Noble Eightfold Path: Difference between revisions

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==Concentration==
Concentration ("samadhi") is achieved through concentrating the attention on a single meditation object. This brings the calm and collectedness needed to develop true wisdom by direct experience.
===Right effort===
Right effort  (''samyag-vyāyāma'' / ''sammā-vāyāma'') can also be translated as "right endeavor" or "right diligence". In this factor, the practitioners should make a persisting effort to abandon all the wrong and harmful thoughts, words, and deeds. The practitioner should instead be persisting in giving rise to what would be good and useful to themselves and others in their thoughts, words, and deeds, without a thought for the difficulty or weariness involved. In both the Chinese and the Pali Canon, it is explained thus:<ref name="cbeta.org"/><ref name="Taisho Tripitaka Vol Page 814"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn45/sn45.008.than.html |title=Magga-vibhanga Sutta |accessdate=6 May 2008|publisher=Access to Insight |last =Thanissaro Bhikkhu }}</ref>
{{quote|And what, monks, is right effort?
(i) There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen.
(ii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen.
(iii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen.
(iv) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, and culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen:
This, monks, is called right effort.}}
Although the above instruction is given to the male monastic order, it is also meant for the female monastic order and can be practiced by lay followers of both genders.
The above four phases of right effort mean to:
# Prevent the unwholesome that has not yet arisen in oneself.
# Let go of the unwholesome that has arisen in oneself.
# Bring up the wholesome that has not yet arisen in oneself.
# Maintain the wholesome that has arisen in oneself.
===Right mindfulness===
{{Main|Mindfulness (Buddhism)}}
Right [[Mindfulness (Buddhism)|mindfulness]] (''{{IAST|samyak-smṛti}}'' / ''sammā-sati''), also translated as "right memory", "right awareness" or "right attention". Here, practitioners should constantly keep their minds alert to phenomena that affect the body and mind. They should be mindful and deliberate, making sure not to act or speak due to inattention or forgetfulness. In the Pali Canon, it is explained thus:<ref name=BMaha/><ref name=BSac/><ref name="Thanissaro Bhikkhu"/><ref name="cbeta.org"/><ref name="Taisho Tripitaka Vol Page 814"/>
{{quote|And what, monks, is right mindfulness?
(i) There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in and of itself—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.
(ii) He remains focused on feelings in and of themselves—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.
(iii) He remains focused on the mind in and of itself—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.
(iv) He remains focused on mental qualities (''dhammesu''<ref>[http://www.palikanon.com/pali/samyutta/sam47.htm Ambapālisuttaṃ]</ref>) in and of themselves—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.
This, monks, is called right mindfulness.}}
Although the above instruction is given to the male monastic order, it is also meant for the female monastic order and can be practiced by lay followers from both genders.
[[Bhikkhu Bodhi]], a monk of the Theravada tradition, further explains the concept of mindfulness as follows:<ref>Bodhi 1998</ref>
{{quote|The mind is deliberately kept at the level of ''bare attention'', a detached observation of what is happening within us and around us in the present moment. In the practice of right mindfulness the mind is trained to remain in the present, open, quiet, and alert, contemplating the present event. All judgments and interpretations have to be suspended, or if they occur, just registered and dropped.}}
The Maha Satipatthana Sutta also teaches that by mindfully observing these phenomena, we begin to discern its arising and subsiding and the Three Characteristics of Dharma in direct experience, which leads to the arising of insight and the qualities of dispassion, non-clinging, and release.
===Right concentration===
Right concentration as its Sanskrit and Pali names indicate, is the practice of concentration (''samadhi''). It is also known as right meditation.
As such, the practitioner concentrates on an object of attention until reaching full concentration and a state of meditative absorption. Traditionally, the practice of samadhi can be developed through mindfulness of breathing , through visual objects  and through repetition of phrases. Jhana is used to suppress the five hindrances in order to enter into Samadhi. Jhana is an instrument used for developing wisdom by cultivating insight and using it to examine true nature of phenomena with direct cognition. This leads to cutting off the defilements, realizing the dhamma and, finally, self-awakening.
During the practice of right concentration, the practitioner will need to investigate and verify their right view. In the process right knowledge will arise, followed by right liberation. In the Pali Canon, it is explained thus:
And what is right concentration?
(i) Herein a monk aloof from sense desires, aloof from unwholesome thoughts, attains to and abides in the first meditative absorption [jhana], which is detachment-born and accompanied by applied thought, sustained thought,joy, and bliss.
(ii) By allaying applied and sustained thought he attains to, and abides in the second jhana, which is inner tranquillity, which is unification (of the mind), devoid of applied and sustained thought, and which has joy and bliss.
(iii) By detachment from joy he dwells in equanimity, mindful, and with clear comprehension and enjoys bliss in body, and attains to and abides in the third jhana, which the noble ones  call "dwelling in equanimity, mindfulness, and bliss".
(iv) By giving up of bliss and suffering, by the disappearance already of joy and sorrow, he attains to, and abides in the fourth jhana, which is neither suffering nor bliss, and which is the purity of equanimity — mindfulness.
This is called right concentration.
Although this instruction is given to the male monastic order, it is also meant for the female monastic order and can be practiced by lay followers from both genders.
According to the Pali and Chinese canon, 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.


==References==
==References==