Mike, The Noble Eightfold Path is a good guideline. So are the Ten Commandments. I have three problems with the Noble Eightfold Path: 1. There are 8 categories. Why are all the activities that are possible in life divided into 8 categories? Do the authors of this really think those 8 categories cover the whole of life? And if not why did they pick these 8? 2. All of them encourage you to do 'right'. How do you know what's right? The Eightfold Path doesn't tell you that. 3. Following this path is supposed to lead to the ..."cessation of suffering (dukkha) and the achievement of self-awakening." - Wikipedia.com. I think this is all reversed. First you must awaken. Second, that awakening enables the recognition of delusion, then the dropping of attachments to delusions, and only then to the cessation of suffering. After all that's complete and only then are you able to really follow the Noble Eightfold Path, but by then you aren't really following anything, you are walking the path and the path is you, your life.
You're never going to cease suffering and awaken just by following some set of rules like The Noble Eightfold Path. That's my opinion anyway...Bill! --- In [email protected], uerusuboyo@... wrote: > > Bill!,<br/><br/>I can tell by the completely misrepresented view of things > like The Noble Eightfold Path on this forum that people criticise even though > it's obvious they haven't even bothered to study them. They're absolutely > beautiful and sublime teachings. Even though they're over 2,500 years old > they still can be applied to life today. To criticise them also shows a > complete ignorance of upaya (skilful means) to teach the Dharma. Different > people, with different personalities and temperaments will always require a > variety of different teaching methods. Otherwise we get into the bigotry of > believing that only "my" way is the correct > way.<br/><br/>Mike<br/><br/><br/>Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
