The Foundations of Buddhism

The Buddhist Path

have some basis in ordinary, everyday Buddhist practice, than

for the beginner. The vast majority of Buddhists today, as in the

past, do not concern themselves with intellectual theory but with

basic Buddhist practice. There are, furthermore, traditions in

Buddhism that are somewhat critical of theory, suggesting that

too much at the wrong time may clutter our minds and actually

get in the way of the practice that can eradicate·attachment and

bring true wisdom. With this in mind let us turn to the theoret-

ical account of the path that leads to the cessation of suffering.

As we saw in Chapter 3 (pp. 81-2), in the earliest Buddhist texts

the noble truth of the path to the cessation of suffering is most

frequently summed up as the noble eightfold path: right view;
right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right
effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. But rather
than presenting it as equivalent to Buddhist practice in general}
Buddhist writings usually understand the noble eightfold path in
a more restricted sense, implied by the epithet 'noble' (iirya!ariya);
The term indicates that one who has established these eight
qualities has in fact found the way to the cessation of suffering__:::
like one finding a path in the jungle leading to a beautiful city'~
But the 'ordinary man' (prthagjana/puthujjana) who is plagued
by greed, hatred, and delusion cannot simply call into being the

right view of such 'noble ones' (iirya!ariya) who have found the

path. He cannot, as it were, simply open the door and set out ott

the noble eightfold path, first he must negotiate the jungle of his

views, behaviour, and emotions in order to find the eight quaP

ities. Much of the Buddhist path is thus concerned not so much
with walking the noble eightfold path as with finding the noble.
eightfold path. The Buddhist practitioner thus sets out on the·
ordinary path of Buddhist practice in order gradually to transform
view, intention, speech, action, endeavour, mindfulness, and con_.

centration into the eight qualities of the noble path; once on the!

noble path he may further develop and perfect these eight quah

ities and follow the path to the complete cessation of suffering.
It is the structure of the 'the step-by-step discourse' (anuparvikii,,
kathii/anupubbi-kathii), rather than the eightfold path, that inform.s