| Article Index |
|---|
| The Eightfold Noble's Path |
| Right View |
| Right Intention |
| Right Speech |
| Right Action |
| The Four Factors |
| Liberation |
| All Pages |
The Eightfold Noble Path – Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration
The Eightfold Noble Path is the Path that Buddha realized under the Bodhi tree. The Buddha himself also practiced this Path to achieve Enlightenment so there is no other Path other than the Eightfold Noble Path to ahieve Enlightenment. The Buddha taught in his first sermon ( Dhammacakka Sutta),
"There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-mortification: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata -- producing vision, producing knowledge -- leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding."
"And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that -- producing vision, producing knowledge -- leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that -- producing vision, producing knowledge -- leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding."
Therefore anyone who has adopted a practice that is not the Eightfold Noble Path, and was told that it is the direct path to Enlightenment taught by the Buddha, should immediately abandon that wrong practice.
Furthermore, the Eightfold Noble Path is not eight ways of practicing a path nor is it eight different paths. It is eight factors on a single path.
The Eightfold Noble Path is not practiced by practicing one factor on the Path at a time and practicing another factor at another time. It is by practicing and fulfilling all eight factors at a time one can achieve Enlightenment. How will one be able to practice this at one time? It will be fully explained inthe Practice section.
May all beings gain insight and be freed from sufferings!
Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!
