User:Dorje108/Eightfold path

Intro to "Buddhist paths..."
The Buddhist tradition gives a wide variety of descriptions of the Buddhist Path (magga) to liberation. The foundation of all presentations of the Buddhist path is the Noble Eightfold Path, which was presented in the first discourse of the the Buddha, and it considered the essence of the Buddhist path. The Noble Eightfold Path is typically presented as a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha (suffering). Alongside the eightfold path, Buddhist texts present a number of paths that describe the path in different ways according to different traditions.

Centrality to Buddhist thought
The Noble Eightfold Path is presented as the fourth of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and it is considered to be the essence of Buddhist practice.

The eightfold path consists of: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

Noble Eightfold Path - summary for article "Buddhist paths..."
The Noble Eightfold Path is presented as the fourth of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and it is considered to be the essence of Buddhist practice. For example, Bhikkhu Bodhi states:
 * The essence of the Buddha’s teaching can be summed up in two principles: the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The first covers the side of doctrine, and the primary response it elicits is understanding; the second covers the side of discipline, in the broadest sense of that word, and the primary response it calls for is practice.

The Noble Eightfold Path consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

Ajahn Sucitto describes the path as "a mandala of interconnected factors that support and moderate each other." The eight factors of the path are not to be understood as stages, in which each stage is completed before moving on to the next. Rather, they are understood as eight significant dimensions of one's behaviour—mental, spoken, and bodily—that operate in dependence on one another; taken together, they define a complete path, or way of living.

The eight factors of the path are commonly presented within three divisions (or higher trainings) as shown below:

Alongside the eightfold path, Buddhist texts present a number of paths that describe the path in different ways according to different traditions. Generally speaking, these alternative methods of presentation are not considered to be contradictory, but rather as different ways to present the Buddhist path.

Six paramitas
Gethin states:
 * Alongside the eightfold path, Buddhist texts present the path that ends in the cessation of suffering as a gradual and cumulative process involving a hierarchical progression of practice, beginning with generosity (dāna), moving on to good conduct (sīla/śīla), and ending in meditation (bhāvanā); alternatively we find the sequence: good conduct (śīla/sīla), meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (prajñā/paññā). According to this kind of scheme, the early stages of the practice of the path are more concerned with establishing good conduct on the basis of the ethical precepts; these provide the firm foundation for the development of concentration, which in turn prepares for the perfection of understanding and wisdom. This outlook is the basis of the important notion of ‘the gradual path’ which finds its earliest and most succinct expression as ‘the step by step discourse’ (anupūrvikā kathā/anupubbi-kathā) of the Nikāyas/Āgamas:


 * Then the Blessed One gave instruction step by step … namely talk on giving, talk on good conduct, and talk on heaven; he proclaimed the danger, elimination and impurity of sense desires, and the benefit of desire-lessness. When the Blessed One knew that the mind [of his listener] was ready, open, without hindrances, inspired, and confident, then he gave the instruction in Dharma that is special to buddhas: suffering, its origin, its cessation, the path.36[e.g. Majjhima Nikāya i. 379–80.]

Gethin, Rupert (1998-07-16). The Foundations of Buddhism (p. 83). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

Noble Eightfold Path - summary for article "Buddhism"
The Noble Eightfold Path—the fourth of the Buddha's Noble Truths—consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

Ajahn Sucitto describes the path as "a mandala of interconnected factors that support and moderate each other." The eight factors of the path are not to be understood as stages, in which each stage is completed before moving on to the next. Rather, they are understood as eight significant dimensions of one's behaviour—mental, spoken, and bodily—that operate in dependence on one another; taken together, they define a complete path, or way of living.

The eight factors of the path are commonly presented within three divisions (or higher trainings) as shown below: