游记怎么写THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH
A talk given by Ajahn Jagaro -- October 1988
It's very nice to sit meditation for a short time, at the end of the day. We take time to collect ourlves, to recollect our existence, to become aware of our experience of life, in order to understand this life and ourlves. So much of life is mechanical, and habitual, that we can spend a whole lifetime going round in circles, recreating situations, repeating old habits over and over again, never taking time to really consider what we are doing. What is it that we want out of life? Are we going in the right direction? Are we living in a way that will bring about that which we desire and aspire for? What is it all about anyway?
When we practi meditation we stop, don't we? We stop doing the mechanical, the habitual, stop running around physically, and we stop verbally. We're not taking in a lot of information. We're not preoccupying the mind with a lot of nsory stimulation, nsory proliferation or distractions, and what happens? Things begin to ttle down, the dust begins to ttle. When the dust begins to ttle, all the unttled business, all the unresolved emotions, and all conflicts are clearer in our consciousness.
We begin to notice what we've been doing, how we feel - about ourlves, about others, about life. We
notice ourlves. It is so very important to begin to notice onelf, what one is doing, becau each one of us creates life. We have a very important contribution to make. The way we approach life, our volitional actions of body, speech and mind help to shape this world and life for ourlves and others.
That's not to say, "I control everything". That's ridiculous. Of cour I don't. But it's also not true to say that "I'm a helpless victim, I have no control or contribution at all". That would be completely fatalistic. I have a very obvious contribution to make to life. The quality of my mind, the volition behind my actions, the way I live is my contribution to life and helps shape the quality of life for mylf and others. It's very important to take time off, to notice what we are doing, and what we want. This is the way to cultivate Right View.
It has been said over and over again that Buddhism is a path of wisdom, not blind faith, not superstition, and not doctrine. Wisdom is not knowledge, nor is it intellect. It is an appreciation of the way things are. An appreciation of the laws of nature, how they work, our relationship with nature and where we fit into the laws of nature. This wisdom comes from reflecting, obrving, listening and watching, not just from reading books.
Sometimes people with very little knowledge, very little intellectual sophistication, may have great wisdom. Why is that? In their simplicity and less cluttered state of mind, they are a little more attuned to the experience of life and the ways of nature. In order to become attuned to nature, we
need to realize we're part of this nature. Nature is not just trees, grass, sky and air. That's part of it. But everything that is in existence is part of nature. There is nothing unnatural to be found anywhere. Everything that happens is natural. We are part of it; we need to understand it.
We hear that Buddhism is the way of wisdom, and quite often we hear that it is the Middle Way. That can be misunderstood. One can begin to think of Buddhism as wishy-washy, sit on the fence, everything is all right, and that Buddhism has no particular view about anything. You can do more or less, what you want. That's not true at all. The path that the Buddha laid down, the Middle Way is actually very, very explicit and very clear. Probably the most explicit, the most comprehensive and the clearest of all spiritual paths in existence today.
When the Buddha taught the first rmon to the five ascetics, just a few months after his enlightenment, he said, "I have found the Middle Way. This way which avoids extremes of nsual indulgence and the mortification of the flesh. This middle way is the path to insight, to knowledge, to
peace, to enlightenment, to Nibbåna". What is the path? He then enumerated the Eightfold Path. The Buddha himlf is quoted as having said, "Amongst all the conventional teachings I give, amongst all the conditioned Dhammas, the highest of all is the Eightfold Path”. That's pretty high prai from the Buddha himlf. It is the heart, the esnce of Buddhism, and it is prent in every aspect of Buddhism. If one can grasp clearly the meaning of the Eightfold Path, one will have a pretty good idea of what Buddhism is all about and what one needs to do in order to be a Buddhist.
Right View
The first step of the Eightfold Path is Right View. The first spark of Right View aris, when we start to consider our existence, “What am I? What am I doing? It's not necessarily coming from study, reading about this and that. It may come from our experience of meditation. When we start to look at our lives, we become aware of the very basis of Buddhism: we begin to notice that we are responsible for our lives. The way we live brings about results, and it affects ourlves and others, and sometimes the results really aren't good. This first spark of right view is the realization that I am responsible. Not blaming or laying the burden on someone el or on some deity. This is the first appreciation of the Law of Kamma. The way I live, the state of my mind, all my actions bring about results.
Then I begin to notice that I suffer, my mind is unhappy. It's burdened. There is fear, jealousy, hate and anger. This is not due to the environment or other people. It is my own creation. That's another spark of right view. I begin to appreciate the first two of the Noble Truths. There is suffering, mental unea and anguish. Even in the midst of comfort and prosperity, I am still mirable. I notice that this mental anguish is not due to anyone or anything el, but is due to this mind.
