Eightfold Path
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The ethical code of early Buddhism is to be found mainly in the strands of the Eightfold Path concerned with Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood (sīla), together with the Five Precepts for laypeople. They present an ancient blueprint for avoiding harm (ahimsa). But beneath this clarity lies a framework that is both ingenious…
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We are usually taught that the Four Noble Truths are Buddhism’s starting point – a compact diagnosis of the human condition outlining dissatisfaction/suffering (dukkha), its causes (samudaya), its cessation (nirodha), and the path forward (magga). But I am not interested in defending their metaphysical status or rehearsing old doctrinal explanations. What matters to me is how they…
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If karma is the observation that intention shapes action, and action shapes experience, then a further question naturally follows: how do we live in a way that supports clarity rather than confusion, ease rather than friction? The Buddha places this question at the very beginning of the Eightfold Path. Not as a moral demand, not…
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I look at the different schools of Buddhism and differentiate them partly by lines of accountability for stewardship of the dharma. The traditional schools rely heavily on the authority of institutional weight, the monastic code (vinaya) and lineage. The practitioner is accountable to thousands of years of precedent, and an honest enquirer can easily feel…
