[4.52] The Fourth Noble Truth The Truth Of The Path

lindn has added a photo to the pool:

Honestly, click this picture or press L to see it against black, it makes a big difference here!

The first part of the Buddhas life was lived in luxurious palaces, enjoying a care-free existence as every need and desire was met. And yet he was far from happy. After renouncing life as a prince, he lived for many years, homeless, with no clothes, sometimes existing on a single grain of rice per day. Still, no happiness.

Between these two extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, the Buddha detailed a path of self-improvement known as the Middle Way, which if followed, would lead to the end of suffering.

Traditionally it is said that the Buddha gave 84,000 teachings, each one of them a complete and perfect way of destroying suffering and attaining lasting happiness. Why so many?! Because there are so many different people, with so many different personalities, mindsets and tastes, and thus the Buddha taught according to each individuals need. Yet all of the teachings have the same essence, and are based around ethics, concentration and wisdom. Most people will have heard of the Noble Eightfold Path: these *guidelines* make us act in ways that improve our lives now and in the future.

We have right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration, all of which include the ideas of not harming living beings, not lying, not stealing and so forth. But it goes further than this rather than telling us what we should not do, the Noble Eightfold Path tells us in positive terms of ! what we should do. So instead of not lying, we should actively take it upon ourselves to always speak honestly (right speech). Instead of not killing, we should actively take it upon ourselves to save lives, for instance by buying animals who are to be slaughtered and caring for them (right action).

Right livelihood is a big one, especially in todays world where most of us have to work. The Buddha specifically banned his followers from selling weapons, drugs and alcohol, dealing in beings (slave trade, brothels, raising animals for slaughter), and meat production, and while Im sure that most of us are not working in jobs that involve destroying the rainforests, selling children or executing people, we should look at our work and see how much harm it causes.

Perhaps the most important factor is right view. Right view is free from prejudice and superstition, and understands the ultimate nature of existence: the emptiness of all phenomena (more on this later). This completely shatters our current understanding of existence, and since our own view of the world forms our thoughts and actions, from right view springs right thoughts and right actions.

I hope everyone is well - enjoy your weekend guys and girls!

Matt

If youd like to find out more about this photo, with tips on how I achieved it, and to see the original shot, as well as for further discussion on the ideas involved, you can pop over to the Samsara Nirvana 52 Week Project blog.
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