What is Right Concentration?

The last stage along the Eightfold Path is Right Concentration. What sort of skills did this imply, at least in the context of early Buddhism? We will look at some of the Buddha’s famous similes in order to make sense of the training.

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What is Right Effort?

Right effort is one of the more overlooked aspects of the Eightfold Path but may also be one of the most important. We’ll discuss the four parts of right effort and how to distinguish effort from “efforting”.

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What is Right Livelihood?

When looking at right livelihood within Buddhism, traditionally there are five prohibited livelihoods. However there is also a great deal of interesting additional material about inappropriate livelihoods for monastics, as well as a couple of wrong livelihoods for laypeople that the Buddha was reluctant to discuss. We’ll go over it all! It’s worth pointing out…

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What is Right Action?

The Buddha gave three key examples of actions we should avoid, but nuances remain depending on our status as layperson or monastic, as well as our understanding of some of the more in-depth teachings about the self.  

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What is Right Speech?

What did the Buddha have to say about right speech? It was more than just “Don’t lie.” Some of his conclusions may be helpful to us today in a world of instant communication, both one-to-one and one-to-many.

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What is Right Intention?

As we traverse the path, the quality of our intention is of great importance. What are the three key aspects of Right Intention? We’ll try to answer that question in this video. Thanks for watching!

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What is Right View?

The first step along the Eightfold Path is Right View. We will see that Right View has three interrelated aspects, all of which are key to unlocking its secrets. For a very in-depth, scholarly treatment of the subject, see Paul Fuller’s book The Notion of Diṭṭhi in Theravāda Buddhism.

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What is the Eightfold Path?

  Many of us have heard of the Eightfold Path as perhaps the definitive description of Buddhist practice. What is it? Descriptions of the elements of the Eightfold Path can be found throughout the suttas, but a good quick rundown of the entire path can be found at Saṃyutta Nikāya 45.8.

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On the Path

The Fourth and last Noble Truth is the most complex and important. In the suttas the Buddha gives many different understandings of the Path to nibbāna, but of those the one most associated with the Fourth Noble Truth is the Eightfold Path. This is the path of right view, right intention, right speech, right action,…

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