Buddhism-Arya Ashtangika marga

Faith Mysticism

oi-Staff

By Super

Friday, February 26, 2016, 11:06

What has been obtained by this conquest of Dharma creates affection. Through spiritual education in the noble eight fold path of Sila (morality), Samadhi (Meditation), Panna (insight or wisdom), man becomes liberated from ignorance, craving and sorrow. He achieves supreme enlightenment (Samma-Sambodhi) and transcends his separate limited individuality and overcome the sounds of birth and death and gets the supreme silence.

1. Sira

Samma Vaca-Right Speech
Samma Kammanta-Right action and conduct
Samma Ajina-Right means of livelihood
Samma Vayama-Right effort and endeavour

Samadhi

Samma Sati-Right Mindfulness

Samma Samadhi-Right Concentration

Pauna

Samma dithi-Right understanding and view
Samma Sankappa. Right intention and thought

In short what is right speech? - Abstaining from lying, tale bearing, harsh language and vain talks.

Right action: Abstaining from stealing, unlawful sexual passions, killing either physically, verbally or mentally. Every action should be to understand reality.

Right Livelihood: Honest earning without giving least trouble to any in any manner. Serving and earning is to give happiness and peace to others and not to demand or take anything from others,
line with complete renunciation.

Right effort: All our efforts should be to expel all evil thoughts, speech and actions, endure all kinds of
sorrows, sufferings without grumbling, efforts to keep all our senses under check, develop equanimity and tranquility and to realize the supreme.

Right mindfulness: The way that leads to the attainment of purity in thought, word and deed which helps to overcome all our pains and griefs, sorrows and lamentations. By this we can develop tranquility (Samatha bhavana) and insight (Vipissana bhavana) and important meditative exercise - the mindfulness of melting (Dnapava sati).

Right concentration: It is one pointedness of mind, fixing the mind to a single point of object which leads to trance. The concentration is four fold:

1. The mind is secluded and is free from passions and evil thoughts, accompanied by reasoning and investigation, finds joy.

2. The mind fixed with internal serenity becomes free from all reasoning and investigation.

3. The mind dwells with equanimity and mindfully happy - self possessed. It is a state where intellect becomes intuitional.

4. The mind is beyond the dualities of pleasure and pain, elation and depression, purity, equanimity and awareness, reigns in the supreme.

Right understanding: One should rightly understand the cause of Sukkha-Dukkha. Rightly understand what kind of karma he should execute to extinguish the desires, craving and wanting.
He should rightly understand to lead a holy life and possess the right silence.

More than any earthly power
More than all the joys of heaven
More than rule O'er all the world
Is the entrance to the stream

(Dhammapada 178 )

Right thought: Thoughts free from lust, ill will, cruelty, cheat, corrupt thoughts, ready to renounce the worldly pleasure and venture to realize the reality.

Law of causation: Buddha approached the problems of life in a realistic and rational manner. He saw sufferings dominating. His main aim was to remove sufferings and make man free from it.

He believed in the law of causation. Without a cause nothing can exist. What we enjoy as pain or pleasure are only the effect of a previous cause. There can never be any effect without a cause and a cause without any effect. This chain of cause, and effect is unbreakable. This in fact is the law which keeps the cosmos eternally going. Thereby he traced the cause for all sufferings as cravings and desires. As long as there exists a trace of desire and attachment in the mind, the result would be birth, suffering, decay and death. The whole attempt of Buddha was to eliminate all kinds of desires in every form and shape from one's mind.

The achievements depend upon the extent of will power one possesses to eliminate sufferings, pain as well as the pleasures to get peace, and the supreme silence. When the cause ceases, automatically effects stop functioning. Only at that time the individual can realize the real silence.

About the author

This article by M.Ram Mohan is published in the Vedanta Vani of Chinmaya Mission.