Basic truth

Generally referred to as the Noble Eightfold Path (Ariya-Atthangika-Magga).

It is composed of 8 divisions (factors):

• Right Understanding (Samma ditthi),

• Right Thought (Samma sankappa),

• Right Speech (Samma vaca),

• Right Action (Samma kammanta),

• Right Livelihood (Samma ajiva),

• Right Effort (Samma vayama),

• Right Mindfulness (Attentativeness) (Samma sati),

• Right Concentration (Samma samadhi).

Ethical Conduct (Silo)

Mental Discipline (Samadhi)

Wisdom (Panna)

based on universal love and compassion for all living beings

• “for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world”

• aims at promoting a happy and harmonious life both for the individual and for society

• Compassion (karuna)

  • love, charity, kindness, tolerance and such noble qualities on the emotional side, or qualities of the heart

based on wisdom (panna)

• the intellectual side or the qualities of the mind

Included Right Speech (Samma vaca)

• Abstention from

  • telling lies

  • backbiting and slander and talk that may bring about hatred, enmity, disunity and disharmony among individuals or groups of people

  • harsh, rude, impolite, malicious and abusive language

  • idle, useless and foolish babble and gossip

Included Right Action (Samma kammanta)

• Aims at promoting moral, honourable and peaceful conduct

• Abstain from destroying life, from stealing, from dishonest dealings, from illegitimate sexual intercourse

Included Right Livelihood (Samma ajiva)

• Abstain from making one’s living through a profession that brings harm to others, such as trading in arms and lethal weapons, intoxicating drinks, poisons, killing animals, cheating, etc.

• Live by a profession which is honourable, blameless and innocent of harm to others

Included Right Effort (Samma vayama)

• Energetic will to:

  • prevent evil and unwholesome states of mind from arising

  • get rid of such evil and unwholesome states that have already arisen within a man

  • to produce, to cause to arise, good and wholesome states of mind not yet arisen

  • develop and bring to perfection the good and wholesome states of mind already present in a man.

Included Right Mindfulness (or Attentiveness) (Samma sati)

• diligently aware, mindful and attentive with regard to

  • the activities of the body (kaya)

  • sensations or feelings (vedana)

  • the activities of the mind (citta)

  • ideas, thoughts, conceptions and things (dhamma)

Included Right Concentration (Samma samadhi) leading to the four stages of Dhjana, generally called trance or recueillement

• In the first stage

  • discard passionate desires and certain unwholesome thoughts like sensuous lust, ill-will, languor, worry, restlessness, and sceptical doubt

  • maintain feelings of joy and happiness, along with certain mental activities

• In the second stage

  • suppress all intellectual activities are suppressed

  • develop tranquillity and ‘one-pointedness’ of mind

  • retain the feelings of joy and happiness

• In the third stage

  • the feeling of joy, which is an active sensation, disappears

  • the disposition of happiness still remains in addition to mindful equanimity

• In the fourth stage of Dhjana

  • all sensations, even of happiness and unhappiness, of joy and sorrow, disappear

  • only pure equanimity and awareness remaining

Included Right Thought (Samma sankappa)

• Thoughts, which are extended to all beings, of

  • selfless renunciation or detachment

  • love

  • non-violence

Included Right Understanding (Samma ditthi)

• understanding of things as explained by the Four Noble Truths

  • The First Noble Truth is Dukkha, understand it as a fact, clearly and completely (parihnejja)

    • the nature of life, its suffering, its sorrows and joys, its imperfection and unsatisfactoriness, its impermanence and insubstantiality.

  • The Second Noble Truth is the Origin of Dukkha, which is desire, ‘thirst’, accompanied by all other passions, defilements and impurities. A mere understanding of this fact is not sufficient. Here our function is to discard it, to eliminate, to destroy and eradicate it (pahatabba). The Third Noble Truth is the Cessation of Dukkha, Nirvana, the Absolute Truth, the Ultimate Reality. Here our function is to realize it (sacchikatabba). The Fourth Noble Truth is the Path leading to the realization of Nirvana. A mere knowledge of the Path, however complete, will not do. In this case, our function is to follow it and keep to it (bhavetabba).