The Noble Eightfold Path explained ☸️🛞

(The East Made Simple) The Ennobling Eightfold Path of Buddhism explained: What each step (path factor) actually means:

1. right view
2. right intention
3. right speech
4. right action
5. right livelihood
6. right effort
7. right mindfulness
8. right meditation

COLD: Walk for Peace (Buddha's Wisdom)

(WRAL) Walk for Peace in NC: Raliegh residents brave cold to see monks

Why millions crying watching Aloka and 19 monks | Truth moves America

As protests [against Dictator Trump] turn violent, Buddhist monks walk together for peace

120 DAYS. 2,300 MILES. ONE MEAL. BUDDHIST MONKS' WALK FOR PEACE changing AMERICA

(Buddha's Wisdom) Jan. 22, 2026: 🙏 THEY WALK PEACEFULLY WHILE THE WORLD KEEPS FIGHTING.

In October 2025, twenty Theravada Buddhist monks began the Walk for Peace, a 120-day barefoot pilgrimage from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, DC.

Buddhist 'Walk for Peace': Doctor of anthropology shares insights

Jesus was Buddhist monk

Walking in noble silence, carrying nothing but robes and alms bowls, depending entirely on strangers for food and shelter, these Theravāda monks (bhikkhus) are practicing a 2,600-year-old tradition on modern American highways.

As of January 2026, they're passing through the Carolinas, approaching their destination at the U.S. Capitol on February 13th, 2026.

This is not a protest, not a march, but an ancient Buddhist practice brought into the modern world.

DISCOVER

• Why Buddhist monks are walking 2,300 miles in silence while the world keeps fighting
• How this pilgrimage traces back to the historical Buddha’s original way of life
• The ancient sane ascetic practices (dhutaṅgas) these monks follow (one meal per day, sleeping outdoors, walking barefoot)
• How Aloka, their rescue dog, became a viral symbol when he needed surgery in Charlotte, NC
• The deeper meaning of dāna (sharing, non-clinging, letting go, generosity) in a divided society
• Why this walk matters now as U.S. war, political tension, and global unrest escalate

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 Two Symbols of Peace
• 01:49 The Monastery That Moves
• 08:37 The Teacher Who Never Stopped Moving
• 12:23 Walking Through Fire
• 16:13 Two Symbols
• 19:30 What Peace Becomes

FOLLOW, SUPPORT WALK FOR PEACE 🌍

• Social media:
• Facebook (walkforpeaceusa)
• Instagram (Walk): walkforpeace.usa
• Instagram (Aloka): alokathepeacedog
• Track The Journey:
• Overview map: walkforpeace.short.gy/overview...
• Live tracker: walkforpeace.short.gy/live-map
• Updates and info (official blog): dhammacetiya.com

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#WalkForPeace, #BuddhistMonks, #TheravadaBuddhism, #Pilgrimage, #PeaceWalk, #BuddhistTeachings, #NobleEightfoldPath, #Mindfulness, #Compassion, #ModernBuddhism, #America2026, #SpiritualJourney, #Dhutanga, #buddhistpractices

The Three Buddhisms: A Great Divide

The THREE SCHOOLS of BUDDHISM explained: Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna

(Buddha's Wisdom) May 25, 2025: 🔍 THE 3 PATHS TO ENLIGHTENMENT: WHICH ONE SPEAKS TO YOU?

How did one teacher's simple message create three different paths to enlightenment? Three monks sit in meditation...but they’re not seeking the same thing.

One follows the Buddha’s exact words (Theravada). Another vows to save every living being (Mahayana). The third uses esoteric [Vedic, Brahminical, Hindu, tantric] practices hidden for centuries.

How did Buddhism split into three radically different paths — and what does it mean for our spiritual journey today?

(Holy Koolaid) The SURPRISING reason most religions FAIL

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 - Three monks, different goals
• 03:16 - Chapter 1: Theravada - The Way of the Elders
• 07:25 - Chapter 2: Mahayana - The Great Vehicle
• 11:33 - Chapter 3: Vajrayana - The Diamond Vehicle
• 15:44 - Chapter 4: When Buddhism meets itself
• 18:53 - The One Mind: Which path did the Buddha intend?

DISCOVER

• Why Buddhism split into three schools after the Buddha's passing into final nirvana
• The dangerous mission that saved Theravada Buddhism from extinction
• How Avalokiteshvara's broken heart created the Mahayana revolution
• The secret tantric techniques that promise enlightenment in a single lifetime
• Why mixing Buddhist traditions might be exactly what the modern world needs [at least that's what we as Americans seem to think]

🙏 Subscribe to Buddha’s Wisdom for weekly stories, history, and teachings that bring ancient insight into modern life. Join community: Instagram: buddhaswizdom. Facebook: buddhaswizdom. Support the channel: buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom

SOURCES

• The Pali canon (Theravada texts)
• Lotus Sutra (Mahayana literature)
• Tibetan Book of the Dead (Vajrayana teachings) 
• Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction by Damien Keown
• The Heart of Buddhist Meditation by Ven. Nyanaponika Thera

#buddhism #theravada #mahayana #vajrayana #buddhawisdom #spiritualjourney #mindfulness #buddhistexplained #easternphilosophy

• Buddha's Wisdom, May 25, 2025; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What comes before mindfulness? Right effort

What is the meaning of Right Effort in Buddhism? (LotusBuddhas)

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What Comes Before Mindfulness? Right Effort and the Buddhist Path to Enlightenment

Effective Effort: How to Inner Garden

Western Theravada Buddhist monk Ajahn Sona (the abbot of Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery, British Columbia) published a paperback late in 2023. It has 5 out of 5 stars with 8 ratings, asking: What comes before the practice of mindfulness?

It's not a trick question, even though mindfulness is always in season, always of benefit [if done correctly and not practiced incorrectly while thinking it's mindfulness, which is where people get in trouble.]

Ajahn Sona answers just as one might think the Buddha would. Right Effort comes before mindfulness.

• 

  Noble (Aryan) = "Enlightening"

  [Only this isn't exactly true. The Noble or Ennobling (Enlightening) Eightfold Path, in spite of its name, is not a step-by-step guide to practice. One does not one day wake up, develop Right View, and then carry on through the remaining seven factors. It's nothing like that. Every factor supports every other factor. They co-arise, to a greater or lesser degree, simultaneously. They interdepend. They mutually support. So just as one is practicing fourfold Right Effort -- one is carrying on mindfully and boosting all of the other factors right at that moment.

1. the effort to prevent the arising of unwholesome states (eliminating harmful and unwholesome mental states that have already arisen);
2. the effort to generate wholesome states (like the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, guarding the sense doors, restraining the sense faculties);
3. the effort to maintain wholesome mental states that have already arisen;
4. the effort to keep these states free of delusion, to develop, increase, cultivate, and perfect them.]

Back cover of book

Right Effort is a sadly neglected factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. There are endless retreats about "mindfulness," but the sixth factor of the path, Right Effort, is woefully underappreciated and not talked about enough in Buddhist circles.

It's one of the most inspiring and beautiful of the path factors, full of so many clear instructions about how to navigate in the inner world and in the outer world.

Ajahn Sona teaching at Birken Forest

This Dharma book is an attempt to bring Right Effort out of the shadows of its glamorous sister, beautiful Right Mindfulness, by going back to the basic sutras of the Pali language canon and examining the language of the Buddha around this essential training.

[Remember, if one were practicing Right Effort correctly, one would be practicing mindfulness. and the practice of Right Mindfulness is essential to the Buddha's practice as a whole.]

• BOOK: What Comes Before Mindfulness? Right Effort and the Buddhist Path to Enlightenment
• Who is Ajahn Sona? Books, biography, latest update
• Ajahn Sona (Birken); Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

More popular, Taylor or Trump? (comedy)

Rising (The Hill); Jimmy Kimmel (ABC); Seth Auberon, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

It's wall to wall "Tralor" (Travis+Taylor), conspiracy, Superbowl, and a big Grammy win.

Rapist ex-Pres. Trump is a loser who keeps losing. Now he's entering this popularity contest?

• Trump’s turmoil: Fearing Taylor Swift’s influence and potential Biden endorsement

Trump thinks he’s more popular than Taylor Swift, senators grill social media CEOs, Elmo goes viral

(

More popular, Nazi Barbie or Wannabe Adolf?

Jimmy Kimmel Live) Jan. 31, 2024: Cases of syphilis (the STI) in the United States skyrocketed to the highest numbers since the 1950s, in Washington DC they held the annual lambasting of the social media CEOs event, and most of the senators are too old to figure any of it out, a ruling is expected any day now on how much ex-Pres. Don John Trump will have to shell out as he loses yet again in his the multi-million dollar fraud case, Trump is reportedly telling people he’s more popular than Taylor "Nazi Barbie" Swift, we check in with Sesame Street's Elmo after he went viral for asking everyone on Twitter (X) how they were holding up, and Jimmy plays a new round of “Foreigner or Not?”

MAGA(ots) nuts melt down over TrayLor (Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce), Trump goes totally off the rails, and A.I. Joe Biden

(Jimmy Kimmel Live) Jan. 30, 2024: Guillermo celebrated his birthday in Puerto Rico over the weekend, there is a bunch of right wing crazy talk about Taylor "Nazi Barbie" Swift and Pres. Joe Biden in relation to the Super Bowl and 2024 election, Trump has gone completely off the rails, he is very proud of the fact that he is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize (which anyone can be), Biden’s Super PAC is said to be planning to spend $250 million dollars on ads in the three months leading up to the election, Jimmy Kimmel is making waves in Canada surrounding his Honorary Mayorship of Dildo, and a number of businesses are using what they call “dynamic pricing” to charge more when demand is high.

Trump’s courtroom confusion, Jimmy actually agrees with Ted Cruz, and a birthday prank on Guillermo!

(Jimmy Kimmel Live) Jan. 25, 2024: Jimmy tells a harrowing story involving his newly adopted dog Todd getting sick all over the house, Los Angeles had a 4.2 earthquake last night, Donald Trump testified in the defamation trial related to his rape of E. Jean Carroll, Eric Trump was on TV with Hannity where he set a new world record for namedropping daddy, Trump is bigly upset that Nikki Haley hasn’t dropped out of the race, he claimed that anyone that makes a contribution to her campaign will be permanently banned from MAGA Camp, Jimmy agrees with Ted Cruz for the first time ever, and he sends Guillermo on a special and memorable experience for his birthday.

Subscribe to get the latest #Kimmel: bit.ly/JKLSubscribe. Visit the Jimmy Kimmel Live website: bit.ly/JKLWebsite #Kimmel

Trump rocked by nightmare testimony

Brian Tyler Cohen, MSNBC, 11/15/23; Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Trump rocked with nightmare consequences of leaked testimony

(MSNBC) Nov. 15, 2023: America's Netanyahu, Ex-Pres. Donald Trump, is confronted with the dangerous consequences of leaked testimony by former MAGA lawyers Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.

This can't be the end. I still have a billion.

The new videos obtained by ABC News shows them detailing Trump’s criminal plot to overthrow the election to Georgia prosecutors. Both Ellis and Powell pleaded guilty in the Georgia RICO case and agreed to cooperate fully -- meaning they will testify AGAINST Trump at trial.

MSNBC’s Brian Tyler Cohen breaks down the stunning videos and why it's likely a "fatal blow" for Trump. For more of Cohen’s collab with MSNBC click here: msnbc.com/btc. Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc. #msnbc #trump #briantylercohen

The problem with beauty (sutra)

Samuel Beal (trans.) Dhammapada Verses and Their Origin Stories, "33. Advantageous Service" (SuttaCentral.net) edited by Dhr. Seven, Sayalay, Wisdom Quarterly

Beauty? It's only skin deep. But that's pretty deep when you're beautiful (D.M.I.).

.

What's the big deal? So what if I'm pretty?

Formerly the Buddha, along with his followers, having gone to the kingdom of Kosambī, took up residence in the monastic compound (vihara) called Mi-yin ("lovely sound"). There he preached the Dharma for the sake of [unseen] "shining ones" (devas) and humans.

At that time the king of the country was Udayana (Yau-tien), whose queen was of remarkably pure character. Having heard that the Buddha had come to his kingdom, the king and the queen, with her attendants, went to visit him. Having paid him the usual  respectful salutations, they sat down and the Buddha, for their sake, began to teach to show the impermanence, disappointment, and vanity of things, from which all our misery comes.

Then he illustrated how heavenly rebirths were the reward of merit (virtue) and hellish ones the result of demerit (unwholesome actions). In consequence of this discourse (sutra) both the king and queen came to accept the Five Precepts of a lay-disciple then returned to the palace.

Now at this time there was a certain Brahmin [caste man] named Kih-sing ("lucky star"), who had a daughter incomparable for beauty, just 16 years old. On her account the Brahmin, for 90 days, exposed a heap of 1,000 gold masurans and challenged anyone to find a single fault in her so that whoever could do so would get the gold. No one was able to, so desiring to find someone fit for her to marry, the Brahmin again challenged anyone to bring a man equal to his daughter in grace. To him he would give his daughter as a wife.

Now, having heard that the family of the shaman Gautama, known as the Shakyians [Scythians], were remarkable for their beauty and therefore fit to possess his daughter, he came to the place where the Buddha was staying. Taking his daughter with him, after the usual salutations, he said:

"My daughter is extremely beautiful, unequalled in womanly grace. You also, Gautama, are remarkable for your beauty. You may, therefore, have my daughter and make her your companion (wife).”

The Buddha's beauty

The beauty of a buddha is incomparable.

The Buddha replied: “Your daughter's beauty, sir, is according to your own estimation, whereas my beauty is according to that of the buddhas. My beauty and a woman's beauty are wholly different. Your daughter's loveliness, sir, is like that of the picture on the jar (vessel), in the middle of which there is only filth and excrement. How can that be considered as 'beauty' that belongs only to the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, the body? It is this 'beauty' of external (outside) form that causes disappointment, overturns families, destroys kinship, sacrifices relationships, kills children. All of these come from this [love of] womanly beauty. But I am a shaman. I stand by myself and would rather endure any calamity than comply with your request. Sir, you may go. I decline your offer.”

Reaction

Shhh, what the old king doesn't know won't...

At this the Brahmin, who was very irate, departed. Then, coming into the presence of the king, he expanded on his daughter's beauty and offered her to the king. The king, very pleased at the 16-year-old's appearance, accepted her and made her his second queen.

He weighed her down with presents and jewelry. Nevertheless, his mind began to fill with jealous thoughts on account of the young beauty, and discontentment and dislike grew for his first queen.

This at last persuaded him to send for her on a certain occasion to indulge her fancy (knowing that she would not come). When the king sent for her, the first queen declined to appear on the grounds that she was engaged in some spiritual exercise (fasting) and so for several occasions.

The king, enraged by that, sent a man with a rope to drag her into his presence. When she was brought in, he took his bow and arrow and shot her through the body. But the arrow he discharged returned again towards the king and did her no harm. And so it happened again and again.

At this the king, filled with astonishment (awe and fear), said to her: “By what magic power have you been able to bring this about?”

She replied: “I have but taken guidance (sarana) in the Three Gems and the whole day have been engaged in spiritual observances (fasts), and on this account the World-Honored One [the Buddha] has protected me.”

At this the king exclaimed, “Wonderful!” Dismissing the beautiful, young second queen, he sent her back to her parents and re-established the first queen in undisputed authority. Then, with the queen's attendants, he went to see the Buddha and, after due salutations, he explained to him what had happened, at which the Buddha (after a short sutra) repeated these lines:

“If heaven were to rain down the seven precious items, yet the covetous person would not be satisfied. That person's pleasure would be little but the sorrow much. The wise person, possessed of virtue, although possessing the pleasures of heaven, would wisely let them go and not covet them. One who finds happiness in removing thoughts of lustful enjoyment, this person is the [real] disciple of the Buddha.”

Then the Buddha explained to the king the inevitable result of an unwholesome life: it would redound 10,000 times more miserably on the guilty person, while the reward of spiritual exertions and self-improvement [unselfishness] would certainly be the enjoyment of heaven.

Having spoken, the king and queen and their attendants realized perfect release (enlightenment) and became partakers of the Paths.

The best way to get DRUNK

Ac. Mahaviirananda Avadhuta (The Tantric Guru: Enchanting Stories of His Life, p. 251, Ananda Marga Publications, 2011); Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ananda Purnima

This better be good, cuz I'm not in the mood.

A student from Muzzafarpur in Bihar state, India [where Prince Siddhartha became the Buddha, "the Awakened One"] went to the Ananda Marga's meeting place in Beautiful Town.

Many devotees were around "Baba" [Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji, born P. K. Sarkar, the Indian philosopher who developed Progressive Utilization Theory].
 

Baba told him, "Come close to me." Then he said, "What do you drink in your hostel? Why do you keep a bottle [of alcohol] hidden on your bookshelf? Nobody knows about it, but I know. Move closer, near to me."
 

Then as he touched the student's trikuti [forehead], the student went into samadhi [trance, mental unification, collectedness, stillness, deep concentration].
 

Where exactly is the trikuti or confluence to three sacred "rivers"?

Thanks but I prefer water to immortality.

Baba explained, "During samadhi [a coherent and blissful state of mind] there is a hormone [DMT, melatonin?] secretion from the pineal gland. It is amrta rasa [amata, ambrosia, a "nectar of immortality"], a nectarean hormone. The student is not senseless; rather, he is in samadhi.

"After a while his senses will become active again and when he regains normal consciousness his eyes will be red, as if he is drunk. This is divine intoxication, not wine intoxication."

After 20 minutes the student opened his eyes. Everybody could see that they were reddish as if he were drunk.

The mysterious pineal gland for endo-DMT

Baba asked him, "How do you feel? Are you enjoying it?"

Baba then added, "The student's state is a thousand times better than being in a wine-drunken state. When people drink wine their senses become dull, and their minds become more crude and blind [obtunded].

Ananda Marga devotees dance, sing kirtan

"But when devotees go into samadhi, they go into a fine [sublime] state of subtlety. And after, when they become normal again, they are fully refreshed."

Baba requested the student, "Promise me not to drink wine again." Then Baba promised him, "If you do more spiritual exercises (sadhana), you will be able to enjoy samadhi.

"The hormonal secretion from the pineal gland will give you more concentration of mind and you will be able to study well, whereas after drinking wine, you lose your sensory awareness and feel sleepy. Then you miss your studies and waste you father's money by purchasing wine. For the blissful experience of samadhi, you don't have to spend a single [cent]."

Five Contemplations (sutra)

Seth Auberon, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; based on original translation by Ven. Thanissaro (trans.) Upajjhatthana Sutra: Subjects for Contemplation (AN 5.57)

"There are five things [remembrances] one should reflect on frequently, whether one is a woman or a man, a layperson or ordained. What are the five?

1. 'I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond (transcended) aging.' This is the first contemplation one should reflect on frequently, whether one is a woman or a man, layperson or ordained.
2. 'I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness.' ...
3. 'I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death.' ...
4. 'I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.' ...
5. 'I am the owner of my karma (actions), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator [judge]. Whatever I do, for good or harm, to that will I fall heir.' ...

"These are the five contemplations one should reflect on frequently, whether one is a woman or a man, layperson or ordained.

1.
"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one frequently reflect... 'I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging'?

"There are beings who are intoxicated with youth. Because of intoxication with youth, they conduct themselves in an unprofitable (harmful, unskillful, unwholesome) way by body... speech... and mind. But when they frequently reflect, such intoxication with youth will either be entirely abandoned or begin to weaken...
 
2.

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one frequently reflect... 'I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness'?

"There are beings who are intoxicated with health. Because of that intoxication, they conduct themselves in an unprofitable way by body... speech... and mind. But when they frequently reflect, such intoxication will either be entirely abandoned or begin to weaken...
 
3.

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one frequently reflect... 'I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death'?

"There are beings who are intoxicated with life. Because of that intoxication, they conduct themselves in an unprofitable way by body... speech... and mind. But when they frequently reflect, such intoxication will either be entirely abandoned or begin to weaken...
 
4.
"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one frequently reflect... 'I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me'?

"There are beings who feel desire and passion for things they find dear and appealing. Because of that passion, they conduct themselves in an unprofitable way by body... speech... and mind. But when they frequently reflect, that desire and passion for the things they find dear and appealing will either be entirely abandoned or begin to weaken...
 
5.

"Now, based on what line of reasoning should one frequently reflect... 'I am the owner of my (karma) actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator.

"Whatever I do, for good or harm, to that will I fall heir'? There are beings who conduct themselves in an unprofitable way by body... speech... and mind. But when they frequently reflect, that conduct of body, speech, and mind will either be entirely abandoned or begin to weaken...
 
Further contemplation

1. "Now, a disciple of the noble ones considers this: 'I am not the only one subject to aging, who has not transcended (gone beyond) aging. To the extent that there are beings -- past and future, passing away and rearising (being reborn) -- all living beings are subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging.'

Path arises

2. "When one frequently reflects on this, the [factors of the] path arise. One sticks with the path, develops it, cultivates it. As one sticks with the path, develops it, and cultivates it, the fetters are abandoned, the obsessions destroyed.
 
"Further, a disciple of the noble ones considers this:

• 3. 'I am not the only one subject to illness, who has not gone beyond illness.'...
• 4. 'I am not the only one subject to death, who has not gone beyond death.'...
• 5. 'I am not the only one who will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.'...

"A disciple of the noble ones considers this: 'I am not the only one who is owner of my (karma) actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator; who -- whatever I do, for good or harm, to that will I fall heir.

"To the extent that there are living beings -- past and future, passing away and rearising -- all beings are the owner of their (karma) actions, heir to their actions, born of their actions, related through their actions, and have their actions as their arbitrator. Whatever they do, for good or harm, to that will they fall heir.'

"When one frequently reflects on this, the [factors of the] path arise. One sticks with the path, develops it, cultivates it. As one sticks with the path, develops it, and cultivates it, the fetters are abandoned, the obsessions destroyed."

The Buddha

"Subject to birth, subject to aging, subject to death, uninstructed-ordinary people are repelled by those who suffer from that to which they are also subject.

"And if I were to be repelled by beings subject to these things, it would not be fitting for me, living as they do. As I maintained this attitude -- knowing the Dharma -- I overcame all intoxication with health, youth, and life as one who sees renunciation (letting go, detachment, non-clinging) as rest.

For me, energy arose, nirvana was clearly glimpsed. There is now no way I could delight in sensual pleasures. Having fulfilled the high life, I will not return [to the low, base].

• FREE: "Five Remembrances" Meditation (Yoga Journal)
• Dharma Punx daylong meditation retreat on "The Five Remembrances" (Against the Stream, Hollywood)

Sex and the Noble Eightfold PATH factors

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly: Wiki edit

This is the Middle Way, the Path the Buddha, Sage of the Shakya Clan, showed.

THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH

This is the direct way to the end of all suffering once and for all:
  

What is the Path?

1. RIGHT VIEW (sammā-diṭṭhi) "right understanding" or "right comprehension," the grasping that our karma (actions) have consequences, that death is not the end, that our beliefs also have consequences after death (in the next and in many future lives), and that the Buddha followed and taught a successful path out of this world and out of the other world (blissful and miserable planes).

The Mahācattārīsaka Sutra (Pāli canon), describes the first seven practices as requisites of right samadhi, starting with right view. But actually all of the limbs are co-factors developed more or less simultaneously; they are mutually-supportive and culminate in the goal. They begin with right view:

"Of those, [mundane] right view is the forerunner...And what is the right view with defilements, meritorious, resulting in gains? 'There is [a result of] what is given, what is offered, what is sacrificed [givto pren up]. There are fruits, and results of skillful and unskillful actions. There is this world and the other world[s]. There is mother and father [who are different for an individual in terms of the significance of karma, skillful and unskillful, towards them]. There are spontaneously reborn beings [without mother and father]; there are wandering-ascetics and Brahmins [temple priests] who , faring rightly and practicing rightly, proclaim this world and the other[s] after having directly known and realized them for themselves.' This is the right view with defilements, meritorious, resulting in gains..." 

