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Noble Eightfold Path: Difference between revisions
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==Wisdom== | ==Wisdom== | ||
" | "Wisdom" (''prajñā'' / ''paññā''), sometimes translated as "discernment" at its preparatory role, provides the sense of direction with its conceptual understanding of reality. It is designed to awaken the faculty of penetrative understanding to see things as they really are. At a later stage, when the mind has been refined by training in moral discipline and concentration, and with the gradual arising of right knowledge, it will arrive at a superior right view and right intention. | ||
===Right view=== | ===Right view=== | ||
Right | Right view can also be translated as "right perspective", "right outlook" or "right understanding". | ||
According to Paul Fuller, right-view is a way of seeing which transcends all views. It is a detached way of seeing, different from the attitude of holding to any view, wrong or right. | According to Paul Fuller, right-view is a way of seeing which transcends all views. It is a detached way of seeing, different from the attitude of holding to any view, wrong or right. | ||
According to contemporary Theravada Buddhism, it is the right way of looking at life, nature, and the world as they really are for us. It is to understand how our reality works. It acts as the reasoning with which someone starts practicing the path. It explains [[five aggregates|the reasons]] for our human existence, suffering, sickness, aging, death, the existence of greed, hatred, and delusion. Right view gives direction and efficacy to the other seven path factors. It begins with concepts and propositional knowledge, but through the practice of right concentration, it gradually becomes transmuted into wisdom, which can eradicate the [[fetter (Buddhism)|fetters of the mind]]. An understanding of right view will inspire the person to lead a virtuous life in line with right view. In the [[Pāli Canon|Pāli]] and [[Chinese Buddhist Canon|Chinese canons]], it is explained thus: | According to contemporary Theravada Buddhism, it is the right way of looking at life, nature, and the world as they really are for us. It is to understand how our reality works. It acts as the reasoning with which someone starts practicing the path. It explains [[five aggregates|the reasons]] for our human existence, suffering, sickness, aging, death, the existence of greed, hatred, and delusion. Right view gives direction and efficacy to the other seven path factors. It begins with concepts and propositional knowledge, but through the practice of right concentration, it gradually becomes transmuted into wisdom, which can eradicate the [[fetter (Buddhism)|fetters of the mind]]. An understanding of right view will inspire the person to lead a virtuous life in line with right view. In the [[Pāli Canon|Pāli]] and [[Chinese Buddhist Canon|Chinese canons]], it is explained thus: | ||
{{quote|And what is right view? Knowledge with reference to suffering, knowledge with reference to the origination of suffering, knowledge with reference to the cessation of suffering, knowledge with reference to the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering: This is called right view.}} | {{quote|And what is right view? Knowledge with reference to suffering, knowledge with reference to the origination of suffering, knowledge with reference to the cessation of suffering, knowledge with reference to the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering: This is called right view.}} | ||
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Right view has many facets; its elementary form is suitable for lay followers, while the other form, which requires deeper understanding, is suitable for monastics. Usually, it involves understanding the following reality: | Right view has many facets; its elementary form is suitable for lay followers, while the other form, which requires deeper understanding, is suitable for monastics. Usually, it involves understanding the following reality: | ||
# ''' | # '''Moral law of karma''': Every action (by way of body, speech, and mind) will have karmic results (a.k.a. reaction). Wholesome and unwholesome actions will produce results and effects that correspond with the nature of that action. It is the right view about the moral process of the world. | ||
# ''' | # '''The three characteristics''': everything that arises will cease (impermanence). Mental and body phenomena are impermanent, source of suffering and not-self. | ||
# ''' | # '''Suffering''': Birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, distress, and despair are suffering. Not being able to obtain what one wants is also suffering. The arising of craving is the proximate cause of the arising of suffering and the cessation of craving is the proximate cause of the cessation of the suffering. The quality of ignorance is the root cause of the arising of suffering, and the elimination of this quality is the root cause of the cessation of suffering. The way leading to the cessation of suffering is the noble eightfold path.This type of right view is explained in terms of Four Noble Truths. | ||
Right view for monastics is explained in detail in the ''[[Sammaditthi Sutta|{{IAST|Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta}}]]'' ("Right View Discourse"), in which Ven. | Right view for monastics is explained in detail in the ''[[Sammaditthi Sutta|{{IAST|Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta}}]]'' ("Right View Discourse"), in which Ven. Sariputta instructs that right view can alternately be attained by the thorough understanding of the unwholesome and the wholesome, the four nutriments, the Twelve Nidanas or the three taints. | ||
The purpose of right view is to clear one's path of the majority of confusion, misunderstanding, and deluded thinking. It is a means to gain right understanding of reality. Right view should be held with a flexible, open mind, without clinging to that view as a dogmatic position. | "Wrong view" arising from ignorance (''[[avijja]]''), is the precondition for wrong intention, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness and wrong concentration.The practitioner should use right effort to abandon the wrong view and to enter into right view. Right mindfulness is used to constantly remain in right view. | ||
The purpose of right view is to clear one's path of the majority of confusion, misunderstanding, and deluded thinking. It is a means to gain right understanding of reality. Right view should be held with a flexible, open mind, without clinging to that view as a dogmatic position. In this way, right view becomes a route to liberation rather than an obstacle. | |||
===Right intention=== | ===Right intention=== | ||