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  • Hi everyone. Welcome to The Enthusiastic Buddhist. In this episode I want to talk about the Noble

  • Eightfold Path, which is part of the Four Noble Truths. In my last episode I covered

  • the Four Noble Truths so I'll put a link to that episode up here in case you missed it and you'd like to watch it now.

  • So I ended the previous episode talking about the Fourth

  • Noble Truth, which explains that if we want to reach enlightenment and be free of all

  • suffering we have to follow and practice the path called the Noble Eightfold Path, so in

  • effect there are eight things that we need to train in. The Noble Eightfold Path comprises of

  • eight different aspects about ourselves that we need to monitor, practice and perhaps change

  • to ensure that they're in line with our spiritual aspirations, which are presumably to lead

  • a moral life based on compassion and wisdom.

  • So the Buddha summarized the eight trainings in the Noble Eightfold Path. There are two

  • trainings in wisdom, three trainings in morality and three trainings in meditation. In the

  • Pali language these are known as panna, sila and samadhi.

  • The first of the eight is Right View. Right View, is also known as Right Understanding

  • and it comes first in the sequence of eight, because it acts like a core principle that

  • guides the seven other trainings. In the beginning Right View helps us to steer our behavior

  • towards cultivating wholesome actions which helps direct us towards peace and liberation,

  • rather than further from it. Then in the end Right View is representative of the wisdom that

  • we gain from our meditative realizations and this only comes as a result of having practiced

  • the seven other trainings. So Right View is important in the beginning, middle and end

  • of the path, all the way up to Enlightenment. Right View is perhaps the hardest for beginners

  • to understand and practice, so I will come back to it at the end of this video and go

  • over the seven other trainings first.

  • The second training of wisdom is the practice of Right Intention.

  • The Buddha explained Right Intention as having the intention of renunciation, the intention

  • of goodwill and the intention of harmlessness. Having an intention of renunciation...

  • one way we can look at this is that it means our intentions should be more selfless rather

  • than selfish, and so we're not motivated by personal greed so much, in fact, we're renouncing selfishness!

  • Practicing more selfless behavior helps us to move away from fortifying our

  • own egos and always coming from a place of self-centeredness. Instead we need to recognize

  • that everyone is the same boat as us, in wanting happiness and avoiding pain, so we should

  • try to live in a way that helps the majority instead of trying to secure the happiness

  • of just one being, you know, this separate self, this individual 'I'. The Buddha taught that we're all interconnected,

  • so renouncing selfishness and selfish pursuits and working towards the greater good is considered

  • more in line with true reality than what we might first realize or appreciate.

  • Intention of renunciation also means living a life more inclined towards peace and letting go.

  • Renunciation doesn't necessarily mean becoming monks and nun, and renouncing our

  • families and living in a cave to meditate. It could mean that but mostly it means renouncing

  • our greed, our anger, our jealousy and other harmful emotions.

  • The Buddha said that he who has renounced his impurities is called a renunciate. So

  • the impurities we are seeking to renounce are our mental impurities or defilements of

  • greed, aversion, pride and jealousy which all arise from ignorance and selfishness.

  • And why do we try to remove these? Why do we try to renounce these? Because they cause us so much pain for ourselves,

  • as well as others.

  • Intention of renunciation also means letting go of the belief that happiness is to be found

  • in things that are external to us. I mean, society tells us that happiness is to be found

  • in acquiring more and more things, yet the Buddha taught that happiness isn't found in

  • external objects and their acquisition, or through increasing our craving and desires,

  • but through finding the inner happiness that is within us instead. So having an intention

  • of renunciation means we slowly loosen the grasp of our craving and attachment to external

  • things so we can start to find the peace and happiness that lies within our minds,

  • which we can find through the practice of meditation and mindfulness.

  • Now the next one is Intention of Goodwill.

  • Having an intention of goodwill means we should act with the attitude of good-will and love

  • as opposed to ill-will and anger. Our actions of body, speech and mind should resonate with

  • the wish to help others and make them happy. Anger is something that affects us all, in

  • various degrees. If we do have anger or ill-will towards anyone then the Buddha prescribes

  • the meditation of loving-kindness to help us eradicate these tendencies of ill-will or anger.

  • It's said that our mind's true nature is one of love, peace and wishing

  • other's happiness, so it is this state that the Buddha wants us to tap back into.

  • The last part of Right Intention is the Intention of Harmlessness.

  • Having an intention of harmlessness means we should be motivated by compassion and not

  • wanting to cause or increase the suffering of others. This means we refrain from harming

  • others in any way, such as through physical violence, verbal abuse, mental manipulation

  • or power games. Actually this intention of harmless should be employed in anything

  • and everything that we set out to achieve. We should always carefully consider the ramification

  • of all our actions to ensure that it doesn't cause harm or suffering in any way to any living creature.

  • The next three trainings in the Noble Eightfold Path are the three trainings of

  • morality. These include the practice of Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood.

  • In essence, we try to practice these because it helps us to have a mind

  • that is kind, open and free of discursive thought, and this allows us to achieve deeper

  • levels of concentration when we meditate. We cannot become enlightened unless we meditate,

  • but we cannot meditate if we're constantly creating unease in our minds. So the three

  • trainings in morality help create a building block or stable foundation for our meditation

  • to be supported on and this in turn allows for realizations and greater wisdom to occur.

  • And remember these practices of morality are also motivated by Right Intention, the training

  • which came before these. So you will notice that these trainings of Right Speech, Right

  • Action and Right Livelihood are geared towards acting out of compassion and refraining from

  • causing harm towards others.

  • So the first is the practice of Right Speech. The Buddha advised us that Right Speech means

  • not lying, not engaging in slanderous or divisive speech, refraining from abusive or harsh speech

  • and refraining from idle gossip or chatter.

  • Instead our speech should be truthful, kind, beneficial and full of love. I actually want

  • to devote an entire video to Right Speech because it is such an important topic. I mean,

  • how often do we say things that we later regret, or wish we had some guidelines as to what

  • we should say and when? So I'll cover this topic in another video in the near future!

  • The next training in morality is the practice of Right Action.

  • Right Action means to avoid killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. Sexual misconduct basically

  • refers to being unfaithful to our partner or sleeping with someone else's partner. Although

  • these three trainings of killing, stealing and sexual misconduct are singled out in

  • this training, Right Action really means that we should avoid any behavior that harms others,

  • and instead we should perform virtuous deeds motivated by compassion, kindness and generosity, for instance.

  • Now the reason the Buddha brought our actions into the spotlight is because the Buddhist

  • path is a path of training our minds towards wholesome and virtuous habits. If we repeatedly

  • engage in killing and violence, stealing or being unfaithful in relationships, it's going to strengthen

  • these unwholesome mental factors or defilements in our mind until they become dominant and

  • natural patterns of our thought and behavior. Then in the future we will more easily do

  • non-virtuous things without giving it a second thought.

  • Now at the moment, we might not kill other sentient beings out of violence or wishing them harm,

  • but we do strengthen our disregard for the suffering of others every time we take the

  • life of another. And if we want to cultivate a mind of compassion and love, we have to

  • refrain from behavior that is antithetical to this. Taking another being's life is not

  • compassionate as it takes away the very thing all beings value most - which is their right

  • to live and breathe. The Buddha said:

  • In this matter the noble disciple reflects: 'Here am I, fond of my life, not wanting to die,

  • fond of pleasure and averse from pain. Suppose someone should deprive me of my life,

  • it would not be a thing pleasing or delightful to me. If I, in my turn, were to deprive of

  • his life one fond of life, not wanting to die, one fond of pleasure and averse from

  • pain, it would not be a thing pleasing or delightful to him. For that state which is

  • not pleasant or delightful to me must be not pleasant or delightful to another: and a state

  • undear and unpleasing to me, how could I inflict that upon another?' As a result of such reflection

  • he himself abstains from taking the life of creatures and he encourages others so to abstain,

  • and speaks in praise of so abstaining.

  • And in another sutra the Buddha said:

  • "The disciple, abstaining from the taking of life, dwells without stick or sword, conscientious,

  • full of sympathy, desirous of the welfare of all living beings."

