
For example, Samaññaphala Sutta states that
a part of a monk's virtue is that "he abstains
from false speech.
He speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is
firm, reliable, no deceiver of the world."
Similarly, the virtue of abstaining from divisive
speech is explained as delighting in creating
concord.
The virtue of abstaining from abusive speech
is explained in this Sutta to include affectionate
and polite speech that is pleasing to people.
The virtue of abstaining from idle chatter
is explained as speaking what is connected
with the Dhamma goal of his liberation.In
the Abhaya-raja-kumara Sutta, the Buddha explains
the virtue of right speech in different scenarios,
based on its truth value, utility value and
emotive content.
The Tathagata, states Abhaya Sutta, never
speaks anything that is unfactual or factual,
untrue or true, disagreeable or agreeable,
if that is unbeneficial and unconnected to
his goals.
Further, adds Abhaya Sutta, the Tathagata
speaks the factual, the true, if in case it
is disagreeable and unendearing, only if it
is beneficial to his goals, but with a sense
of proper time.
Additionally, adds Abhaya Sutta, the Tathagata,
only speaks with a sense of proper time even
when what he speaks is the factual, the true,
the agreeable, the endearing and what is beneficial
to his goals.The Buddha thus explains right
speech in the Pali Canon, according to Ganeri,
as never speaking something that is not beneficial;
and, only speaking what is true and beneficial,
"when the circumstances are right, whether
they are welcome or not".
=== Right action ===
Right action (samyak-karmānta / sammā-kammanta)
is like right speech, expressed as abstentions
but in terms of bodily action.
In the Pali Canon, this path factor is stated
as:
And what is right action?
Abstaining from killing, abstaining from stealing,
abstaining from sexual misconduct.
This is called right action.
The prohibition on killing precept in Buddhist
scriptures applies to all living beings, states
Christopher Gowans, not just human beings.
Bhikkhu Bodhi agrees, clarifying that the
more accurate rendering of the Pali canon
is a prohibition on "taking life of any sentient
being", which includes human beings, animals,
birds, insects but excludes plants because
they are not considered sentient beings.
Further, adds Bodhi, this precept refers to
intentional killing, as well as any form of
intentional harming or torturing any sentient
being.
This moral virtue in early Buddhist texts,
both in context of harm or killing of animals
and human beings, is similar to ahimsa precepts
found in the texts particularly of Jainism
as well as of Hinduism, and has been a subject
of significant debate in various Buddhist
traditions.The prohibition on stealing in
the Pali Canon is an abstention from intentionally
taking what is not voluntarily offered by
the person to whom that property belongs.
This includes, states Bhikkhu Bodhi, taking
by stealth, by force, by fraud or by deceit.
Both the intention and the act matters, as
this precept is grounded on the impact on
one's karma.The prohibition on sexual misconduct
in the Noble Eightfold Path, states Tilmann
Vetter, refers to "not performing sexual acts".
This virtue is more generically explained
in the Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta, which teaches
that one must abstain from all sensual misconduct,
including getting sexually involved with someone
unmarried (anyone protected by parents or
by guardians or by siblings), and someone
married (protected by husband), and someone
betrothed to another person, and female convicts
or by dhamma.For monastics, the abstention
from sensual misconduct means strict celibacy,
states Christopher Gowans, while for lay Buddhists
this prohibits adultery as well as other forms
of sensual misconduct.
Later Buddhist texts, states Bhikkhu Bodhi,
state that the prohibition on sexual conduct
for lay Buddhists includes any sexual involvement
with someone married, a girl or woman protected
by her parents or relatives, and someone prohibited
by dhamma conventions (such as relatives,
nuns and others).
=== Right livelihood ===
Right livelihood (samyag-ājīva / sammā-ājīva)
precept is mentioned in many early Buddhist
texts, such as the Mahācattārīsaka Sutta
in Majjhima Nikaya as follows:
"And what is right livelihood?
Right livelihood, I tell you, is of two sorts:
There is right livelihood with effluents,
siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions;
there is right livelihood that is noble, without
effluents, transcendent, a factor of the path.
"And what is the right livelihood with effluents,
siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions?
There is the case where a disciple of the
noble ones abandons wrong livelihood and maintains
his life with right livelihood.
This is the right livelihood with effluents,
siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions.
"And what is the right livelihood that is
noble, without effluents, transcendent, a
factor of the path?
The abstaining, desisting, abstinence, avoidance
of wrong livelihood in one developing the
noble path whose mind is noble, whose mind
is without effluents, who is fully possessed
of the noble path.
(...)
The early canonical texts state right livelihood
as avoiding and abstaining from wrong livelihood.
This virtue is further explained in Buddhist
texts, states Vetter, as "living from begging,
but not accepting everything and not possessing
more than is strictly necessary".
For lay Buddhists, states Harvey, this precept
requires that the livelihood avoid causing
suffering to sentient beings by cheating them,
or harming or killing them in any way.The
Anguttara Nikaya III.208, states Harvey, asserts
that the right livelihood does not trade in
weapons, living beings, meat, alcoholic drink
or poison.
The same text, in section V.177, asserts that
this applies to lay Buddhists.
This has meant, states Harvey, that raising
and trading cattle livestock for slaughter
is a breach of "right livelihood" precept
in the Buddhist tradition, and Buddhist countries
lack the mass slaughter houses found in Western
countries.
=== Right effort ===
Right effort (samyag-vyāyāma / sammā-vāyāma)
is preventing the arising of unwholesome states,
and the generation of wholesome states.
This includes indriya-samvara, "guarding the
sense-doors," restraint of the sense faculties.
Right effort presented in the Pali Canon,
such as the Sacca-vibhanga Sutta as follows:
And what is right effort?Here the monk arouses
his will, puts forth effort, generates energy,
exerts his mind, and strives to prevent the
arising of evil and unwholesome mental states
that have not yet arisen.
He arouses his will... and strives to eliminate
evil and unwholesome mental states that have
already arisen.
He arouses his will... and strives to generate
wholesome mental states that have not yet
arisen.
He arouses his will, puts forth effort, generates
energy, exerts his mind, and strives to maintain
wholesome mental states that have already
arisen, to keep them free of delusion, to
develop, increase, cultivate, and perfect
them.
This is called right effort.
The unwholesome states (akusala) are described
in the Buddhist texts, as those relating to
thoughts, emotions, intentions, and these
include pancanivarana (five hindrances) – sensual
thoughts, doubts about the path, restlessness,
drowsiness, and ill will of any kind.
Of these, the Buddhist traditions consider
sensual thoughts and ill will needing more
right effort.
Sensual desire that must be eliminated by
effort includes anything related to sights,
sounds, smells, tastes and touch.
This is to be done by restraint of the sense
faculties (indriya-samvara).
Ill will that must be eliminated by effort
includes any form of aversion including hatred,
anger, resentment towards anything or anyone.
=== Right mindfulness ===
In the vipassana movement, mindfulness (samyak-smṛti
/ sammā-sati) is interpreted as "bare attention":
never be absent minded, being conscious of
what one is doing.
Yet, originally it has the meaning of "retention,"
being mindfull of the dhammas ("teachings,"
"elements") that are beneficial to the Buddhist
path.
According to Frauwallner, mindfulness was
a means to prevent the arising of craving,
which resulted simply from contact between
the senses and their objects.
According to Frauwallner this may have been
the Buddha's original idea.
According to Trainor, mindfulness aids one
not to crave and cling to any transitory state
or thing, by complete and constant awareness
of phenomena as impermanent, suffering and
without self.The Satipatthana Sutta describes
the contemplation of four domains, namely
body, feelings, mind and phenomena.
