Noble Eightfold Path - Right View & Right Intention

As my brain swirls with thoughts and I am enfolded the energy of the impending storm, I have decided to continue on in addressing the Noble Eightfold Path or Eight Limbs.  As I scanned the list I looked at Right View and Right Intention and felt some uncertainty.  How can I write about right view and right intention when I have no clue what those could be.  As I scanned other writings I was brought back to the Four Noble Truths that I wrote about in my first post of this series:

1.       There is the existence of suffering

2.       There is the making of suffering

3.       There is a way out of that suffering

4.       There is a specific path to restore well-being called

This teaching had significant impact on my life during the past two weeks.  My son had a health scare and our family had to wait for two weeks for the results of a lymph node biopsy.  It was during this time I had to evaluate what the Dharma teaches in regards to suffering and determine what my right view and intention were in this situation.

It was not easy.  I really wanted this problem to be taken away.  However, suffering is a part of life.  I worked on acceptance of that truth and reminded myself that I am not the only woman in the world who has experienced loss.  I asked for prayers but I did not ask for specific results of those prayers.  I knew that my Christian friends would ask for either healing (on many levels) or for God’s will.  I knew that others would be focused on sending love, light, and peaceful energy into the situation.  I do not believe in a deity that pays singular attention to the needs of one person.  I would never presume that a god would give me preferential treatment over another mother.  I did, however, believe that the energy that could be created through prayer, chanting, involving others in the intention of raising energy, would create a space in which peace could be created in the knowing that we are all connected in our suffering and acceptance of it. 

My son’s medical condition ended up being benign.  Some may say it was a miracle, a healing, a blessing.  Others may say that it was God’s will.  I accept that it is what it is and if it had been a different outcome, I would have endeavored to accept that, also.  This Zen Buddhist parable illustrates how acceptance is the key to right view and right intention.

Once upon the time there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.

“Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.

“Maybe,” replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

“Maybe,” answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

“Maybe,” said the farmer.

As the storm approaches and the wind begins to stir the leaves from the trees, I work to maintain the view that even when the world is in turmoil, there are still moments of peace to be found. 

The Noble Eightfold Path – Right Livelihood

Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh wrote,"To practice Right Livelihood (samyag ajiva), you have to find a way to earn your living without transgressing your ideals of love and compassion. The way you support yourself can be an expression of your deepest self, or it can be a source of suffering for you and others. " ... Our vocation can nourish our understanding and compassion, or erode them. We should be awake to the consequences, far and near, of the way we earn our living.”

The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching [Parallax Press, 1998], p. 10.

Right livelihood has held great significance in my life. I learned many years ago that working in a position that does express my deepest self can lead to dissatisfaction, depression, and loss of attunement with who I really am.

My first job at sixteen was working in the laundry at a nursing home.  My inability to fold fitted sheets soon led to a promotion to nursing assistant.  My grandmother and mother had both worked as nursing assistants in the same facility and were well-liked and considered to be caring and compassionate workers.  I like to think that I followed in that family tradition.  I enjoyed that job and had hoped to eventually go forward and earn my nursing degree.  My father, in a rare departure from his view of traditional roles for women, insisted that I go to a four year college and pursue something other than a two year nursing license.  There was no discussion and I rebelled by going to school for a year and then getting married.  I showed him!

It took many years for me to get back onto a career path that allowed me to express my desire to be of service to others. From 1981 to 1994, I worked for an outdoor power equipment company, first as an export clerk, then moving my way to executive secretary (major fail!), and then onto my ten year position as a production control specialist, scheduling assembly lines and support operations.  It was a bad fit that led to risky and unfulfilling relationships and addiction.  I was also aware that the products sold by this company were being used in ways that harmed the environment (loss of significant amounts of the Amazon rainforest) and production workers were being treated poorly.  I was often taken to task when I raised the issue of the impact that long periods of overtime would have on families and was told that I was not to worry about individuals but about numbers. 