2. RIGHT INTENTION (sammā sankappa) "right thought" or "right aspiration," the resolve to renounce the worldly life [let go internally though not necessarily externally] and dedicate oneself to a spiritual pursuit. "What is right intention? Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness" (MN III.248).

Like right view, this factor has two levels. At the mundane level, the thought or intention includes non-harming (ahimsa) and refraining from ill will (avyabadha) toward any being, as this accrues karma and leads to a miserable rebirth. At the supramundane level, the factor of right intention includes a resolve to see things as they truly are, namely, as ultimately impermanent, suffering (disappointing), and impersonal (without self).... 

Even seen still not believed.

3. RIGHT SPEECH (sammā-vācā) in most Buddhist texts is presented as four things that a wise person would abstain from, such as is stated in the Pali canon thus:

"What is right speech? Abstaining from perjury, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, and from useless chatter: This is called 'right speech.' "

Instead of the usual "abstaining and refraining from wrong speech" terminology, a few discourses such as the Samaññaphala Sutra and Kevata Sutra in "The Collection of Lengthy Discourses" (Digha Nikaya) explain this virtue in an active sense, after stating it in the form of an abstention. For example, the Fruits of Recluseship Discourse (Samaññaphala Sutra) states that a part of a Buddhist monastic's virtue is that "one abstains from false speech [referring to perjury or bearing false witness].

One speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is firm, reliable, no deceiver of the world." Similarly, the virtue of abstaining from divisive speech is explained as delighting in creating concord. The virtue of abstaining from abusive speech is explained in this sutra as including affectionate and polite speech that is pleasing to most people. The virtue of abstaining from useless chatter is explained as speaking what is connected with the Dharma's goal of liberation.

In the "Fearless Young King Discourse" (Abhayarajakumara Sutra), the Buddha explains the virtue of right speech in different scenarios, based on its truth-value, utility-value, and emotional content. The Buddha or Wayfarer (Tathagata), states in the "Fearless Discourse" (Abhaya Sutra), never speaks anything that is unfactual or factual, untrue or true, disagreeable or agreeable, if it is unbeneficial and unconnected to the goals.miscond

Further, adds this discourse, the Buddha speaks the factual and the true, but -- in the event that it is disagreeable and unendearing -- only if it is beneficial to goals, but with a sense of proper timeliness.

Additionally, adds the Abhaya Sutra, the Buddha only speaks with a sense of proper timeliness even when what he speaks is the factual, the true, the agreeable, the endearing, and what is beneficial to goals.

 

The Buddha explains right speech in the Pali canon, according to Ganeri, as never speaking something that is not beneficial but only speaking what is true and beneficial, "when the circumstances are right, whether they are welcome or not."

4. RIGHT ACTION or KARMA (sammā-kammanta) is, like right speech, expressed as abstaining but in terms of bodily action. In the Pali canon, this path factor is stated as:

"What is right action? Abstaining from taking the lives of living beings, abstaining from taking what is not given, abstaining from taking sexual liberties. This is called right action."

First human depictions of the Buddha from Mes Aynak, Afghanistan

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The injunction to preserve life (not killing) is a precept in Buddhist texts that applies to ALL living beings, explains Christopher Gowans, not just human beings. Bhikkhu Bodhi agrees, clarifying that the more accurate rendering of the Pali canon is an injunction on "taking the life of any sentient being," which includes human beings, animals, birds, insects, but excludes plants because they are not considered sentient beings [even if they are associated with devas that may inhabit them].

Furthermore, adds Ven. Bodhi, this precept refers to intentional deprivation of life, as well as any form of intentional harming or torturing of any sentient being. This moral or virtue in early Buddhist texts, both in the context of harming or killing of animals and human beings, is similar to the nonharming (ahimsa) precept found in texts of other dharmas, particularly Jainism and Hinduism, and it has been a subject of significant debate by various Buddhist traditions.

 

The injunction against stealing in the Pali canon is an abstention from intentionally taking what is not voluntarily offered by the person to whom that property belongs. This includes, explains Ven.  Bodhi, taking by stealth, by force, by fraud, or by deceit. Both the intention and the act matters, as this precept is grounded on the impact on one's karma.

Sex versus Sexual Misconduct

Wait, are we allowed to talk about sex?

The injunction against taking sexual liberties (sexual misconduct or kamesu micchacara) in the Noble Eightfold Path, explains Tilmann Vetter, refers to "not performing sexual acts [with the ten forbidden persons who are off limits]." This virtue is more generically explained in the Cunda Kammaraputta Sutra, which teaches that one must abstain from all sensual misconduct, including getting sexually involved with anyone who is under the protection of:

1. mother
2. father
3. guardians
4. siblings
5. one's community
6. spouse (a married person)
7. betrothal or promise (garlanded) to another
8. fiancee
9. a convict [determined to be off limits by law]
10. or by dharma [duty, social obligations, notions of right and wrong in society].

