The 8 fold path: a way of life

The 8 fold path is a model that the Buddha often used to describe the path out of stress and vexation. When adopted as a framework for harmonizing lifestyle with Dhamma, with continued practice the sections of the path continually deepen, cross-connect and support each other.

One simple way to work with the 8 fold path:

Choose one of the sections to focus on, then work with it regularly until it becomes more familiar and integrated into our daily activities.
Move to another section and repeat the process.

A break down of each of the sections of the 8 fold path is listed below.

Wise View
- Throughout the day, notice experience from the perspective of this/this conditionality:
  - When this happened, this happened. When this ceased, this ceased.
  - Continually observe experience in terms of what leads to what.
  - Notice and learn about what fueled what is occurring now?
Wise Aspiration
- Set the aspiration to:
  - Make decisions that lead toward giving regularly and a more simple life.
  - Take actions that come from a place of friendliness towards ourselves and other beings whenever possible.
  - Think and act in a way that minimizes intentional harm to ourselves and other beings whenever possible.
Wise Speech
- Is what I am about to say (internally or aloud):
  - Truthful?
  - Divisive, abusive or for idle distraction?
  - Beneficial?
  - Being said at the right time? Using discernment to choose the right time to speak increases the likelihood that what is said will land well.
Wise Action
- Before taking an action:
  - How can we minimize the chances of taking actions that result in killing living beings?
  - Is what we are taking offered freely to us?
  - How can we prevent harming ourselves and others with sexual energy?
  - How does avoiding intoxicants help in taking wise actions?
Wise Livelihood
- Is how we earn, spend and consume:
  - Grounded in wise speech?
  - Do we have to engage in harmful speech to do it?
  - Grounded in wise action?
  - Do we have to take potentially harmful actions to do it?
Wise Effort
- Training and grooming the mind throughout the day:
  - To let go of unhealthy mental activities.
  - To prevent unhealthy mental activities from arising.
  - To cultivate healthy mental activities.
  - To sustain healthy mental activities, strengthen and perfect them.
- Putting the mind on something healthy and returning the mind to it moment to moment fulfills all 4 aspects of this training:
  - Chanting/mantra.
  - Cultivating these 4 qualities
    - Friendliness (metta), compassion for beings experiencing difficulty (karuna), joy for others experiencing good fortune (mudita), equanimity (upekkha).
  - Awareness while breathing in and out.
  - Emptiness and experiencing the space that experiences occur within.
  - Awareness of any or all of these 4 aspects of experience
    - body experiences, feeling tone experiences, mental state/mood experiences, thoughts and mental activities.
  - Etc.
Wise Awareness
- Observing throughout the day:
  - Body
    - Breathing, postures, feeling the whole body, any of the 5 sense experiences, the elements, etc.
  - Feeling tone
    - Pleasant, unpleasant, neither pleasant-nor-unpleasant.
    - The process of feeling tones occurring.
  - Mind states and moods
    - The mind with lust, the mind without lust, the mind with aversion, the mind without aversion, the mind with delusion, the mind without delusion, uplifted mind, etc.
  - Thoughts and mental activities
    - 4 ennobling realities, 5 hindrances, 5 aggregates, 6 sense bases, 7 factors of awakening, etc.
Wise Unification Of Mind
- Setting favorable conditions for, and regularly cultivating:
  - Formal meditation practice.
  - Mind that is clear, bright, calm, flexible and not easily stirred.
  - Awareness of the sense experiences.
  - Awareness of movements of body and mind.
  - Resting in contentment
  - Freedom from the 5 hindrances.
  - The jhānas.