The Noble Eightfold Path: Meaning, Benefits and Practice

The Eightfold Path is the true path that helps practitioners liberate themselves from suffering and attain Nirvana. The Eightfold Path includes eight aspects: Right View, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood, Right Action, Right Speech, Right Intention, and Right Effort, which are divided into three main elements concerning morality, wisdom, and mental discipline.

“The Eightfold Path is truly a bitter medicine for curing the illness of suffering. Or it can be a difficult and challenging journey for those seeking true happiness, like you and me. Many people have given up, and some have turned to other paths.”

There are two extremes, which are: indulging in sensual pleasures or hedonism, which is a low, vulgar, worldly, non-sacred, and unprofitable way; or self-mortification or asceticism, which is a method that only brings pain, is not sacred and not beneficial.

The Buddha avoided these two extremes and discovered the Middle Way, which helps everyone to know and see, leading to peace and a profound understanding of reality, leading to Enlightenment and Nirvana. This is the Noble Eightfold Path that leads to the cessation of suffering.

In this article, LotusBuddhas will share our understanding of the Eightfold Path, what it is, the significance of each component, and how to incorporate it into daily life to reap its wonderful benefits.

What is the Noble Eightfold Path?

The Noble Eightfold Path, often referred to as the Middle Way, is a fundamental teaching in Buddhism, functioning as a guiding compass towards the attainment of enlightenment.

It offers a structured approach to eradicate suffering, called dukkha in Buddhism, a central tenet encapsulated in the Four Noble Truths.  Each element of the Path is interrelated, converging towards a comprehensive practice that cultivates wisdom, ethical conduct and mental discipline.

1. Right View: This entails a profound comprehension of the Four Noble Truths: the reality of suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering. Right view also includes recognizing the impermanent and interdependent nature of all phenomena, the absence of a fixed self (anatta), and the principle of cause and effect (karma).
2. Right Intention: This involves an ethical commitment to renounce harmful desires, cultivate goodwill, and promote harmlessness. Right thought is the intention to act with compassion, kindness, and wisdom, refraining from thoughts of greed, ill-will and cruelty.
3. Right Speech: This implies abstaining from false speech, slanderous speech, harsh words, and frivolous talk. Instead,  one should use words truthfully, harmoniously, gently, and meaningfully, contributing to mutual understanding and fostering peace.
4. Right Action: This embodies the principle of non-harming, prohibiting actions such as killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct. It encourages actions that promote the welfare and respect for all living beings.
5. Right Livelihood: This implies earning a living that does not cause harm or suffering to others. Professions that involve killing, deceit, exploitation, or promoting harmful substances are discouraged.
6. Right Effort: This refers to the cultivation of a balanced mental energy directed towards wholesome qualities. It involves the effort to prevent unwholesome states of mind, abandon arisen unwholesome states, arouse unarisen wholesome states and maintain arisen wholesome states.
7. Right Mindfulness: This involves cultivating a clear, focused, and non-judgmental awareness of the present moment, understanding the true nature of phenomena including the body, feelings, mind and mental objects. Mindfulness serves as a protective shield against impulsive and harmful responses.
8. Right Concentration: This pertains to the development of deep states of meditative absorption, called jhana in Buddhism.  This practice leads to a mind that is fully immersed, stable, and tranquil, allowing deeper insights into the nature of existence.

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh once taught: “The path is not separate from our current reality, including the suffering we are experiencing. The path does not fall from the sky to the ground. The path means finding a way right in the midst of suffering.” Therefore, the path leading to the true way is also liberation and peace – a path that we are always seeking in this life.

The Noble Eightfold Path thus serves as a practical and ethical guide in Buddhism, addressing both the inner and outer aspects of life. It is not a sequence of steps to be followed in order,  but rather a set of integrated practices to be developed concurrently. It is through the simultaneous development of these eight factors that one can achieve liberation from suffering, ultimately realizing the state of Nirvana.

Meaning and Value of Each Component of the Noble Eightfold Path

In the previous section, LotusBuddhas provided you with an overview of what the Eightfold Path is and what aspects it encompasses. In this next section, we will delve deeper into the significance of each element within the Noble Eightfold Path!

1. Right View

Right View means proper understanding, correct awareness, right perspective, and right viewpoint.

