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The Eightfold Path

November 9, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from a teaching called The Eightfold Path by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The Buddha taught that the end of suffering is possible. That’s very important. Many times in our society, we go to church, make lots of prayers, do what is required in our respective religions, but perhaps we have never been told that there is an end to suffering, and there is something that we can do rather than just wait on the rapture. There is something that we can do to pacify our suffering, purify our karma, get relief, and begin to dispel desire, attachment, and its hold on us.

The Buddha taught that the cessation of suffering is the Eightfold Path. The Buddha teaches that by following the Eightfold Path we will move towards nirvana. If we follow it diligently and accomplish it diligently, we will pacify suffering, and achieve nirvana.

I feel that no matter where you go in Dharma, you must understand the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Without understanding these, there is no result. Even if you are doing the highest levels of Vajrayana, you must understand these fundamental teachings. So, what is this magical Eightfold Path?

The Noble Eightfold path is: (click on the links below to learn more)

Sometimes if you look in a book, it may use a slightly different word. It’s just because the original language was translated slightly differently, but this is the right stuff.

The Eightfold Path is basically divided into three sections. The first section is wisdom, the second is ethical conduct, and the third is mental development. All of these must happen at the same time, and so it is essential to understand all of the Eightfold Path, and not simply rely on one angle and think you’ve really got it.

In the wisdom section there is right view and right intention. In the ethical conduct section there is right speech, right action, and right livelihood. In the mental development section there is right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. The wisdom section explains how to apply right thinking and gain wisdom. The ethical conduct section shows how to construct an ethical way in which to gain merit and do no harm. The mental development section is the actual meat and bones of the path.

We should never think of the Eightfold Path as a sequential, linear path. It isn’t that first you do right view, and then you go for right intention, and then you go for number three – right speech. It isn’t like that. It must be considered like the petals of a lotus in the sense that it is all one flower, and it opens up together. It should be thought of as interdependent because it gives rise to an interdependent method and it helps one to understand the many different factors of the path in a concise way.

This level of the Buddhist practice does not lead to enlightenment in one life. It takes lifetime after lifetime of consistent practice of the Eightfold Path in order to achieve some realization. So, that’s the slow route. Mahayana is a bit quicker, and Vajrayana is the one method in which you can achieve realization in one lifetime or at the time of death. We want liberation in one lifetime, but in order to do that you must train your mind according to the Eightfold Path. There is no doubt that this is the foundation of the Buddha’s teaching, and by itself will produce tremendous result.

Right Action

November 3, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from a teaching called the Eightfold Path by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Right action involves your physical body as a vehicle of expression, and it refers to deeds that we do with our body – our physical conduct. The Buddha taught that unwholesome actions lead to an unstable, unwholesome, and unhealthy state of mind. The principal is explained in terms of abstinence.

Right action means to abstain from harming sentient beings and especially to abstain from taking life, including one’s own – suicide, and doing harm intentionally or delinquently with your body to others. In other words, if you hit somebody or cause harm, if you get so angry at somebody that you punch them in the face, that’s not going to bring happiness, and definitely harms sentient beings. If we harm other beings or bring about their death by hitting them or smashing them with something, then we have brought about a cause that will result in our own death in the future. We have harmed our own life as well, as you have harmed someone that you professed to uphold on the previous steps on the Eightfold Path. You must never do that.

When we engage in the Eightfold Path, we don’t allow anything to be killed in our presence. If we can stop people from killing bugs, and never kill bugs ourselves, that’s the right way to go, because all of them are sentient beings, and they are all equal to us in their nature. We do not kill dogs. We do not kill cats. We do not kill people. We do not kill animals.

Regarding the consumption of meat, the way the Buddha taught it, is if somebody is going to kill an animal for you to eat, don’t do it. If the animal is already dead, as you would find meat in a supermarket, then that is acceptable to eat it because it is already dead. It is not going to come back because you didn’t eat it. But if you can prevent the death by not accepting anything that has been killed for you, never getting involved in slaughter, then that is the basis of it. Slaughtering animals in a slaughterhouse, or raising animals for slaughter for butchering would be wrong livelihood. Wrong action and wrong livelihood merge together and sometimes it’s hard to tell whether you are talking about one or the other. The point is it doesn’t matter. It’s the whole picture like a lotus.

You abstain from harming sentient beings, and especially from taking life. You abstain from taking what is not given to you, which includes stealing, robbery, fraud, deceitfulness, and dishonesty. Regarding what is not yours to give, rather than to steal it, you should practice the rest of the Eightfold Path, and purify yourself of the desire. Work with the desire, work with the phenomena, work with the root of it, and the way of it, and the result of it. Having done those things, there should be no desire to take from someone else or to have what somebody else has.

Here is an example of one way to cultivate that. Lets say you are practicing the path, and your friend gets a new car, and it’s just the kind of car you wanted. You just wished you could have had it. And you regret that it wasn’t you. You just think, “Boy, I wish I could have that car.” Now, you’re not going to steal the car probably if you are practicing the path, at least I hope not, but you have to examine the basis of not being happy for your friend, and wanting the car to be yours. That very idea of desire is the problem there.

Never take what is not given to you. Never steal. Never rob. Never commit fraud. All of this will bring great suffering. It basically destroys one’s mind. If one engages in deceitfulness and fraud, the mind becomes sick. You can’t think straight anymore. And it actually results in mental illness. There is so much confusion. You know how it is when you start telling lies. You have to keep on top of it, because pretty soon you’ll be telling different stories to everybody and you forget what you lied about. Have you ever seen kids do that or you?

Yeah, you should respect the belongings of others, and be happy for them in the sense that, “Oh my friend got a car. I’m so happy for her. I can see her joy. I rejoice in her joy.” Even if at first you have to say, “I rejoice in her joy” through gritted teeth. Keep doing it enough, and go deeper each time, eventually you will be joyful about the happiness of others. It really works.

Right action also has to do with abstaining from sexual misconduct. Positively formulated, Right action means to act kindly and compassionately, to be honest, to respect the belongings of others, and to keep sexual relationships harmless to others. It doesn’t mean you can’t do it.

Regarding sexuality it depends on your level of ordination. For a monk or a nun, any sexual activity is improper sexual activity because they have taken vows of celibacy. For householders it’s different. But still in all, one should never try to get with another person’s spouse, or to get with someone who is an improper age, or to get with somebody who would be harmed by getting with you in some way. Lets say there is a person that doesn’t have proper mental capacity and they don’t know better, and yet you get with them and it really harms them. That would be absolutely wrong action. So, sexual relationships should be wholesome, healthy, and not harmful. You should never harm another with that. You will suffer.

The Eightfold Path and Dharma in the West: Full Length Video Teaching

March 24, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling on March 23, 2012:

The Eightfold Path: Full Length Video Teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

November 30, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

“The origin of suffering is desire,” To illustrate this point, Jetsunma holds up her Blackberry. Even something that is a gift or designed to make our lives easier can be a burden if there is attachment or desire.