The Foundations of Buddhism

Four Truths

(speech, action, and livelihood) by the first category, good con-

duct; and the final three (effort, mindfulness, and concentration)

by the second category, meditative concentration.^37 That the

sequence of the items of the path does not conform to the order

of these three categories of practice highlights an understanding

of the spiritual life that sees all three aspects of practice. as,

although progressive, none the less interdependent and relevant

to each and every stage of Buddhist practice. The practice of the

path is not simply linear; in one's progress along the path it is

not that one first exclusively practises good conduct and then,

when one has perfected that, moves on to meditative concen-

tration and finally wisdom. Rather the three aspects of the prac-

tice of the path exist, operate, and are developed in a mutually

dependent and reciprocal relationship. In other words, without

some nascent sense of suffering and what conduces to its cessa-

tion one would not and could not even begin the practice of the

path,_ This is not necessarily a conscious understanding capable

of being articulated in terms of Buddhist doctrine, but is perhaps

just a sense of generosity and good conduct as in some way

constituting 'good' or wholesome (kusala/kusala) behaviour-

behaviour that is in accordance with Dharma and conduces to

the cessation of suffering for both oneself and others. The details

of the cultivation of the path to the cessation of suffering form

the subject matter of Chapter 7, but let us now turn to consider

Buddhist practice more generally: the way of life of Buddhist

monks, nuns, and lay followers: