This week marks the start of a 8-week series on the Noble Eightfold Path, or the Buddhism means by which to achieve Enlightenment (aka moral and spiritual perfection). Though I was raised Buddhist I don’t necessarily agree with all of its teachings, and will adapt my moral adjustments accordingly. Let’s start with a week summary, which also kind of summarizes my Spring Break.
A Definition: What exactly is the “Right View”? It adheres to recognizing a variety of doctrines, namely the “Knowledge with regard to stress, knowledge with regard to the origination of stress, knowledge with regard to the cessation of stress, knowledge with regard to the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress”. In the end, the alleviation of stress is the primarily goal by which to be obtained through having the Right View.
In Regards to Life: Having the Right View of the conception of life means understanding the moral laws of karma and suffering. Karma is essentially nature’s way of saying, if you do good to others, good will happen to you, which while flipped would mean doing bad to others will result in bad consequences (inevitably). In regards to suffering one must know the Four Noble Truths (included above). Life means suffering, in terms of pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death. We also have to deal with the various emotions which include sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression. Attachment to others, either worldly possessions or people, is the primarily means by which suffering arises. However, the positive side of all this is that suffering can be reduced, by following the Noble Eightfold Path. And over the course of the next 8 weeks we will tackle all the elements by which to reduce suffering in life, while being a virtuous person. A picture of the path is included below:
My Actions: This week, having the “Right View” entails believing The Four Noble Truths and the rule of karma. Though Buddhism is a growing world religion, I see it as more of a moral philosophy and a mechanism by which to live life rather than a strict set of beliefs (hence why I’m spending 8 weeks covering it). Acquiring the knowledge is the first step towards activating a “right view” of the world. Putting it into practice on the other hand will be done in the course of the next 7 weeks, starting next week with Right Intention. Though it was my spring break, I remained very well aware of the world around me. Sometimes we have to remember to take ourselves outside of the box we live in – the fact that in the world around us, there is still a ton of poverty and injustice in the world. Though some would claim government is the remedy to our solutions, I believe a cultural change is a much better solution. If people began recognizing the duty they have to help their fellow men, the world will become a much better place. That’s why I encourage both civic participation and community service, so we can all play a part in changing the world one step at a time. I hope to use all the skills learned from Buddhism to make myself re-aware of the suffering that is transparent not only in my own life, but in the lives of the people around me. Though this is a negative view of the world in which we live, the Eightfold path will be a mechanism by which to overcome it (and if not, knowing the elements of it can only help increase one’s morality within the world).