写给儿子的信Right View in Buddhism is the first step of the Eightfold Path. This is why we say it's a path of wisdom, not just a doctrine or belief. It's a noticing and obrving of ourlves and our lives. The Buddha taught what is obvious, what is there to be en. Although it's there to be en it doesn't
mean we e it, it may be obvious but it doesn't mean we understand it or notice it. Maybe we miss it all the time becau it is so obvious. The Buddha pointed things out which we need to consider. He taught nothing outside of what can be en and realized within this body, with this mind. The whole path is to be developed through this body and mind. We have all that we need. All we have to do is to start noticing what is around us. That's when the spark of Right View begins to ari.
One very nice story is of a man I know here in Perth. He was brought up as a Buddhist actually, and considered himlf one, but he never really took an interest or practid anything beyond just the su
perficial. On one occasion, he decided to go on a trip, with his wife, around Australia, camping and driving. While they were travelling from Perth to Adelaide, they camped out in the dert. One night, camping out in the middle of nowhere, just open space, he couldn't sleep so he got up and went out of the tent and just walked in the stillness of the night, in the emptiness of the dert. And he found himlf completely alone. In this emptiness, he noticed himlf, this human being, and he became very aware of the emptiness in his life. He asked himlf, “What am I doing? What's it all about anyway? All this study and accumulation of degrees and knowledge and money, so what? What do I want out of life?” There was a spark of right view there. A stopping and considering. The mechanical, the habitual existence came to a stop for a moment. All thought comes to a stop for a moment and this reflective thought aris: consideration and appreciation of one's prent existence.
Right Thought or Aspirations
董超薛霸The result of Right View is that Right Aspiration or Right Thought aris. This happens to us in various ways. I'm sure it has happened to everyone here, especially when we have some traumatic experience, or something helps us to stop and think and obrve. Buddhism is not common in Australia and meditation is unusual. So why do you come here? Something has arin in your mind
that makes you stop and consider. What am I doing here? What do I want out of life? How can I improve this life? This is a spark of Right View, a spark of understanding involving Kamma. I am responsible.
This bit of Right View caus Right Aspiration: the intention to cultivate something. We know that lfishness - lfish, egotistic indulgence doesn't make us happy or peaceful. It doesn't em to ever end. Hate, anger, negativity - it's the fire that burns, and you don't have to have it to suffer from it. Someone clo to you has it and you also suffer. This we have all en. We wish to free the mind from lfishness and the obssive uncontrolled desire for nsual experience, all the negative forces within us, the anger and aversion which lead to malevolence and hurtfulness in our relationships with other human beings and even in our relationship with ourlves. How often do we feel aversion towards ourlves? Right View brings about Right Aspiration to do something about this: to try and change the mind, bring about more peace and more happiness, by trying to change the attitudes, the intentions and aspirations - towards giving, sharing, kindness and compassion. This begins to ari in the mind, doesn't it? If it hadn't arin, you wouldn’t be here, becau we don't teach anything other than this.
So the are the first two steps on the Buddhist Path: Right View and Right Aspiration. They are rel
ated, they are to do with wisdom and understanding, not just believing. Now that's fine. We have a spark of understanding and a spark of intending to live our lives in a new way. But that's not enough, is It? It has to be followed through. So there is the rest of the path. This Eightfold Path is a comprehensive training, becau from our understanding and intention, there has to be a carrying through to the way we actually live our lives.
The Buddha laid down the rest of the path as a way to train ourlves, to train this body, speech and mind in order to realize peace and happiness. Buddhism is not just a sort of philosophy. It has to do with us, with our lives, how we live, and the responsibility is with the individual, becau we have the bodies, the ability to speak, to think; and we can do things. So the path of the Buddha requires practical application, actually doing the work. Personally, I like that approach rather than saying " You're all enlightened anyway". It doesn't help very much if I tell you, you are a Buddha, and you’re enlightened. You can say, "Thank you very much”, but you still feel the same, still have the same habits, still create the same problems. It is necessary to know what to do with one's prent position: being a human being, with a body and mind. How should one deal with this? This is where the Buddha was so brilliant, so compassionate, pointing out the path, something that we can u to train ourlves, and to develop ourlves. Not as commandments or blind ritual but as skilful means. According to our spark of right view, we have a way of following it through.