I was able, however, to take advantage of the tuition reimbursement program offered by the company to finish my undergraduate degree and eventually use my retirement fund to finance my graduate studies in counseling.  When I finally was able to move from a job that only fed, clothed, and housed me to a career that fulfilled me, I was able to access that deeper part of myself that finds great satisfaction in being of service.  I knew when I left that job that I wanted to dedicate my life to helping other women through significant transitions in their lives, be it recovering from addiction or finding safety.   I find that I am at my best when I am in a role that allows me to support others in a way that encourages their growth and healing. 

At times, when someone asks if what I do is too traumatic or stressful, or if the possibility of funding cuts could impact my employment, and if I should find something else, I know that right now this is where I belong, that what I do is the right livelihood for me.

The Eightfold Path - Right Speech

This is the first in a series on the 8 Limbs, otherwise known as the Nobel Eightfold Path.  I have chosen to write about the ones that resonate with me the most and today I am thinking a lot about the path of Right Speech.

In cultivating right speech it is very important for me to release my attachment to being right.  That looks strange as I type it, but it is true.  Many times right speech is interpreted as only speaking the truth and exercising freedom of speech.  However, I cannot always be certain that what I say is true and it may only be true for me.  How I relate my truth becomes very important.  Sometimes it comes down to asking myself would I rather be right or would I rather be kind.  I don’t need to express my opinion every time I have one. 

During these highly charged political times there are plenty of people who are expressing their opinions and debating the issues of the day.  People who have the opposite opinions on matters of policy than me are not necessarily wrong; they are looking at the issues from where they stand, from where they live, from their experiences.  By speaking their truth they may seem in total opposition to my truth.  So what is right speech?

“Right speech is abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter.”— SN 45.8

Over the past few years I have noticed that the internet has given people the freedom to say things anonymously that they probably wouldn’t say otherwise.  I have stopped looking at comments on news websites because people are choosing to use the comment areas as a place to bully.  I have also heard speech, seen comments, and viewed bumper stickers that are not only offensive, but threatening to my way of life and viewpoint.  Freedom of speech is often used as an excuse by the person who makes the statement or by the persons who do not condone the speech but remain silent. 

The following criteria for right speech comes from the Buddhas teachings to Prince Abhaya.  (Tathagata is the word in Pali that Buddha uses when referring to himself.)

 [1] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial (or: not connected with the goal), unendearing & disagreeable to others, he does not say them.

[2] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, unbeneficial, unendearing & disagreeable to others, he does not say them.

[3] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, but unendearing & disagreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them.

[4] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial, but endearing & agreeable to others, he does not say them.

[5] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, unbeneficial, but endearing & agreeable to others, he does not say them.

[6] "In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, and endearing & agreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them. Why is that? Because the Tathagata has sympathy for living beings."

The main factors are three: whether or not a statement is true, whether or not it is beneficial, and whether or not it is pleasing to others. The Buddha himself would state only those things that are true and beneficial, and would have a sense of time for when pleasing and unpleasing things should be said. Notice that the possibility that a statement might be untrue yet beneficial is not even entertained.

I am not perfect.  I tend to be like Joe Biden, spouting off on issues, expressing my dismay at injustices, cursing when cut off in traffic, becoming angry when my truth is opposed.  I am trying to discern when to best keep my mouth shut.  That is not always easy.

There is another aspect to right speech that has become very important to me and that is how I talk to myself.  What I say to myself can be just as damaging as what I read or hear others say.  I am my worst critic and often my worst bully.  Right speech, therefore, becomes an internal process.  I need to pay careful attention to both, as how I express myself is a reflection of what is going on internally.

The Four Noble Truths

To help me organize my thoughts around the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path I am starting a series of posts that outline what I have learned.  Take what is of value to you and ponder the rest with an open mind and heart.

The Four Noble Truths

1.       There is the existence of suffering

2.       There is the making of suffering

3.       There is a way out of that suffering

4.       There is a specific path to restore well-being called The Noble Eightfold Path.

 .

Avoiding Suffering . . . . .

There is suffering.  Who can deny it?  I have known people who have tried their hardest to avoid it, but truth be known it becomes even more difficult when one is trying to avoid it.  Whenever I got into trouble as a teenage or even as an adult, my mother would quietly say to me “I am not going to tell your father.”  The message I got was that the world would end if my father found out so therefore it is best to keep him in the dark.  This meant that my mother suffered in silence and I didn’t get any support from my parents when I was struggling.  When something happened that my mother couldn’t avoid telling my father, then, yes, all hell broke loose.  I often wonder if it was because he had been sheltered from so many of my past failings that he hadn’t had a chance to develop an understanding that I was a flawed individual who was going to disappoint him sooner or later.

I knew a woman who said that it was important to avoid “dark” things.  She only wanted to know about the good in the world, refusing to read bad news or talk about things she found disturbing, such as mental illness or violence.  I honored that in her, but found that I was not able to talk to her about a lot of things in my life.  I work in a profession where I am exposed to the impact of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse every day.  Her avoidance of anything to do with the suffering in the world protected her but left me in another situation where I was unable to discuss the pain I felt when I heard a story or even the joy I felt when I was able to connect with someone with severe mental illness.

Embracing suffering . . . .

In our attempts to avoid suffering in the world we can forget that we are all inter-connected by virtue of our heritage as human beings and residents of the Earth.  We all contain the same elements and share the same experiences.  Our viewpoints may differ so it remains very important to remember that on a very deep level we are all connected and interdependent upon each other.  By exposing ourselves to others’ suffering we are also removed from the isolation that we feel when we experience our own suffering.  This is illustrated in Phillip Moffitt’s (2012) description of the Buddhist parable of the mustard seed in his book, Emotional Chaos to Clarity.

          “When a life has been lost or great physical or mental damage done, there is no going back; there is only going forward.  You hold on to a personal claim because of what you lost, you assume the identity of the victim.  It may see right and proper, but oftentimes it is just another form of self-imprisonment.  In the parable of the mustard seed, a distraught mother comes to the Buddha with her dead child in her arms, pleading with him to bring her child back to life.  The Buddha says he will do so if she can bring him a mustard seed from a household that has not known death.  The woman frantically goes from house to house, asking if they have not known death, until finally she realizes that all households have known death, and she is able to accept that great loss is a part of life (p. 253-254).” 

The Buddha teaches us that suffering is everywhere and that we need it.  Without it we cannot be happy.  I know that at first glance it doesn’t seem to make sense but it is true.  Would we recognize the light if we did not know what dark is?  How can we know happiness, if we have not experienced suffering? 

Before he reached enlightenment and became the Buddha, Siddhartha was living behind the palace walls not knowing he was happy.  He was in a state of comfort that was consistent and satisfying.  It was not until he left the palace and saw the suffering of the world that he was able to contrast his life and face the truth of existence.  Life is suffering and it is happiness.  They can exist apart and simultaneously.  It is like riding the waves of the ocean.  We can be on the crest and able to see clearly, grateful for all we have, and then we crash into the space between and despair the loss of the view and worry we will never come out of the dark trench. 

When I realized that my attachment to staying on the crest of the wave was causing me more suffering than being in the trench, I was able to view life differently and be more satisfied.  I saw both the hard times and the good times as temporary and my attachment to maintaining the good and avoiding the bad as causing more suffering.  A Buddhist teacher once drew a formula on the board that illustrated the point.  Suffering X Resistance to the Suffering = Pain.  The more I resist, the greater my pain. 

In his book, Dancing with Life, Phillip Moffitt, taught me that the best way to manage my attachment is to keep an eye on the flame of my emotions.  If my emotions flare up, I know that I am attached to an outcome, an idea, a viewpoint, or a person, place, or thing.  My intention becomes keeping my flame low enough to feel passion and compassion, but not so high as to flare up and burn myself out with the intensity of attachment.  I am not perfect.  Politics, injustice, and fear of loss can add fuel to my flame very quickly.  However, through mindfulness of my reactions I can bring that flame back down to a point where I may be less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors that damage my health and peace of mind. 

Over the next weeks I will be writing on the Noble Eightfold Path.

                “Wherever the Noble Eightfold Path is practiced, joy, peace and insight are there.” (Mahaparinibbana Sutra, Digha Nikaya, 16.

                The Eight Limbs are:

                Right View

                Right Thinking

                Right Speech

                Right Action

                Right Livelihood

                Right Diligence

                Right Mindfulness

                Right Concentration