Christian Life 21 - On the Eightfold Path

I have of late been talking exclusively about my journey toward peace and tranquility, but how does one apply the concepts in the real world (if we are to assume this world is real)?  For this, we again turn to Buddhism.  I should point out that the principles being discussed are not Buddhist, per se.  They can be found in the Ten Commandments.  The are easily noticed in the words of Confucius, Mohamed and Christ.  They are even echoed in the atheist writings of Marx and Nietzsche. We use the Buddhist method because, while all these others make reference and allusion to the principles, it was the Buddhists who systematized them. 

We've already examined the Three Immutable Facts of Impermanence, Suffering and Emptiness.  We've looked at the Four Noble Truths that (1) life is suffering, (2) suffering is caused by desire, (3) suffering ends when we let go of desire, and (4) the way to end desire can be found along the Eightfold Path.  So, what is the Eightfold Path?

1. Right View (or Knowledge) - Right View is, in it's simplest form, an understanding of the Four Noble Truths.  In essence, it means to acknowledge that humans are both social and rational animals (well, sort of).  As such, we have obligations to ourselves and others, both and either of which can lead to suffering.  To understand the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the methodology to bring about this cessation is the meaning of Right View.

2. Right Resolve (or Aspiration) - Right Resolve works on two levels.  At the more basic, it means resolving to be harmless to others and refraining from any ill-will.  On a higher level, it means to understand that everyone and everything is impermanent, suffers and causes suffering and is without a Self.

3. Right Speech - This one is reasonably self-explanatory.  It means to abstain from lying, divisive or abusive speech and malicious gossip.  On a higher plane, it refers to abstaining from speech altogether unless the words are beneficial to others.  It is intriguing that profanity is not here discussed, although it is an obvious indication of wrong speech.  I am uncertain whether this is because, as a language, Sanskrit has no taboo words and phrases or because the Buddha thought refraining from profanity is sufficiently self-evident as to go without saying.  I'm hoping that some day, for me at least, Right Speech means never uttering a sentence that includes the word "I."

4. Right Behavior (or Action) - Again, on the simplest level, this is pretty straightforward, and, more than any other step on the Path, it can be found, to a large extent, to echo the Jewish Ten Commandments.  Right Action means do not kill, do not steal, do not lie, etc.  As in the Seven Deadly Sins of Christianity, do not be gluttonous, vain, covetous, etc.

Right Behavior can also be seen as Right Appetite.  While seeking virtue, one must also control one's appetites, eating only as much as one needs to remain healthy, engaging only in such sexual practices as are appropriate in the marital bedchamber, avoiding sloth by exercising regularly, and abstaining from drunkenness or any behaviors that may be harmful to oneself, others or our mother Earth.

5. Right Livelihood - For Buddhists monks, this means to live from begging.  For others, it means to be involved in occupations that do not harm others.  Examples of livelihoods to avoid according to Buddhist teaching include trades in weapons, living beings, meat, alcohol or poison.  Later writers have included further bans such as prostitution and what today we would call predatory bankers or loan sharks.  One can easily imagine other forbidden occupations inasmuch as they may harm others, be it physically, psychologically, or economically.

6. Right Effort - The Buddha - as well as all great thinkers throughout history - was well aware that none of the goals that adherents are encouraged to pursue will come easily.  Therefore, a great deal of stress is placed on the human will.  Virtues must be developed, passions must be curbed, and the evil mind must be transcended.  All of these pursuits will come at a tremendous cost to the human will.  Right Effort means staying focused on the Path and, when one slips, avoiding discouragement but determining to redouble one's efforts.

7. Right Mindfulness - The Dammapada - the most sacred of Buddhist texts - opens with the line "All we are is the result of what we have thought."  Basically, the authentic and abiding elements of life must be separated from the trivial.  One cannot allow oneself to be distracted from the holy by the mundanities of day-to-day existence. I was recently invited into a political debate.  My interlocutor asked whether I was a Liberal or Conservative.  I responded, "I really don't have time to concern myself with the politics of a nation.  I'm too busy trying to build a Kingdom." I hoped that my interlocutor found this to be an example of Right Mindfulness.

8. Right Absorption (or Concentration or Samadhi) - The final step on the Eightfold Path is the most difficult, both to achieve and to understand, or even describe.  Samadhi means to collect, to bring together, to unify the mind, to abide calmly.  Johannes Bronkhorst notes that neither the Four Noble Truths nor the Eightfold Path provide details of right samadhi.  The Saccavibhanga Sutta gives us clues with the following passage (roughly translated):

(a) Here, the monk, detached from sense-desires, detached from unwholesome states, enters and remains in the first jhana (level of concentration), in which there is applied and sustained thinking, together with joy and pleasure born of detachment; (b) and through the subsiding of applied and sustained thinking, with the gaining of inner stillness and oneness of mind, he enters and remains in the second jhana, which is without applied and sustained thinking, and in which there are joy and pleasure born of concentration; (c) and through the fading of joy, he remains equanimous, mindful and aware, and he experiences in his body the pleasure of which the Noble Ones say: "equanimous, mindful and dwelling in pleasure," and thus he enters and remains in the third jhana; (d) and through the giving up of pleasure and pain, and through the previous disappearance of happiness and sadness, he enters and remains in the fourth jhana, which is without pleasure and pain, and in which there is pure equanimity and mindfulness.

Huston Smith describes Right Absorption thus: "Like a camera whose focal length had been out of adjustment, the mind had been ill-focused for reality - until at last the stupendous vision is sharp and distinct.  With the final 'extirpation of delusion, craving, and hostility' the mind realizes that neither it nor reality is as thought, for in the fierce combustion of immediate awareness thought itself has been annihilated.  In its true state, the mind rests." (The Religions of Man, Mentor Books, 1958)

I started looking for something about four years ago.  I think I stumbled onto this about 5-6 months ago.  I'm definitely in the first jhana, with occasional glimpses into the second.  From everything I've heard and read, I can count on reaching Right Absorption - the fourth jhana - in about another 9-10 years.  I'll try to remember to continue posting my progress.

Pax

P.S.  If you happen to be a Christian already and object to my use of Buddhist teachings, read Ephesians 4 & 5.  In those chapters, Paul generates something almost identical to the preceding list.