The correct understanding of the ten Subjects (dasa-vatthu) as taught by the Buddha includes:

1. The moral significance in offering food.
2. The moral significance in making great offerings (accommodations, land, resources for Buddhist activities…to the Sangha).
3. The moral significance in making minor offerings (gifts, essentials, clothes, utensils, medicines…to the Sangha).
4. The presence of good or bad results for good or bad, virtuous or non-virtuous actions (karma).
5. The moral significance in being filial or not to one’s mother.
6. The moral significance in being filial or not to one’s father.
7. The existence of beings who are reborn immediately, continuously.
8. The existence of this world, this life, this realm.
9. The existence of other worlds, other lives, other realms.
10. The existence of sages and monks in this world who have practiced correctly, realized the true way, those who have attained transcendent knowledge about the truths of this world and other worlds; and have taught them to others and all beings.

a) Correct knowledge and understanding about the Law of Karmic Retribution, for example, all beings are the owners of their actions (Kamma) and will reap the corresponding good or bad karmic results.

b) Correct knowledge and understanding through penetrating the true nature of spiritual and physical processes, that is, Right View regarding the analysis of Name and Form (nama-rupa-pariccheda-nana).

c) Correct knowledge and understanding through penetrating the root causes and various other causes of spiritual and physical processes leading to the understanding of causal relationships, that is, Right View regarding the principle of Conditionality (paccaya-pariggaha-nana).

d) Correct knowledge and understanding by realizing Inner Wisdom, that is, Right View regarding Insight Wisdom (Vipassana Nana). There are ten stages of Insight Wisdom pertaining to this world (or conventional truth), starting from the wisdom or Right View of analysis, that is, Analytical Knowledge (Sammasana Nana) to the wisdom or Right View of conformity (Anuloma Nana).

e) Correct knowledge and understanding about the Four Stages of Enlightenment, that is, Right View regarding the Four Noble Paths (Ariya Magga Nana).

(*) Now, to understand that wrong view is wrong and right view is right, we need to practice “Right View”.

(*) To be diligent, to strive to overcome wrong views (misconceptions, prejudices) and to develop right view, we need to practice “Right Effort”.

(*) To overcome wrong views (misconceptions, prejudices) with mindfulness and to live with right mindfulness along with right view, we need to practice “Right Mindfulness”.

2. Right Intention

Right Intention is the thought, idea, or thinking that is correct, proper reasoning.

1. Thought or idea free from sensual desire, devoid of lust, or renunciation of desire (Nekkhama-sankappa).
2. Thought or idea free of ill will, without hatred (Abyapada-sankappa).
3. Thought or idea without aggression, non-violence (Avihimsa-sankappa).

‘Thought, way of thinking or idea’ here does not mean “action” or the process of thinking or “conceptualizing.” The term “idea” is more appropriate, although the word “idea” has other, broader formal meanings as well.

It can be termed as: devoid of intention, not harboring thoughts (of desire, ill will, aggression…). It is used skillfully to denote the orientation or application of mind (including consciousness and mental factors) toward objects (vitakka). In Sino-Vietnamese, it is called “tầm,” which can mean contemplation or scanning over the objects of the mind.

• Now, to understand that erroneous thinking is wrong and correct thinking is right, we need to practice “Right View.”
• To be diligent, to strive to overcome wrong thinking (incorrect contemplation) and to develop correct thinking (right thought), we need to practice “Right Effort.”
• To overcome erroneous thinking (incorrect contemplation) through right mindfulness and to live with right mindfulness along with correct thinking, we need to practice “Right Mindfulness.”

Therefore, there are 3 Factors (components) that go along and support Right Intention, which are: Right View, Right Effort, and Right Mindfulness.

3. Right Speech

Right Speech is the third step of the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism. It refers to the practice of speaking in a way that is truthful, helpful, and kind, and avoiding speech that is harmful, deceitful, or divisive.

Right Speech involves four specific practices:

1. Speaking truthfully: avoiding lies, misrepresentations, and deceptive speech.
2. Speaking kindly: avoiding harsh, abusive, or insulting speech.
3. Speaking beneficreetly: avoiding speech that is harmful, divisive, or that causes harm to others.
4. Speaking beneficreetly: avoiding idle talk, gossip, or speech that lacks purpose.

The practice of Right Speech helps to cultivate a peaceful and harmonious environment,  and to promote understanding and cooperation. It also helps to counteract the unwholesome qualities of speech, such as anger, hate and cruelty.

4. Right Action

Right Action is the fourth step of the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism. It refers to the practice of acting in ways that are morally wholesome and avoiding actions that are harmful or unethical.

Right Action involves avoiding three specific types of unwholesome actions:

1. Killing: avoiding taking life, either of human beings or other beings.
2. Stealing: avoiding taking what is not given, either through theft or deceit.
3. Sexual misconduct: avoiding sexual behavior that is harmful to oneself or others, such as adultery, exploitation, or exploitation of minors.

In addition to avoiding these unwholesome actions, Right Action also involves promoting wholesome actions, such as generosity, compassion and helping others.

5. Right Livelihood

Right Livelihood is the fifth step of the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism. It refers to the practice of choosing a livelihood that is morally and ethically wholesome,  and avoiding work that causes harm or suffering to oneself or others.