What do you think? - I don't know.

For Buddhist monastics [novices, Eight- and Ten-Precept trainees, and those intensively meditating on retreat], abstaining from sexual misconduct means complete celibacy, explains Christopher Gowans, while for ordinary lay Buddhists this means avoiding adultery [which is phrased as sexual contact with someone who is married as well as infidelity toward one's spouse] as well as other forms of sensual misconduct.
 

We're lay-Buddhists, right? - Yeah, lay, baby.

Later Buddhist texts, explains Ven. Bodhi, state that the injunction against sexual conduct for lay Buddhists includes any sexual involvement with someone married, a girl or woman protected by her parents or relatives, or someone prohibited by dharma conventions (such as relatives, nuns and others). 

5. RIGHT LIVELIHOOD (sammā-ājīva) is nonharming with regard to supporting oneself, a precept mentioned in many early Buddhist texts, such as the Mahācattārīsaka Sutra in "The Middle-Length Discourses" (Majjhima Nikaya) as follows:

"What is right livelihood? Right livelihood, I say, is of two sorts. There is right livelihood with defilements, meritorious, resulting in gains. There is right livelihood that is noble, free of defilements, transcendent, a factor of the Path.

"What is the right livelihood with defilements, meritorious, resulting in gains? There is the case where a follower of the noble ones [enlightened persons from stream-enterers to arhats] abandons 'wrong' livelihood and maintains life by right livelihood. This is the right livelihood with defilements, meritorious, resulting in gains.

"What is the right livelihood that is noble, free of defilements, transcendent, a factor of the Path? The abstaining, abandoning, abstinence, and avoidance of wrong livelihood in one developing the noble path whose mind is noble, whose mind is without defilements, who is fully possessed of the noble Path."...

The early canonical texts state right livelihood as avoiding and abstaining from wrong livelihood, but this shorthand formulation appeared to early English and European translators as tautological (completely obvious and redundant). This virtue is further explained in Buddhist texts, explains Vetter, as "living from [alms gathering], but not accepting everything and not possessing more than is strictly necessary."

For lay Buddhists, explains Harvey, this precept means that one 's livelihood avoid causing suffering to any sentient beings by cheating them or harming or killing them in any way.

 

The "Numerical Discourses" (Anguttara Nikaya III.208), explains Harvey, asserts that right livelihood means not trading in weapons, living beings [slavery, prostitution, human trafficking], meat [slaughtering or raising for slaughter], alcoholic drinks, or poisons.

The same text (AN V.177) asserts that this applies to lay Buddhists. This has meant, explains Harvey, that raising and trading cattle livestock for slaughter is a breach of the "right livelihood" precept in the Buddhist tradition, and Buddhist countries steer clear of the mass slaughter houses [abattoirs] found in Western countries.

We can all meditate like monastics -- with knowledge, practice, and persistence.

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6. RIGHT EFFORT (sammā-vāyāma) is presented as consisting of four parts in the Pali canon, such as the "Exposition on Truth Discourse" (Sacca-vibhanga Sutra) as follows:

"What is right effort? Here the monastic [meditator] arouses will, puts forth effort, generates energy, exerts mind, and strives to prevent the arising of unskillful and unwholesome mental states that have not yet arisen.

"One arouses will...and strives to eliminate unskillful and unwholesome mental states that have already arisen. One arouses will...and strives to generate wholesome mental states that have not yet arisen.

"One arouses will, puts forth effort, generates energy, exerts mind, and strives to maintain wholesome mental states that have arisen, to keep them free of delusion, to develop, increase, cultivate, and perfect them. This is called 'right' effort."

Unwholesome (akusala) states are described in Buddhist texts as relating to thoughts, emotions, intentions, particularly the Five Hindrances (panca nivarana)

1. sensual craving
2. ill will of any kind
3. restlessness
4. drowsiness-sluggishness
5. skeptical doubts about the path.

Only persistence pays off on the Path.

Of these, Buddhist tradition considers thoughts of sensual craving and ill will (attraction and aversion, greed and hatred) as needing more right effort.

Sensual craving to be eliminated by right effort includes anything related to pleasing and attractive sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. Ill will (hate) to be eliminated by right effort includes all forms of aversion including hatred, anger, resentment towards anything or anyone. 

7. RIGHT MINDFULNESS (sammā-sati) in the "Exposition of Truth" (Sacca-vibhanga Sutra) is explained as follows:

"What is right mindfulness? Here the meditator remains contemplating [being mindful of rather than thinking about] the body in the body, resolute, aware, and mindful, having set aside worldly desire and dejection; one remains contemplating feelings in feelings; one remains contemplating mental states in mental states (dhammas, dharmas, phenomena related to the Five Aggregates of Clinging]; one remains contemplating mental objects [enumerated in the sutra] in mental objects, resolute, aware, and mindful, having set aside worldly desire and dejection. This is called 'right' mindfulness."

