The Noble Eightfold Path - 3
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Published: Thursday, 30 June 2022 14:17
[From the Buddhist Dharma Chakra Pravarttana Sutra; circa B.C. 300.]
Translation by Charles Johnston, Oriental Department Papers, October, 1895
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I.
There are two extremes, Brothers, that he who has renounced should shun.
On the one side, the constant following after things that appeal to lust and sensuality,—a low, bestial way, unworthy, unprofitable, fit only for the profane;
And, on the other side, the constant following after penance that is painful, unworthy, unprofitable.
There is a middle path, Brothers, that shuns these two extremes; a path found out by him who has come as others came before; a path that opens the eyes and gives understanding; a path that brings restfulness of mind, supreme wisdom, full enlightenment, Nirvana.
What then is this middle path, Brothers, that shuns these two extremes; the path found out by him who has come as others came before; the path that opens the eyes and gives understanding; the path that brings restfulness of mind, supreme wisdom, full enlightenment, Nirvana?
It is, verily, the Noble Eightfold Path; it is this:
Right seeing, right willing, right speaking, right behaving, right living, right striving, right concentrating, right meditating.
This is the middle path, Brothers, that shuns the two extremes; the path found out by him who has come as others came before; the path that opens the eyes and gives understanding; the path that brings restfulness of mind, supreme wisdom full enlightenment, Nirvana.
This, Brothers, is the noble truth about sorrow:
Birth is full of sorrow, decay is full of sorrow, sickness is full of sorrow, death is full of sorrow.
Contact with the pleasant is full of sorrow, separation from the unpleasant is full of sorrow, unsatisfied longing is full of sorrow. In a word the five groups of grasping are full of sorrow.
This, Brothers, is the noble truth about sorrow.
And this, Brothers, is the noble truths about the cause of sorrow:
It is, verily, the thirst that causes outward existence, accompanied by sensual enjoyment, seeking gratification now here, now there; it is the thirst for the gratification of desire, the thirst for outward existence, the thirst for present existence.
This, Brothers, is the noble truth about the cause of sorrow.
And this, Brothers, is the noble truth about the ceasing of sorrow:
It is, verily, the destroying, without any remnant of lust, of that same thirst; the putting away of, the getting rid of, the being free from, the ceasing to entertain this thirst.
This, Brothers, is the noble truth about the ceasing of sorrow.
And this, Brothers, is the noble truth about the path that leads to the ceasing of sorrow. It is, verily, the Noble Eightfold Path; it is this:
Right seeing, right willing, right speaking, right behaving, right living, right striving, right concentrating, right meditating.
This, Brothers, is the noble truth about the destroying of sorrow.
Read more: The Noble Eightfold Path - 3