  • In Buddhism we use the term 'sentient beings' quite a bit. Sentient beings are said to be

  • any living creature that has a consciousness and can feel and perceive. So in this we include

  • animals and even insects. For those of us who love animals, we can see that animals

  • have emotions, and they are worthy of our love and respect. But for some of us it might

  • be a bit harder to appreciate that insects have their own consciousness too. But why not?

  • If mean if we try to kill an insect they will try to run or fly away. So surely they

  • perceive danger, feel threatened and they react to this.

  • I remember when I was doing one of my retreats, and one day I walking up the hill, I saw this caterpillar that was rolling down the hill

  • and it was covered in bull ants which were biting it. And it looked to me like this caterpillar was writhing in

  • pain and really fighting for its life. I mean if it wasn't sentient, wouldn't it just lie

  • there and let the ants kill it and devour it? But even if we don't believe that insects

  • are sentient, can we really feel proud of our actions if we consciously take the lives

  • of those that are so much smaller and weaker and more vulnerable than ourselves?

  • The Buddha highly praised anyone who abstained from killing. He said:

  • "He who has renounced violence towards all living beings, weak or strong, who neither

  • kills nor causes others to kill - him do I call a holy man.

  • The Buddha really stressed the importance of living a life of non-violence and compassion.

  • Not only did he include not killing as part of the Noble Eightfold Path, but he also made

  • it the first Buddhist precept or vow taken by a lay person, or an ordained monk or nun.

  • Of course we cannot eliminate all killing, like the accidental killing of ants when we

  • walk. One of my teachers pointed out that we would need to be suspended in space if

  • we wanted to prevent all killing. But the most important thing is our attention and intention.

  • We need to examine how aware we are whenever we do things; like checking to see whether our

  • actions are possibly causing the death of another. And we should check to see what our intention was

  • if we did cause the death of another. Did they die as a result of our malice or because

  • of our desire for entertainment? What is important is that we consciously choose to refrain from

  • actions that cause suffering to others. If we want peace in the world, it has to start with

  • ourselves and our actions in the world.

  • The Buddha said that all beings have been our mother or our father in our past lives.

  • Now I can't verify that for myself, but I took this teaching and decided that every time

  • I came across an animal or insect, or even other humans beings, I would mentally name them, 'Mum'.

  • So I saw a spider, I'd mentally greet them, 'Hi, Mum!' If I saw a dog, I'd think

  • 'Hi, Mum!' If I was served by someone at the local shops, I'd think, 'Thanks Mum'.

  • Now, the teachings don't just point out what we shouldn't do, but they also encourage us

  • to do the opposite. So in the case of taking life, we should practice the opposite and

  • save lives. So whenever I could I would save the lives of insects drowning in the toilet,

  • or caught in the spider's web. Or move them off a bike path before they got run over or

  • stepped on. And over the years, these two things, mentally

  • calling other beings Mum in my mind, and saving lives, has made it impossible for me to knowingly

  • take the life of another creature now.

  • No matter how much I might disdain ants when they invade our kitchen, or hate cockroaches

  • in the house, I won't kill them. I'll find an alternative to removing them. I literally

  • can't kill creatures with my own hands. And this didn't always used to be the case!

  • I used to kill insects, especially mosquitoes and spiders and I also used to go fishing. But

  • through mindfulness of my intentions, which came through meditating, I realized that I killed

  • insects out of fear and aversion, which I don't think is a just reason for killing something,

  • and I used to fish because I was drawn to the peace and serenity of being by the lake

  • and it was nice to share that space of peace and silence with the friends that I fished with.

  • But now I can get that same payoff when I meditate with others and no one has to come to any harm.

  • If we really want to walk the path of peace, we need to examine our relationship with

  • this idea of non-killing and compassion. But ultimately, whatever we do, the thing that

  • matters most in every situation is our intention. And this is just as important when it comes

  • to the next training, the training of Right Livelihood.

  • Right Livelihood makes up the last of the three trainings in morality. Because we spend

  • so much of waking hours at work, the Buddha wanted to ensure that our activities there

  • were also in line with living a kind and compassionate life.

  • The Buddha explicitly said there are five occupations that we should avoid. He said:

  • "Monks, a lay follower should not engage in

  • five types of business. Which five? Business in weapons, business in human beings, business

  • in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison.

