Buddha's Eightfold Noble Path

The Noble Eightfold Path is taught as the fourth of the Four Noble Truths. The Noble Eightfold Path consists of 8 elements:

Right view

Right attitude

Right speech

Right action

Right livelihood

Right effort

Right mindfulness

Right concentration

 

All Buddhists follow the Noble Eightfold Path, whether they are monastic or lay.

 

The Noble Eightfold Path

 

Moral Discipline Meditation Wisdom

Right speech Right effort           Right View

Right action Right Mindfulness

Right livelihood Right concentration

The eighth principle of the path is to have right concentration. To have right concentration is to establish the mind rightly, which involves all the paths of the noble eightfold (Bhikkhu, 2001 -2009). To establish the right concentration one would use meditation. Tranquil meditation quiets the mind. To enter into right concentration one has to be alert for it can not arise on its own. Once one is able to enter into right concentration one will experience stillness, rapture, and pleasure.

In all of the elements of the Noble Eightfold Path, the word "right" is a translation of the word of samma, which is another word for things like completion, togetherness, and ideal. It is generally not considered to be a series of linear steps which you must progress through; rather through, as the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path "are to be developed more or less simultaneously, They are all linked together and each helps the cultivation of the others. The Dharma wheel's eight spokes represent the eight elements of the path.

Right view is the element of the Noble Eightfold Path which refers explicitly to the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, stating that these must be fully understood by the Buddhist practitioner. Right view is sometimes considered to encompass an understanding of the Buddhist idea of the non-permanence of self.

There are two stages for every stage of the eightfold path, a preliminary stage and the higher stages gradually obtained ...