The Eightfold Path

I suppose if I’m going to write a blog subtitled ‘Thoughts as I attempt to walk the Buddha's Eightfold Path" I should, at some point, talk about what the Eightfold Path actually is.

When the Buddha taught, 2500 years ago, nobody was writing anything down. Even though people had much better memories back then than they do now, it still helped with the memorization if thoughts were organized in some way. So, whether the Buddha taught it that way or not (we think he did), today the Buddha’s teaching is all outlined in eight steps.

When I say steps, you have to realize that it’s not like a path with a beginning, eight steps, and then an end. Instead it’s more like eight flagstones in a circle. You walk round and round them, each time understanding a bit more, and sometimes you hop from one, across the circle, to another. It’s more of an eight-knotted-net than a clear path, but it is also a path in the sense that we walk it for life (or lives …). So, having said that, I’ll go through them in order, but bear in mind that there actually is no order to them.

In this post, I’ll simply list them. In further posts, I’ll get more into what each one is. For now, here’s the framework:

1. Right Understanding (knowing how the world works)
2. Right Intention (resolving to act skillfully)
3. Right Speech (speaking well)
4. Right Action (doing the right thing, on three levels)
5. Right Livelihood (making a living ethically)
6. Right Effort (four skillful ways to exert effort)
7. Right Mindfulness (being aware, in this moment, with acceptance)
8. Right Concentration (dwelling skillfully in mental/emotional attitude)