The Eightfold Path Week One: Overview, Right View

Sutta Readings

What Is Dukkha? "Now what, friends, is the noble truth of dukkha? Birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, death is dukkha; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair are dukkha; association with the unbeloved is dukkha; separation from the loved is dukkha; not getting what is wanted is dukkha. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are dukkha.” – SN 56.11 Yoke with a Hole

“Bhikkhus, suppose that this great earth had become one mass of water, and a man would throw a yoke with a single hole upon it. An easterly wind would drive it westward; a westerly wind would drive it eastward; a northerly wind would drive it southward; a southerly wind would drive it northward. There was a blind turtle which would come to the surface once every hundred years. What do you think, bhikkhus, would that blind turtle, coming to the surface once every hundred years, insert its neck into that yoke with a single hole?”

“It would be by chance, venerable sir, that that blind turtle, coming to the surface once every hundred years, would insert its neck into that yoke with a single hole.”

“So too, bhikkhus, it is by chance that one obtains the human state; by chance that a Tathagata, an Arahant, a Perfectly Enlightened One arises in the world; by chance that the Dhamma and Discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata shines in the world.

“You have obtained that human state, bhikkhus; a Tathagata, an Arahant, a Perfectly Enlightened One has arisen in the world; the Dhamma and Discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata shines in the world.

“Therefore, bhikkhus, an exertion should be made to understand: ‘This is suffering.’… An exertion should be made to understand: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’” – SN 56:48

Good and Bad Seeds For a person with wrong view, whatever actions [of body, speech, mind] are undertaken according to that view, whatever intentions, aspirations or decisions are undertaken according to that view— indeed, all activities whatsoever undertaken according to that view—incline toward what is unwelcome, unagreeable, unpleasing, unbeneficial, towards suffering. Just as when a chokeberry seed is planted in moist soil, whatever nutrients it draws from the earth or from the water inclines it towards bitterness, acridity, and disagreeableness. Why is that? Because the seed is bitter. For a person with right view, whatever actions [of body, speech, mind] are undertaken according to that view, whatever intentions, aspirations or decisions are undertaken according to that view— indeed, all activities whatsoever undertaken according to that view—incline toward what is welcome, agreeable, pleasing, beneficial, towards non-suffering. Just as when a sugarcane seed is planted in moist soil, whatever nutrients it draws from the earth or from the water inclines it towards sweetness, agreeableness, deliciousness. Why is that? Because the seed is sweet. – A 1:17.9–10 Kamma “I am the owner of my actions, heir of my actions; born of my actions, and bound to my actions, and supported by my actions. Whatever deeds I do, good or bad, of that I will become the heir.” – A 5.57 Right View and Kamma “When a noble disciple understands what is kammically unwholesome, and the root of unwholesome kamma, what is kammically wholesome, and the root of wholesome kamma, then he has right view.”

This Week’s Lists

Four Noble Truths • Understanding suffering, • Its origin or arising, • Its cessation, • Path leading to its cessation

Eightfold Path • Right view • Right intention • Right speech • Right action • Right livelihood • Right effort • Right mindfulness • Right concentration

Three Unwholesome Roots • Greed (attachment, lust) • Aversion (hatred, anger, aggression) • Delusion (ignorance, indifference)

Three Marks of Existence • Unsatisfactoriness (dukkha) • Impermanence (anicca) • Not self (anatta)

Five Aggregates (Skandhas) • Form (rupa: the physical world) • Feeling (vedana: pleasant, unpleasant, neutral) • Perception (sanna) • Mental Formations (sankharas: mental states, emotions, volitions) • Consciousness (vinnana)

Taints (Asavas) • Craving for sense pleasures • Becoming, or craving for existence • Ignorance/not understanding true nature of things • Attachment to opinions, views

Group Reflection

What’s your motivation for taking this course? What do you hope to get out of it? To learn more about Buddhism? Improve quality of life? Awaken?

How important is the possibility of reducing and ending suffering for you? How important is awakening? What ordinary or small experiences of liberation from suffering have you had in your daily life?

Home Reflection and Practice

1. What views do you currently live by? Spend a week noticing the primary views, orientations, or beliefs that inform your life, including the obvious ones as we all more subtle ones you’re not ordinarily aware of. What role do views have in your life? What is your relationship to them? Which views do you have that are not beneficial for you? Which views are beneficial? 2. Investigate the experience of dukkha in your life. Identify the different types of dukkha that are present in your life today. Be as comprehensive as you can, including your small and large experiences of dukkha or anything in between. Write a one-two sentence summary of your observations and what you learned from the discussion on dukkha in class and bring it to our next gathering to share with the group.