The Satipatthana Sutta is regarded by the
Vipassana movement as the quintessential text
on Buddhist meditation, taking ques from it
on "bare attention" and the contemplation
on the observed phenomena as dukkha, anatta
and anicca.
According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā
have been misunderstood by the developing
Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to
refer to four different foundations.
According to Polak, the four upassanā do
not refer to four different foundations of
which one should be aware, but are an alternate
description of the jhanas, describing how
the samskharas are tranquilized:
the six sense-bases which one needs to be
aware of (kāyānupassanā);
contemplation on vedanās, which arise with
the contact between the senses and their objects
(vedanānupassanā);
the altered states of mind to which this practice
leads (cittānupassanā);
the development from the five hindrances to
the seven factors of enlightenment (dhammānupassanā).Rupert
Gethin notes that the contemporary Vipassana
movement interprets the Satipatthana Sutta
as "describing a pure form of insight (vipassanā)
meditation" for which samatha (calm) and jhāna
are not necessary.
Yet, in pre-sectarian Buddhism, the establishment
of mindfulness was placed before the practice
of the jhanas, and associated with the abandonment
of the five hindrances and the entry into
the first jhana.The dhyāna-scheme describes
mindfulness also as appearing in the third
and fourth dhyana, after initial concentration
of the mind.
Gombrich and Wynne note that, while the second
jhana denotes a state of absorption, in the
third and fourth jhana one comes out of this
absorption, being mindfully awareness of objects
while being indifferent to them.
According to Gombrich, "the later tradition
has falsified the jhana by classifying them
as the quintessence of the concentrated, calming
kind of meditation, ignoring the other – and
indeed higher – element.
=== Right Concentration ===
==== Samadhi ====
Samadhi (samyak-samādhi / sammā-samādhi)
is a common practice in Indian religions.
The term samadhi derives from the root sam-a-dha,
which means 'to collect' or 'bring together',
and thus it is often translated as 'concentration'
or 'unification of mind'.
In the early Buddhist texts, samadhi is also
associated with the term "samatha" (calm abiding).
In the suttas, samadhi is defined as one-pointedness
of mind (Cittass'ekaggatā).
Buddhagosa defines samadhi as "the centering
of consciousness and consciousness concomitants
evenly and rightly on a single object...the
state in virtue of which consciousness and
its concomitants remain evenly and rightly
on a single object, undistracted and unscattered."According
to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the right concentration
factor is reaching a one-pointedness of mind
and unifying all mental factors, but it is
not the same as "a gourmet sitting down to
a meal, or a soldier on the battlefield" who
also experience one-pointed concentration.
The difference is that the latter have a one-pointed
object in focus with complete awareness directed
to that object – the meal or the target,
respectively.
In contrast, right concentration meditative
factor in Buddhism is a state of awareness
without any object or subject, and ultimately
unto nothingness and emptiness.
==== Practice ====
Bronkhorst notes that neither the Four Noble
Truths nor the Noble Eightfold Path discourse
provide details of right samadhi.
The explanation is to be found in the Canonical
texts of Buddhism, in several Suttas, such
as the following in Saccavibhanga Sutta:
And what is right concentration?
[i] Here, the monk, detached from sense-desires,
detached from unwholesome states, enters and
remains in the first jhana (level of concentration,
Sanskrit: dhyāna), in which there is applied
and sustained thinking, together with joy
and pleasure born of detachment;
[ii] And through the subsiding of applied
and sustained thinking, with the gaining of
inner stillness and oneness of mind, he enters
and remains in the second jhana, which is
without applied and sustained thinking, and
in which there are joy and pleasure born of
concentration;
[iii] And through the fading of joy, he remains
equanimous, mindful and aware, and he experiences
in his body the pleasure of which the Noble
Ones say: "equanimous, mindful and dwelling
in pleasure", and thus he enters and remains
in the third jhana;
[iv] And through the giving up of pleasure
and pain, and through the previous disappearance
of happiness and sadness, he enters and remains
in the fourth jhana, which is without pleasure
and pain, and in which there is pure equanimity
and mindfulness.
