The Noble Eightfold Path – CREDO LXXI

   
I would be remiss if I did not share this beautiful rendition of Buddha’s advice to his disciples. Unlike the Ten Commandments of Moses, it has no specific dos and don’ts but suggests eight mental attitudes that can guide anyone to living a more harmonious and compassionate life. I memorized these over fifty years ago and often recite them to myself before going to sleep. I hope that they may be as meaningful to you as they have been for me. It never ceases to amaze me how these wise words come down to us through the millennia and are still as relevant to the human condition as they were when first spoken!

THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH

   The Four Noble Truths
There is suffering in this world:
All suffering comes from attachment and desire.
There is a way beyond suffering.
The way is the Noble Eightfold Path:

RIGHT VIEWS
Free from superstition and delusion

RIGHT ASPIRATIONS
High and worthy of the intelligent; worthy of man

RIGHT SPEECH
Kindly, open, and truthful

RIGHT CONDUCT
Peaceful, honest, and pure

RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
Bringing hurt or danger to no living being

RIGHT EFFORT
In self-training and self-control

RIGHT MINDFULNESS
The active, watchful mind

RIGHT RAPTURE
In deep meditation on the realities of life
       – Gautama Buddha, 6th Century BC

lovingly,
ao