The Noble Eightfold Path
And so we come to the fourth and final Noble Truth. I use the same source as before for the quote. This is the biggest truth of all as far as explanation is required and you will see soon why that is. I will be creating further pages to explain in my small way what the individual items of the Fourth Truth mean, but this page in itself should provide a simple guide to it’s scope.
And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: precisely this Noble Eightfold Path — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.
In a nutshell this truth shows how to escape from the cycle of stress, suffering and unsatisfactoriness. It shows the path we must follow, and it shows how to avoid those things that lead to Dukkha. This Truth is the path to Nibbana.
As can be seen, there are eight points on the path, hence the name of this particular Truth, The Noble Eightfold Path, and they are as follows:
- Right View
- Right Resolve
- Right Speech
- Right Action
- Right Livelihood
- Right Effort
- Right Mindfulness
- Right Concentration
Each of these steps could take an entire book to explain, but I will try to provide some basic guidance over the coming weeks regarding each one. I will place links to each page on the right hand menu and also link them through the list above as the article becomes available.
For the moment I will leave this article as it is because there is enough information above to give you something to think on for a while. Take each statement by itself and try to see what it might mean, and what you might need to change in your behaviour so that you might be able to say that you are using ‘Right Speech’, or you are putting in ‘Right Effort’, for example.
Good luck on your adventures, because this is where the work really starts, this is where ‘practice’ begins, and this is where ‘escape from Samsara’ starts to become a reality.
May you all find your path to Nibbana to be swift and without stumbling blocks.