This is called right concentration.
Bronkhorst has questioned the historicity
and chronology of the description of the four
jhanas.
Bronkhorst states that this path may be similar
to what the Buddha taught, but the details
and the form of the description of the jhanas
in particular, and possibly other factors,
is likely the work of later scholasticism.
Bronkhorst notes that description of the third
jhana cannot have been formulated by the Buddha,
since it includes the phrase "Noble Ones say",
quoting earlier Buddhists, indicating it was
formulated by later Buddists.
It is likely that later Buddhist scholars
incorporated this, then attributed the details
and the path, particularly the insights at
the time of liberation, to have been discovered
by the Buddha.
==== Mindfulness ====
Although often translated as "concentration,"
as in the limiting of the attention of the
mind on one object, in the fourth dhyana "equanimity
and mindfulness remain," and the practice
of concentration-meditation may well have
been incorporated from non-Buddhist traditions.
Vetter notes that samadhi consists of the
four stages of dhyana meditation, but
...to put it more accurately, the first dhyana
seems to provide, after some time, a state
of strong concentration, from which the other
stages come forth; the second stage is called
samadhija.
Gombrich and Wynne note that, while the second
jhana denotes a state of absorption, in the
third and fourth jhana one comes out of this
absorption, being mindfully awareness of objects
while being indifferent to it.
According to Gombrich, "the later tradition
has falsified the jhana by classifying them
as the quintessence of the concentrated, calming
kind of meditation, ignoring the other – and
indeed higher – element.
== Practice ==
=== Order of practice ===
Vetter notes that originally the path culminated
in the practice of dhyana/samadhi as the core
soteriological practice.
According to the Pali and Chinese canon, the
samadhi state (right concentration) is dependent
on the development of preceding path factors:
The Blessed One said: "Now what, monks, is
noble right concentration with its supports
and requisite conditions?
Any singleness of mind equipped with these
seven factors — right view, right resolve,
right speech, right action, right livelihood,
right effort, and right mindfulness — is
called noble right concentration with its
supports and requisite conditions.
According to the discourses, right view, right
resolve, right speech, right action, right
livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness
are used as the support and requisite conditions
for the practice of right concentration.
Understanding of the right view is the preliminary
role, and is also the forerunner of the entire
Noble Eightfold Path.According to the modern
Theravada bhikkhu (monk) and scholar Walpola
Rahula, the divisions of the noble eightfold
path "are to be developed more or less simultaneously,
as far as possible according to the capacity
of each individual.
They are all linked together and each helps
the cultivation of the others."
Bhikkhu Bodhi explains that these factors
are not sequential, but components, and "with
a certain degree of progress all eight factors
can be present simultaneously, each supporting
the others.
However, until that point is reached, some
sequence in the unfolding of the path is inevitable."The
stage in the Path where there is no more learning
in Yogachara Abhidharma, state Buswell and
Gimello, is identical to Nirvana or Buddhahood,
the ultimate goal in Buddhism.
=== Gender ===
According to Bernard Faure, the ancient and
medieval Buddhist texts and traditions, like
other religions, were almost always unfavorable
or discriminatory against women, in terms
of their ability to pursue Noble Eightfold
Path, attain Buddhahood and nirvana.
This issue of presumptions about the "female
religious experience" is found in Indian texts,
in translations into non-Indian languages,
and in regional non-Indian commentaries written
in East Asian kingdoms such as those in China,
Japan and southeast Asia.
Yet, like other Indian religions, exceptions
and veneration of females is found in Indian
Buddhist texts, and female Buddhist deities
are likewise described in positive terms and
with reverence.
Nevertheless, females are seen as polluted
with menstruation, sexual intercourse, death
and childbirth.
Rebirth as a woman is seen in the Buddhist
texts as a result of part of past karma, and
inferior than that of a man.In some Chinese
and Japanese Buddhist texts, the status of
female deities are not presented positively,
unlike the Indian tradition, states Faure.
In the Huangshinu dui Jingang (Woman Huang
explicates the Diamond Sutra), a woman admonishes
her husband about he slaughtering animals,
who attacks her gender and her past karma,
implying that "women go to hell" not because
of her intentions nor actions (kamma), but
simply because of the biology of her gender
and the bodily functions over which she has
no choice.
Similar discriminatory presumptions are found
in other Buddhist texts such as the Blood
Bowl Sutra and the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha
Sūtra.
In the Five Obstacles theory of Buddhism,
a woman is required to attain rebirth as a
man before she can adequately pursue the Eightfold
Path and reach perfect Buddhahood.
The Lotus Sutra similarly presents the story
of the Dragon King's daughter, who desires
to achieve perfect enlightenment.
The Sutra states that, "Her female organs
vanished, the male organs became visible,
then she appeared as a bodhisattva".Gender
discrimination worsened during the medieval
era in various sub-traditions of Buddhism
that independently developed regionally, such
as in Japan.Some scholars, such as Kenneth
Doo Young Lee, interpret the Lotus Sutra to
imply that "women were capable of gaining
salvation", either after they first turned
into a man, or being reborn in Pure Land realm
after following the Path.
Peter Harvey lists many Sutras that suggest
"having faded out the mind-set of a woman
and developed the mind-set of a man, he was
born in his present male form", and who then
proceeds to follow the Path and became an
Arahant.
Among Mahayana texts, there is a sutra dedicated
to the concept of how a person might be born
as a woman.
The traditional assertion is that women are
more prone to harboring feelings of greed,
hatred and delusion than a man.
The Buddha responds to this assumption by
teaching the method of moral development through
which a woman can achieve rebirth as a man.According
to Wei-Yi Cheng, the Pali Canon is silent
about women's inferior karma, but have statements
and stories that mention the Eightfold Path
while advocating female subordination.
For example, a goddess reborn in the heavenly
realm asserts:
When I was born a human being among men I
was a daughter-in-law in a wealthy family.
I was without anger, obedient to my husband,
diligent on the Observance (days).
When I was born a human being, young and innocent,
with a mind of faith, I delighted my lord.
By day and by night I acted to please.
Of old (...). On the fourteenth, fifteenth
and eighth (days) of the bright fortnight
and on a special day of the fortnight well
connected with the eightfold (precepts) I
observed the Observance day with a mind of
faith, was one who was faring according to
Dhamma with zeal in my heart...
Such examples, states Wei-Yi Cheng, include
conflating statements about spiritual practice
(Eightfold Path, Dhamma) and "obedience to
my husband" and "by day and by night I acted
to please", thus implying unquestioned obedience
of male authority and female subjugation.
Such statements are not isolated, but common,
such as in section II.13 of the Petavatthu
which teaches that a woman had to "put away
the thoughts of a woman" as she pursued the
Path and this merit obtained her a better
rebirth; the Jataka stories of the Pali Canon
have numerous such stories, as do the Chinese
Sutta that assert "undesirability of womanhood".
Modern Buddhist nuns have applied Buddhist
doctrines such as Pratītyasamutpāda to explain
their disagreement with women's inferior karma
in past lives as implied in Samyutta Nikaya
13, states Wei-Yi Cheng, while asserting that
the Path can be practiced by either gender
and "both men and women can become arhant".
== Cognitive psychology ==
The noble eightfold path has been compared
to cognitive psychology, wherein states Gil
Fronsdal, the right view factor can be interpreted
to mean how one's mind views the world, and
how that leads to patterns of thought, intention
and actions.
In contrast, Peter Randall states that it
is the seventh factor or right mindfulness
that may be thought in terms of cognitive
psychology, wherein the change in thought
and behavior are linked.
== See also ==
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Sources ==
== External links ==
"The Path to Peace and Freedom for the Mind"
by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo
"The Craft of the Heart" by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo
