Noble Eightfold Path
Buddhism has something called the Noble Eightfold Path, which describes how to follow a life that leads to understanding the truth about all things. It is a guide to ethical and mental development, almost, but not quite, comparable to the Ten Commandments. I’m intrigued.
Right View
Right view means that you understand the world and its impermanent and imperfect nature: “Knowledge with regard to sadness, knowledge with regard to the origination of sadness, knowledge with regard to the stopping of sadness, knowledge with regard to the way of practice leading to the stopping of sadness.”
Right Intention
While right view refers to the cognitive aspect of wisdom, right intention refers to the volitional aspect: “Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness.”
Right Speech
Words and speech have enormous consequences and can mean life or death, war or peace: “Abstaining from lying, abstaining from divisive speech, abstaining from abusive speech, abstaining from idle chatter.”
Right Action
Right action involves the body as natural means of expression; unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind: “Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity.”
Right Livelihood
Right livelihood means living a righteous and ethical life: “There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, having abandoned dishonest livelihood, keeps his life going with right livelihood.”
Right Effort
The same type of energy that fuels desire, envy, aggression, and violence can on the other side fuel self-discipline, honesty, benevolence, and kindness. Right effort is detailed in four types of endeavors that rank in ascending order of perfection: to prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states; to abandon unwholesome states that have already arisen; to arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen; and to maintain and perfect wholesome states already arisen.
Right Mindfulness
Right mindfulness means you actively observe and control the way your thoughts go; it is the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear consciousness: contemplation of the body; contemplation of feeling; contemplation of the state of mind; and contemplation of the mental qualities.
Right Concentration
The meditating mind first directs itself onto an object, then sustains concentration, and finally intensifies concentration step by step: rapture and pleasure born from detachment, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation; fixed single-pointed awareness free from directed thought and evaluation, assurance; composed and mindful, a pleasurable abiding; purity of composure and mindfulness, neither in pleasure nor in pain.
Sources:
The Big View
Wikipedia
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