Right Livelihood involves avoiding five specific types of work:

1. Dealing in weapons: avoiding any profession that involves producing or selling weapons.
2. Dealing in living beings: avoiding any profession that involves trading or exploiting living beings.
3. Dealing in intoxicants: avoiding any profession that involves producing or selling intoxicants, such as alcohol or drugs.
4. Dealing in meat: avoiding any profession that involves killing or processing animals for food.
5. Dealing in false goods or services: avoiding any profession that involves deceit or false advertising.

Right Livelihood also involves promoting ethical and sustainable ways of making a living, such as through agriculture, trade, or service to others.

6. Right Effort

Right Effort is the sixth step of the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism. It refers to the practice of making a conscious and deliberate effort to cultivate wholesome mental states and to abandon unwholesome mental states.

Right Effort involves four aspects:

1. Preventing the arising of unwholesome states: making an effort to avoid or stop negative mental states, such as anger, hatred, or greed, from arising.
2. Abandoning unwholesome states that have arisen: making an effort to eliminate negative mental states that have already arisen.
3. Cultivating wholesome states that have not yet arisen: making an effort to develop positive mental states, such as compassion, kindness and wisdom.
4. Maintaining and strengthening wholesome states that have arisen: making an effort to maintain and strengthen positive mental states once they have arisen.

Right Effort requires discipline, mindfulness, and persistence. It is a process that requires ongoing effort and practice, but the rewards are profound.  Through Right Effort, one can develop a clearer and more virtuous mind, leading to greater peace, happiness and wisdom.

7. Right Mindfulness

Right Mindfulness is the seventh step of the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism. It refers to the practice of paying attention to the present moment with a clear and non-judgmental awareness.

Right Mindfulness involves four aspects:

1. Mindfulness of the body: paying attention to physical sensations, such as breathing and posture, and developing an awareness of the body.
2. Mindfulness of feelings: paying attention to emotions and feelings, and developing an awareness of the relationship between emotions and physical sensations.
3. Mindfulness of the mind: paying attention to mental states and processes, such as thoughts, memories, and intentions, and developing an awareness of the workings of the mind.
4. Mindfulness of phenomena: paying attention to external events and experiences, and developing an awareness of the nature of reality.

Right Mindfulness requires regular practice and an attitude of non-judgment and non-attachment. The practice of Right Mindfulness helps to develop a clearer and more virtuous mind, and to counteract negative mental states that cause suffering.

8. Right Concentration

Right Concentration is the final step of the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism. It refers to the development of a focused and concentrated mind through meditation practices.

Right Concentration involves the development of four stages of meditation known as the Four Jhanas:

1. The first jhana is characterized by a sense of joy and happiness, and an absence of distractions.
2. The second jhana is characterized by a sense of inner peace and stillness, and a deepening of concentration.
3. The third jhana is characterized by a sense of equanimity and detachment, and an absence of pleasure or pain.
4. The fourth jhana is characterized by a state of pure, non-dual consciousness, and a complete absence of all mental states and experiences.

The practice of Right Concentration helps to develop the mind’s ability to focus and concentrate,  and to counteract distractions and negative mental states that cause suffering. It helps to develop a deep and stable level of mindfulness and awareness.

Why is the Noble Eightfold Path Important?

The Noble Eightfold Path holds a critical position in Buddhism, serving as the practical guide or roadmap to achieve the ultimate goal in Buddhist practice:  the cessation of suffering, also known as enlightenment. While the Four Noble Truths diagnose the problem of human suffering and its cause, the Noble Eightfold Path provides the solution—a way to end this suffering.

Think of the Eightfold Path as the ‘how-to’ manual for living a fulfilling, meaningful life. It’s not merely about beliefs or rituals,  but about actions, thought processes, and mindfulness practices that have direct implications on day-to-day life.

• Understanding and thoughtfulness: The path encourages individuals to develop a deep understanding of reality and to approach situations with right thought or intent. This leads to a more informed, empathetic, and compassionate worldview.
• Ethical living: With right speech, action, and livelihood, the path outlines a moral code encouraging honesty, respect for life, and a mindful approach to work and career choices. This brings a sense of peace and harmony to one’s personal life and society at large.
• Mental cultivation: Right effort, mindfulness, and concentration provide techniques to manage emotions, thoughts, and reactions, leading to a calm and focused mind. They can be seen as the mental health toolkit in Buddhism, offering ways to reduce stress and enhance overall wellbeing.

Therefore, by integrating these principles into one’s life, a Buddhist practitioner can aspire to achieve a state of enlightenment, freeing themselves from the cycle of samsara. It’s like embarking on a journey where the Eightfold Path is your map and enlightenment is your destination.

