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Talk on Noble 8-fold Path beneath the Bodhi Tree at Bodghaya, India
Meditation takes many forms beyond sitting, including washing, cooking, and breathing, performed in mindfulness to observe feelings and perceptions deeply. While sitting under the Bodhi Tree, the history of the Buddha is recalled, from his time practicing self-mortification at Dungeshwari mountain to his realization that mindfulness is the essence of Buddhist practice. This essence is central to the Seven Factors of Enlightenment and the Noble Path of the Eight Correct Practices, Bat Chanh Dao. The Path of Eight Correct Practices was the subject of the Buddha’s first Dharma talk at Deer Park and his final instruction to Subhadda before attaining Mahaparinirvana.
The Path of Eight Correct Practices consists of:
- Correct View: Both a fruit and a cause of practice, it requires the absence of five wrong views: believing the body is the self (Than kien); oblique views of reality as permanent or dualistic (Bien kien); attachment to views as absolute truth (Kien thu kien), illustrated by the story of the father holding a bag of ash; and believing that rituals or taboos bring enlightenment (Gioi cam thu kien).
- Correct Thinking: Useful when expressing direct experience of life rather than metaphysical speculation.
- Right Speech: Builds mutual understanding and avoids four categories of wrong speech: not telling the truth (vọng ngữ); exaggeration; using “two tongues” (lưỡng thiệt) to please different people; and using gross words or swearing (Chửi bới).
- Correct Action: Karma is realized through the body, speech, and thinking, encompassing both action as a cause (Karma-hetu) and action as a fruit (Karma-phala).
- Right Livelihood: Illustrated by the monk (bhikshu) begging for food with three purposes: to cultivate humility, to practice equanimity and impartiality, and to share the Dharma through thân giáo (teaching by body/action).
- Right Energy: Using energy regularly rather than exhausting oneself in short bursts, practicing for joy and peace in the present and future.
- Right Mindfulness: Living daily life mindfully in the present moment, contrasted with wrong mindfulness which focuses on a distant future or deity.
- Right Concentration: Confronting reality and suffering rather than escaping into the four formless absorptions: limitless space, limitless consciousness, the sphere of nothingness, and the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception.
These eight branches are linked, where victory in one influences the others. The teaching is at the core of the Buddha’s Dharma, specifically rooted in the Satipatthana Sutta, the sutra on the four foundations of mindfulness. This manual is essential for practice, memorization, and consultation throughout life and at the moment of death.
Part of the following collection
Talk on Life and Death at Kusinagar, India