Right Speech3至6岁
The third factor on the Eightfold Path is Right Speech. This is anything but wishy-washy. I do a lot of talking, I think many of us do a lot of talking. The tongue is a very powerful thing. They say that the pen is mightier than the sword. I think the tongue is mightier than the pen. It is so much quicker, isn't it? To write can be a tedious thing, even if you want to write a nasty letter, of cour it can be easier to write a nasty letter than a nice letter. You can really pump up some adrenalin and energy if you're getting stuck into someone. But it still takes a lot of time to write it down, and in that time there's time for consideration and maybe a change of mind. However the tongue is so quick, so immediate. Before you even think twice, you have already spoken. The Buddha said that this speech of ours is an action. It brings about results. What we say shapes life, can cau wars, or can cau peace. There are different types of wars. We read about all the wars overas, the international wars, but there are also the interpersonal wars. We have a lot of tho, don't we? How many wars have you created in the last week? When we're aspiring to peace and clarity of mind, it's very important to master one's speech. The Buddha said develop Right Speech, avoid Wrong Speech. This is not just nebulous idea. He was very explicit. He said that wrong speech is lying and avoiding truth. That caus a lack of trust and it's anything but peaceful. It is very difficult to be
peaceful when you're living with people who don't tell the truth becau you can't trust them. Everything is lost when one's honesty is gone. I like to reflect on the monkhood, which is bad on very high standards of morality, impeccability. It all rests on one thing: honesty. All the rules of the monk depend on the monk acknowledging that that is true, and acknowledging it if one voluntarily breaks a rule. It's not a police
state we don't have cameras! We haven’t yet installed cameras in the monks' huts to e what they are doing. That would not be in keeping with the spirit of Buddhism. I don't know what they are up to; it's not necessary to know, becau it's an honour system. It all depends on this one rule: truthfulness. I shall not lie. If the person is no longer committed to truthfulness, how do you know that anything el is going to hold? It's impossible to trust, to be at peace and have spiritual growth without honesty.
台湾环岛
带梅字的诗句This one rule is so important, and it happens to be a rule of training for every Buddhist -monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen. It's esntial for everyone who's interested in peace. I undertake the training to refrain from lying. It's the fourth precept for Buddhist lay people. Wrong speech is not the way to peace either. To go about telling tales with malicious intent, trying to stir up fights and conflicts and break up friendships are all examples of Wrong Speech. Another aspect of Wrong Spe
ech is abusive and harsh speech. There's a fair bit of that in our society. Putting someone down, really getting stuck into someone. It's hurtful. The last type is uless speech, just repeating bits of information and gossip that tends to confu and distract people. This isn't training the mind. In order to cultivate Right Speech, we avoid the four types of speech, and we develop truthful speech, that is kind, gentle and pleasant to the ear, words which bring harmony and friendship between people, words of wisdom which are uful, beneficial for our well-being and spiritual growth. So the Middle Way is pretty clear about how one should train one's speech. It's the same regardless of who is speaking, regardless of time and place. Wherever you go, this is the foundation of peaceful co-existence within a community. That's the third factor of the Eightfold Path. Consciously remember that. It is something we train ourlves with. It is not a command "Thou shalt not lie; if you do, you'll go to Hell". It's not saying that at all. It's saying, “This action of speech is an action which has its conquences”. How we speak contributes to the quality of our lives and the quality of other people's lives. So let us consider wily, let us take responsibility. If we want peace and happiness, u speech for that purpo. Train yourlf; you have the ability.
多芒小丸子Right Action
The fourth factor of the Eightfold Path is Right Action. Again it's not that, "Thou shalt not". We have
广东省教师资格网a physical body, so we have the ability to do things with this body, and what we can do is very wide ranging. We can u this body for harmful, violent, lfish, destructive purpos, can't we? We can u this body in order to create Hell, in order to make trouble, to be a nuisance to others. Or we can u the body to be of rvice, to help, to create well-being for ourlves and others. This body is an instrument, in itlf it is neutral. It depends on who's using it and for what purpo. People say that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. The flesh is not weak; it's not strong; it's just flesh. Flesh is actually neutral. It's the mind that drives it. It is the mind that puts volition into it, causing it to act. It's not the body that decides to go and rob a bank, it's the mind that thinks that, isn't it? It's not the body that says, "I think I'II have another glass of whisky", or "My body tells me to have another beer". There's an element of truth to that, becau the body does have its signals. The body affects the mind as well, but the volitional action comes from the mind, not the body. So this body is an instrument for us to u as we wish. How do we u it? We can be a real nuisance, u it for all
