The Noble Eightfold Path: Excerpts From “Truth” by Venerated Patriarch (Tổ Sư) Minh Đăng Quang (vegetarian), Part 2 of 2

SECTION 4 ON THE PRACTICES OF THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

“1. ‘Right View’ is the clear understanding of suffering; recognizing that craving and attachment are the causes of suffering; knowing that only Nirvana, which cuts off craving and attachment, is the end of suffering; understanding that the Middle Way leads to the cessation of suffering; recognizing the law of cause and effect, where good leads to advancement and evil leads to regression, and purity leads to liberation; seeing the evolution of life clearly without attachment or fixation on worldly life.

2. ‘Right Thought’ is the consideration of not causing harm to sentient beings; considering the impact of actions to prevent causing pain to others; the examination of how to avoid the five desires in order to seek renunciation and liberation; exploring meanings to benefit oneself and others; reflecting on the suffering of all beings and the true nature of the universe.

3. ‘Right Speech’ involves refraining from lying, gossiping, cursing, or boasting; speaking truthfully, kindly; to speak in a way that is beneficial; sharing the Dharma, offering advice, admonishment, praise and encouragement.

4. ‘Right Action’ means avoiding actions of killing, theft, and sexual misconduct; not engaging in harmful trades for material gain; refraining from greed, anger, and ignorance.

5. ‘Right Livelihood’ is not raising animals for sale; not buying or selling animals; not engaging in human trafficking; not trading in poisons or weapons; not dealing in alcoholic beverages; not living by unethical means; not killing other beings for one's own livelihood.

6. ‘Right Effort’ involves striving to prevent the arising of unwholesome states; making efforts to eradicate existing unwholesome states; striving to perform good deeds that one has not yet done; striving to increase the good deeds one already practices; dedicating oneself to learning, teaching, practicing, and upholding precepts.

7. ‘Right Mindfulness’ is the constant awareness of the impermanence, suffering, and non-self of the body; remembering that pleasure and pain, good and bad deeds, and all phenomena in the world are impermanent, suffering, and non-self; avoiding attachment, aversion, ignorance, desire, and craving.

8. Right Concentration: First Jhana: Examination, joy, pleasure, purity, concentration, equanimity. Second Jhana: Joy, pleasure, purity, concentration, equanimity. Third Jhana: Pleasure, purity, concentration, equanimity. Fourth Jhana: Purity, concentration, equanimity.

All wholesome practices in the world fall under the eight parts of the Noble Eightfold Path; they cannot be fully explained. The Noble Eightfold Path encompasses the Entire Three Baskets of Dharma, eighty-four thousand methods, and three thousand great doctrines, yet the Ultimate Goal (Right Concentration) is singular. […]”