  • "These are the five types of business that a lay follower should not engage in."

  • So business in weapons refers to selling guns or weapons that can cause the death of others.

  • Business in human beings refers to slavery or prostitution. Business in meat refers to

  • working as a butcher or in a slaughterhouse. Business in intoxicants means selling alcohol

  • or illicit drugs. And business in poison could mean manufacturing or selling poison to kill

  • insects or animals.

  • So you can see these livelihoods directly or indirectly cause

  • suffering in some way to other beings so they're ones that we should try to avoid.

  • And also when it comes to practicing Right Livelihood, it's not just about the actual occupation

  • that's important, but how we conduct ourselves in our business. For instance, it's important

  • to avoid scheming, deceit or trickery in any of our business dealings.

  • So these three trainings of morality: Right Speech, Right Actions, and Right Livelihood

  • encourage us to act in virtuous, honorable and peaceful ways in the world.

  • Morality is the foundation or basis of all spiritual development

  • if we live a virtuous life we won't have any regrets or guilt or worry and our minds

  • will be less scattered or full of discursive, unwholesome or unhelpful thoughts. Then when

  • we come to the cushion to meditate we will be able to meditate much better because our

  • minds will be open and carefree. And then it's just a matter of disciplining ourselves to

  • meditate on a regular basis so we can move through the stages of meditation to reach

  • special insight, which is realizing the true nature of our own mind.

  • Which brings us to the next three trainings - the three trainings of meditation which include

  • the practice of Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

  • The practice of Right Effort has four parts. These are:

  • The effort to prevent negative mental states from arising in our mind. For example, preventing

  • anger or jealousy from arising. The effort to abandon any negative states

  • of mind that have arisen. The effort to cultivate positive mental states

  • not yet arisen, such as cultivating compassion in our mind.

  • And the effort to maintain these wholesome states of mind that have arisen.

  • These trainings are what really make Buddhism shine, in my opinion. None of us want to experience

  • negative states of mind such as anger or ill-will towards another and Buddhism has many different

  • techniques for helping us eliminate these states of mind and preventing them from arising

  • in the future. And the meditations on loving-kindness and compassion are all

  • about cultivating positive mental states and maintaining them. I'm going to be doing some

  • videos on these meditations in the near future, and actually I want to devote another future video

  • just to the practice of Right Effort so I can go into more detail about these four.

  • So the next training is the practice of Right Mindfulness.

  • If you've been following my website you would have seen that I've been writing a fair bit

  • about mindfulness lately. Anyone would have thought that I had covered this topic thoroughly enough

  • by now! But actually I've been saving the best bit for last and that is how mindfulness

  • is such an important tool for cultivating an awareness of our thoughts and how this

  • assists us in and out of meditation. There's also the importance mindfulness plays

  • in strengthening the quality of our concentration which ultimately improves our meditation. So because

  • this is quite a big and important topic, I'm going to again dedicate this to another future video.

  • The last of the trainings in the training of Meditation is Right Concentration.

  • Right Concentration means we train our minds to be one-pointed and focused when we meditate

  • in order to achieve a concentrated mind known as Samadhi. Samadhi is a very pure state of

  • consciousness and awareness. In this state, our mind can stay fixated on a meditation object

  • without wavering and it experiences a calmness and stability that we would find hard to comprehend at the moment.

  • If we continue to meditate in this intensified state of concentration

  • it will lead us into the jhanas which are necessary stages of meditative absorption

  • that we must pass through in order to gain special insight and become awakened.

  • Now getting back to the training of Right View.

  • Right View ensures that our behaviour, speech and thoughts are being born from a mind that

  • is infused with wisdom and compassion and that our behaviour is in line with these principles.

  • So what does wisdom mean here? It means having an understanding of the true nature of reality

  • and seeing things as they really are. It means we have penetrated the Four Noble Truths and

  • seen the truth of them for ourselves. Since the Four Noble Truths are directly tied into Right View,

  • I'll quickly recap on its importance and how it relates to our right understanding of the world.

  • As I explained in my previous video, understanding

  • the First Noble Truth means that we recognize that all phenomena are impermanent and unsatisfactory.