This factor in the Noble Eightfold Path helps the meditator/monastic to guard the mind/heart rather than (as was common before meditation) endlessly craving and clinging to any transitory state or thing, by complete and constant awareness of phenomena (dhammas, khandha, skandhas) as ultimately

1. impermanent,
2. disappointing, and
3. impersonal (not-self).

The most detailed discussion of the right mindfulness in the Pali canon is in the "Setting Up of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse" (Satipatthana Sutra), where the emphasis is to consider the four subjects of contemplation -- body, feelings (pleasant, painful, and neutral sensations), mind, and phenomena -- as just that and nothing more rather than reflexively ascribing to them any substantiality or "eternal self."

According to Theravada Buddhism, these "four contemplations" through the systematic setting up and practice of right mindfulness lead to liberating insight into the Three Marks or Characteristics of Existence: (1) impermanence (anicca), (2) unsatisfactoriness (dukkha), and (3) not-self (anatta). And they cover the Five Aggregates clung to (the skandhas, groups, or heaps we commonly cling to as "self" and a separate "ego," "identity," "soul," "personality," "I," "me"). 

Ah, I finally see! The Buddha was right!

8. RIGHT CONCENTRATION (sammā-samādhi) or "right coherence of mind" or "right meditative absorption" (attention, consciousness, heart, awareness). Samadhi is a practice in Dharmic religions of India [and the preceding Ancient Indus Valley Civilization]. Although often translated as "concentration," as in the limiting of mental attention to one object, it reall refers to the clearness, coherence, and heightened awareness of mind that appears through prersistent and prolonged practice of dhyana (Pali jhana, "absorption").

The term samadhi derives from the root sam-a-dha, which means "to collect all together" or "bring into coherent functioning," so it is often translated as "collectedness" or "unification of mind."

In early Buddhist texts, samadhi is also associated with the term samatha (serenity, tranquility, calm abiding). In the sutras, samadhi is defined as "one-pointedness of mind" (cittass'ekaggatā).

The famous commentator and scholar-monk Buddhagosa defines samadhi as "the centering of consciousness [cittas] and consciousness-concomitants [cetasikas] evenly and rightly on a single object...the state in virtue of which consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object, undistracted and unscattered."

Neither the Four Noble Truths nor the Noble Eightfold Path discourse, explains Johannes Bronkhorst, provide details of right samadhi. The explanation is to be found in the canonical texts of Buddhism, [in the many commentaries, the tika, and subcommentaries, particularly the "Higher Teachings"/Abhidharma, in several sutras, such as the following from the "Exposition on Truth Discourse" Saccavibhanga Sutra:

"What is right concentration? [i] Here, the monastic, detached from sensual craving, detached from unwholesome states, enters and remains in the first absorption (jhana, level of coherence/concentration, Sanskrit dhyāna), in which there is applied and sustained attention, together with joy and pleasure born of detachment;

[ii] And through the subsiding of applied and sustained attention, with the gaining of inner stillness and one-pointedness of mind, one enters and remains in the second absorption, which is free of applied and sustained attention, but in which there are [still] joy and pleasure born of concentration;

[iii] And through the subsiding of joy, one remains equanimous, mindful and aware, and one experiences in the body the pleasure of which the noble ones [enlightened persons] say: "equanimous, mindful, and dwelling in pleasure [is the person who attains the state" and thus one enters and remains in the third absorption;

[iv] And through the transcending of pleasure and pain, and through the previous disappearance of gladness and sadness [elation and dejection], one enters and remains in the fourth absorption, which is beyond pleasure and pain, and in which there is pure equanimity and mindfulness. This is called right concentration."

Shakya Land, the Buddha's home, the Middle Country, was present-day Afghanistan.

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According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the Noble Eightfold Path factor of right concentration is reaching a one-pointedness of mind and unifying all mental factors [so it it called better translated as "coherence" than the commonly misunderstood and misleading term "concentration"], but it is not the same as "a gourmet sitting down to a meal or a soldier on the battlefield" who also experience one-pointed ["wrong"] concentration.

The difference is that the latter have a one-pointed object in focus with complete awareness directed to that object -- the meal or the target, respectively.

Thank you, Buddha.

In contrast, "right" concentration -- according to Wisdom Quarterly -- refers to the meditative factor on the Buddhist Path, a state of heightened awareness [mental expansion] with a good (wholesome, beneficial) object or subject (such as the breath, a person toward whom one is cultivating loving-kindness/metta, or any of the 40 commonly assigned meditation subjects, and ultimately onto the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthana) that lead to insight (vipassana), direct realization/knowing, enlightenment (bodhi), and glimpsing/experiencing nirvana (nirodha). More