How to Practice the Eightfold Path in Daily Life

Practicing the Noble Eightfold Path in daily life involves incorporating the principles of wisdom, ethical conduct, and mental discipline into routine activities and interactions.  Here’s a pragmatic approach to each of the elements:

Right understanding: In daily life, try to see things as they are, not as you want or fear them to be. Reflect regularly on the Four Noble Truths and the concept of impermanence, understanding that everything in life—joy, suffering, objects, and even oneself—is in constant change.

Right thought: Monitor your thoughts throughout the day. Cultivate thoughts of generosity, compassion, and goodwill. When harmful thoughts arise, acknowledge them without judgement, and gently steer your mind towards more beneficial thoughts.

Right speech: Be mindful of your speech in all conversations. Strive to communicate truthfully, kindly, and with positive intention. Avoid gossip, deceitful or harsh words, and unnecessary speech. Your words should contribute to peace and understanding.

Right action: Reflect upon the ethical implications of your actions. Abstain from harming others, stealing, and behaving irresponsibly. Strive for actions that respect life, property and personal relationships. Volunteering and helping others can also be ways to practice Right Action.

Right livelihood: Consider the ethical implications of your job. Avoid occupations that harm others or involve deceit. If this isn’t immediately possible,  you can aim to transition over time, or try to bring more mindfulness and ethical consideration into your current job.

Right effort: Cultivate a balanced effort in your daily life. Avoid extremes of over-exertion and laziness. Make a consistent effort to prevent unwholesome mental states, to let go of existing unwholesome states, to develop wholesome states and to maintain existing wholesome states.

Right mindfulness: Practice being fully present and engaged in whatever you are doing. Whether eating, walking, working, or talking with someone, bring your full attention to the activity. Regular mindfulness meditation can enhance this ability.

Right concentration: Incorporate regular periods of focused meditation into your daily routine. This might involve focusing on the breath,  a mantra, or visualizations, with the intention of cultivating a calm, unified, and concentrated state of mind.

LotusBuddhas also wants to emphasize that practicing the Noble Eightfold Path in daily life is a continuous journey rather than a destination. It involves gradually cultivating healthier thoughts, speech, and actions, leading to deeper understanding and inner peace.  Like any skill, mastery comes with regular and patient practice, and encountering difficulties in the learning process is completely normal. The ultimate purpose is to imbue everyday life with these principles, leading to a more mindful, ethical and compassionate existence.

Benefits of Following the Eightfold Path

Following the Noble Eightfold Path offers a variety of benefits that can significantly enhance an individual’s spiritual, ethical and mental life. These benefits manifest on multiple levels—personal, interpersonal and societal.

Cultivation of wisdom: The path promotes intellectual growth and a nuanced understanding of existence. Right understanding and right thought foster a profound comprehension of life’s impermanence and interconnectedness,  as well as the cyclical nature of suffering and its cessation. This wisdom promotes a shift in perspective, encouraging a more balanced, open-minded approach to life’s vicissitudes.

Promotion of ethical conduct: Adherence to right speech, action, and livelihood develops ethical standards that form the foundation for individual behavior and societal norms. It encourages a way of life marked by honesty, respect, and compassion, which can lead to improved personal relationships and societal harmony.

Enhancement of mental wellbeing: The elements of right effort, mindfulness, and concentration contribute significantly to mental health. They promote emotional regulation, stress reduction, and increased mental clarity. Regular mindfulness and concentration practices can enhance cognitive function, improve focus, and foster inner peace.

Spiritual liberation: The ultimate benefit of following the Eightfold Path is the attainment of Nirvana—the cessation of suffering and liberation from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The path serves as a roadmap for this spiritual journey, providing practical steps for realizing this state of ultimate liberation.

Personal development and growth: As an integrated system, the path encourages continuous personal growth and self-improvement.  It offers a comprehensive framework to cultivate moral integrity, mental clarity, and wisdom, thus promoting a fulfilling and meaningful life.

Fostering harmonious relationships: The practice of right speech and action often leads to improved interactions with others, resulting in a more peaceful, respectful, and cooperative society. It fosters empathy and understanding, contributing to a more compassionate and tolerant world.

Increased resilience: Understanding and accepting the impermanence of life can make individuals more resilient to change and adversity. With the wisdom derived from the path, one can better navigate the inevitable challenges of life with equanimity.

By following the Eightfold Path, we can gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us, and develop the skills and qualities needed to navigate life’s challenges with grace and equanimity. However, walking this path and attaining enlightenment is not an easy feat.  The societal norms and prejudices will pull you back onto the familiar path of suffering. It’s the path of accumulating material possessions,  indulging in sensual pleasures, and clinging to positive emotions. We all know the sun is up there, but not everyone can reach it, right?