  • We can see that no matter what happiness we find in our daily lives, it isn't everlasting

  • and it cannot provide constant satisfaction. Instead, we're always left with this feeling

  • of wanting more, wanting more happiness and pleasure while we do everything we can to avoid pain.

  • And it's this craving for happiness, as outlined in the Second Noble Truth, that drives our

  • behavior and ultimately our dissatisfaction because we aren't able to feel absolute contentment in

  • what we have at the present moment. But if we examine carefully we will notice that

  • there are moments when we do experience great peace and satisfaction. These are times when

  • we're completely content in the moment and we're desiring absolutely nothing more or different.

  • Like when you're sitting by the lake on a nice spring day and you feel so content as if you

  • could just sit there forever. There isn't a trace of craving in your mind. Or when you've

  • been desiring after something or someone for so long, that it's literally consumed your

  • waking life and just one day you decide to drop it and let it all go and you suddenly feel this immense

  • peace, spaciousness and satisfaction. That is the Third Noble Truth being brought into action.

  • And the Fourth Noble Truth is the practice

  • of this Noble Eightfold Path. So by practicing the path of morality and meditation, we will

  • start to see how this really is a path to peace and happiness and then our faith in

  • the Fourth Noble Truth will be ignited.

  • It can take time to really appreciate the Four Noble Truths at a heart level. But if you

  • want to try and internalize this teaching a little bit more, you might want to try this exercise.

  • Next time you find yourself experiencing some suffering, look deeply at what the underlying

  • craving might be. What is the craving that's not being fulfilled here? Is it our craving

  • for love, attention, praise, validation? Whatever it is, once you've recognized it, we can then employ

  • wisdom and compassion to let it go and through this we'll begin to experience true peace.

  • But meanwhile if we're still struggling with the Four Noble Truths, we can still practice

  • the seven other trainings in the Noble Eightfold Path.

  • And I should also mention that Right View isn't restricted to simply understanding the

  • Four Noble Truths. It also incorporates an understanding that not only is all compounded phenomena

  • impermanent and unsatisfactory, but that it's also empty of inherent existence.

  • Again, this emptiness of inherent existence is something I will go into more detail in

  • another future video. And lastly Right View means having a correct

  • understanding of karma and appreciating that all actions have karmic consequences.

  • Meaning that wholesome actions lead to favorable results and unwholesome actions lead to negative results.

  • So in brief, Right View consists of understanding

  • the relevance of the Four Noble Truths, the role of karma and realizing the nature of

  • phenomena as being impermanent, unsatisfactory and without a permanent or inherent existence.

  • As I mentioned before, Right View is perhaps the hardest of the eight of the Noble Eightfold Path

  • to understand and practice. Whereas the other trainings, such as Right Speech and Right

  • Mindfulness, may seem much more straightforward and practical. Again, don't worry if it doesn't

  • all make sense to you at the moment. I'll put links below to some e-books that you can read more

  • about the Noble Eightfold Path. My explanation of it is only one way of presenting these

  • teachings, so before you either agree with them or dismiss them, I highly recommend that

  • you do a bit more reading about this subject.

  • So in summary, these trainings are really inviting us to embark on a big adventure - to

  • know and understand the workings of our own mind, to become aware of our intentions and

  • how to live peacefully and compassionately in the world.

  • These trainings are the first steps towards uprooting unwholesome and harmful states of

  • mind and instead cultivating qualities in ourselves that we probably admire in others.

  • By coming to know the psychology of our own mind, we will slowly start to see that we

  • are the creators of our own happiness. And by practicing the Noble Eightfold

  • Path, we'll find that it's a path of self-purification of our minds and a path

  • that will lead to realization, awakening, freedom and happiness.

  • So that's all from me. I hope this video wasn't too long. As I said, I'll be covering some

  • of these topics in greater detail in future videos. So please subscribe to my channel, please

  • like and share this video if you found it helpful, leave me a comment below and check out

  • my website enthusiasticbuddhist.com for more information on Buddhism and meditation. So

  • have a great week everyone and I hope to see you in the next video.

Hi everyone. Welcome to The Enthusiastic Buddhist. In this episode I want to talk about the Noble

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