Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path - Part 2/3

This meditation continues an explanation of Buddha's Noble Eightfold path, with a number of intermittent periods to allow you to reflect and contemplate the concepts that have been presented. The primordial sound Om (which signifies the essence of the ultimate reality) is chanted lightly in parts. May all beings be well, may all be peaceful, may all be free from suffering.

Transcript

Dear friends,

Welcome to this explanation with time for reflection on a second group of aspects of the Noble Eightfold Path proposed by the Buddha.

By way of refresher,

The Eightfold Path consists of practices which are recommended in order to free ourselves from suffering.

The eight headings can be divided into three groupings.

Group one is moral conduct.

This comprises right speech,

Right action and right livelihood.

Group two,

Which we will look at in this talk and which can be described as mental discipline,

Covers right effort,

Right mindfulness and right concentration.

And finally there is group three,

Which we look at in a later talk and which deals with wisdom.

This comprises right understanding and right thought.

As mentioned in part one,

It helps if you study and consider these eight principles individually.

But as these suggested virtues and practices are interrelated and they support each other,

We should try to work on them all and as we attempt that general approach we will see that each practice helps the other alone.

Let us begin by seeing if we can bring ourselves to a state of rest.

Let's see if we can let go of the concerns of the day and try to provide space for that all-important time of quietness.

So make sure you are in a comfortable position,

Eyes open or closed as you wish.

Allow yourself to be supported by your chair or your cushion and relax into the ever-present support of gravity.

You are welcome to this quiet space.

You are welcome whoever you are and wherever you are on life's journey.

Let us now take a few deep breaths,

Breathing in and breathing out.

Breathing in and being aware that we are breathing in.

Breathing out and being aware that we are breathing out.

Thich Nhat Hanh,

The Buddhist monk,

Has a mantra which helps focus the mind.

He says,

I have arrived,

I am home,

In the here and in the now.

I have arrived,

I am home,

In the here and in the now.

So welcome to the here and the now.

Now we go on to consider mental discipline and we look at it under three headings.

First of all,

Right effort.

Right effort can itself be divided into two tasks.

The first challenge involves making a consistent effort to prevent unwholesome states of mind from arising within us.

And if they have arisen,

Doing our best to get rid of these troublesome and unpleasant states and feelings.

Unskilful deeds have their beginnings in unskillful thoughts.

We will be better off without them and the people around us will be better off too if we can curb these tendencies.

So our first challenge is to work to reduce the bad.

The second challenge is to positively work to cause good and wholesome states of mind to arise within us.

As well as that we look at the good already within us and try to bring it to further perfection.

Good deeds have their origins in good thoughts so we try to bring about positive thoughts and develop positive energies.

These challenges of right effort require the support of mindfulness and concentration and this helps to illustrate why it's difficult to separate the three aspects which we today bring together under the heading mental discipline.

It is possible to think of right effort in the abstract but the application of it requires both mindfulness and concentration.

Let's pause for one minute to give ourselves a chance to look at right effort in the context of our own lives.

Let's notice the good characteristics within us that might be enhanced.

Let's also notice the less attractive aspects of ourselves we might usefully try to curb.

Just 60 seconds for this examination.

