Harold Ramis’ Five-Minute Buddhist Pocket Guide: Item #13: The Fourth Step on the Noble Eight-fold Path is Right Action

 

The Noble Eightfold Path—- the fourth of the Buddha’s Noble Truths— consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha (suffering). These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

Ajahn Sucitto describes the path as “a mandala of interconnected factors that support and moderate each other.”The eight factors of the path are not to be understood as stages, in which each stage is completed before moving on to the next. Rather, they are understood as eight significant dimensions of one’s behavior — thoughts, words, and actions — that operate in dependence on one another; taken together, they define a complete path, or way of living.

In this post, we explore right action. Wikipedia entry: Right action falls under the division – or higher training – of ETHICAL CONDUCT. The description: “acting in a non-harmful way”. 

Per Barbara O’Brien at About.com — Religion and Spirituality — in Buddhism, right action, like all eight steps, works in harmony with all other steps on the path. This means that when we act “rightly,” we act without selfish attachment to our work. We act mindfully, without causing discord with our speech. Our “right” actions spring from compassion and from understanding of the dharma.

Barbara goes onto to write right action means keeping with the precepts. The ones most common in the various schools of Buddhism are:

1. Not killing

2. Not stealing

3. Not misusing sex

4. Not lying

5. Not abusing intoxicants

These are not like the Ten Commandments. They are a description of how an enlightened individual acts in response to life’s challenges. Compassion naturally leads to acting in harmony with those around us and indeed, with the universe as a whole.

RIGHT ACTION AND MINDFULNESS TRAINING

Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches Five Mindfulness Trainings that correspond to the five precepts:

1. Respecting life: Awareness of the damage caused by the destruction of life, we strive to protect all living beings and Mother Earth that sustains life.
2. Generosity: We give freely of our time and resources when/where they are needed (no hoarding). We do not exploit other people or resources for our own gain. We act to promote social justice and well-being for everyone.
3. Avoid sexual misconduct: By being aware of the pain caused by misusing sexual contact, we honor our commitments and also (when possible) protect others from sexual exploitation.
4. Loving speech and deep listening: This means avoiding language that causes enmity and discord. Through deep listening to others, we tear down the barriers that separate us.
5. Discerning consumption: This means nourishing ourselves and others with healthful food and avoiding intoxicants. It also involves what books we read or what television programs we watch. Addictive and agitating content should be avoided.

It’s important to remember also that genuine compassion is rooted inprajna, or “wisdom.” Prajna is the realization that the separate self is an illusion. This takes us back to not attaching our egos to what we do, expecting to be thanked or rewarded.

The Dalai Lama wrote eloquently of the relationship between right action and compassion: “According to Buddhism, compassion is an aspiration, a state of mind, wanting others to be free from suffering. It’s not passive — it’s not empathy alone — but rather an empathetic altruism that actively strives to free others from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and loving kindness. That is to say, one must understand the nature of the suffering from which we wish to free others (this is wisdom), and one must experience deep intimacy and empathy with other sentient beings (this is loving kindness).”

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NOTE IN RE MY SOBRIETY SCORECARD: I believe this post is long enough already. I will publish Sobriety Scorecard in separate post.