You you next we move on to part two of this examination of mental discipline right mindfulness through the practice of right mindfulness we will come to be more aware of what is going on within and around us through this practice we will better notice our bodily sensations our feelings the myriad of thoughts that flow through our minds day by day hour by hour and even minute by minute we'll also notice what is going on in the world around us we will be more aware of the people we encounter along the way and we will become more conscious of their circumstances and their feelings being more aware of our bodies and our minds we will be better able to deal more wisely and more skillfully with the events that present themselves to us as we go through life we become more conscious of our surroundings and the people in our lives and we become better equipped to respond to them in a way that we would wish to react if only we were more mindfully prepared now of course we cannot expect to go through our days in a permanent mind state of awareness to the extent that we might wish but practices such as breathing exercises help bring us back into the present moment they have the advantage of being exercises that can be performed anywhere and anytime and without the need for equipment or books it's not necessary that we sit for hours even a mindful minute will help and remember we are only ever one breath away from the gateway to present moment awareness if we can learn to become aware of our breath we can learn to become aware of what is going on in and around us present moment awareness is a wonderful and an important start to any day let's pause for one minute now to allow time to practice concentrating on our breath and at the same time seeing if we can notice what is going on in and around us not judging just noticing and no worries if the mind wanders when you notice the wandering mind just try and bring the attention back to the breath to the awareness of your body and to the awareness of your surroundings so now that one minute pause to become aware a of our breath and be of our surroundings you you the tendency for the mind to wander is a lesson in awareness so while you will not go off on a tangent when it happens it is an interesting phenomenon to observe what is accurately called our monkey mind finally we take a look at the third aspect of mental discipline which is right concentration right concentration is rather different from simple mindfulness practice in mindfulness we try to become aware of the thoughts arising in our minds and the sensations arising in our bodies we also pay attention to what is actually happening in our surroundings so mindfulness could be described as a fluid noticing of what is going on the practice of right concentration on the other hand invites us to focus our attention on a particular object or a subject this might be the breath which is usefully always with us it might be an object in front of us such as a candle or an image it might be a mantra or a prayer or it might be a situation that we have experienced in the past or something that we wish to bring about in the future so in concentration practice we decide what it is we wish to have as the object of our focused attention for the session this practice can lead to a more active form of Buddhist practice in other words involved Buddhism I believe that our practice needs to go beyond a type of sitting which might just be for our own benefit important though that is but it should lead us on to gently but actively playing our part in the world in which we find ourselves the Dalai Lama says we are visitors on this planet we are here for 100 years at the most during that period we must try to do something good something useful with our lives he goes on if you contribute to other people's happiness you will find the true meaning of life words there from the Dalai Lama these practices of right mindfulness right effort and right concentration which we have looked at under the general heading of mental discipline all help us in different ways it's really not possible to separate one from the other but at times we might find particular attention to one approach is more suited to our current state and that's quite all right the secular idea of concentration will be a help to us if we begin to flag in our efforts we need to simply concentrate and stick with our practice it's not that we are goal obsessed the journey is as important as the destination indeed more important but we know that just as in the case of learning a musical instrument these instruments of the mind need regular practice if we are to see any benefit flowing from them so the message for today let us make an effort to try to avoid the bad try to cut out the bad if it has gained some foothold in us what are the good seeds and the good intentions within us every day strive to be a little better be mindful of what is going on within and around us so as to be ready to face life in a way that is helpful all round practice the art of concentration it will be a useful anchor and a raft in a world that can be stormy at times but in all this take care to be gentle with yourself gentle effort gentle mindfulness gentle concentration do your best where you can don't forget to give yourself a pat on the back now and then remember you are a good person trying to be better and in all your resolutions and your good efforts remember to be gentle with yourself a gentle attitude towards yourself will result in your having a compassionate attitude towards others and we all need to be on the receiving end of compassion and kindness may all your efforts be blessed namaste you

Reviews

Must find the other 2 parts to this, 1 and 3. Thank you.

You are such an amazing teacher you make things easy to understand Thanks Tony.

Thank you Tony. Outstanding explanation of the Buddha’s second group of the Noble Eightfold Path. I got so much out of this.
I look forward to your explanation of the third part of these Noble Paths.
Namaste 🙏

Daily walking the Buddha’s eightfold path is very rewarding, for the self, for others and for our precious world. Many thanks for the wonderful explanations🙏🏻 They stick the more you listen to them and the more you gently try. Namaste 🤓🍀

Stellar not only in understanding, but communicating profound truth and wisdom of Buddha. So grateful!🪴

Thanks Tony for another beautiful meditation! I hope you have a wonderful day. 🙏🏻💕

Magnificent, truth.Ty Tony
As I listen to you share this great wisdom.I hope to become a better person.The world needs more people like you.🙏 Namaste.

A beautiful way to end the day in these challenging times. Thank you Tony. Your gift of bringing peaceful reflection is much appreciated.

Excellent. Thank you 😊❤️

Always rewarding

Thanks for this clearly guided thoughtful practice

Good reminder that the journey is as (or more) important as the destination. 🙏

Thanks Tony looking forward to the 3rd, then repeating. Hope all good in Dublin 🙏🏻🌸

Always ever present! Thank you.

Very nice and impactful words.

A great reset for my wandering mind🙏 thank you

Fascinating insight into the practice Tony. Really appreciate it. Go raibh maith agat. Namaste 🙏

Thank you as always for sharing. Another beautiful meditation and reflection 🧘‍♀️🙏

Thank you, Tony for this clear explanation of the path. The one word that jumped out for me though: gentle! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