The seventh rule of the eightfold path is ‘right awareness’ which means to control your mind so that you can see things around you in the right way. This is an important rule because it can prevent misunderstanding of situations, which means that both you and the others involved in the situation, do not suffer. Also, this rule means that you should believe that nothing lasts forever (annica), so that if you lose anything you won’t sorrow over the loss of anything (dukkha). If you follow this rule you will automatically follow the rules for actions (right action, right speech, and right living). ‘Right speech’ is when you don’t cause harm to yourself or others, by being kind and helpful when talking to people, and not telling lies, swearing or gossiping. This is important because prevents dukkha, because nobody is hurt. ‘Right living’ is to work to the best of you ability, and doing a job that is useful, and doesn’t involve anything that hurts others. This is important because it means that you are not only preventing others from suffering, but also benefiting them and making them happy. By following the rule of ‘right awareness’ will allow you to follow these rules, which is why some people argue that training the mind is more important that acting correctly.
On the other hand, other people argue that acting correctly is more important than training the mind. Firstly, they argue that if you follow the fifth rule of ‘right living’ which comes under the ‘action’ section, it will enable you to follow the sixth rule (right effort) which comes under the ‘training the mind’ section. They believe this because ‘right living’ involves working to the best of your ability and doing an useful job that doesn’t involve harming others, and without following this rule you cannot work hard to do good, which is the ‘right effort’ rule’.
In my opinion, both training the mind and acting correctly is just as important as each other, because every rule in the eightfold path is interlinked. The first rule (right viewpoint) is to look at life in the right way, so that you will be able to reach nirvana. This means to follow the basic teachings of Buddhism (dhamma) which is to believe in:
- Annata (belief that there is nothing that can be called a soul – it is called a ‘life force’) Buddhists believe that a person’s life force is made by the actions (kamma) they have done during their life. They believe that their life force will be reincarnated to a higher life if they do good actions, and a lower life if they do bad actions. This cycle is called the samsara and when they escape this cycle it is called nirvana.
- Anicca (impermanence)
- The Four Noble Truths:
- Life is characterised by dukkha (suffering)
- Dukkha is caused by wanting things – greed and selfishness
- Dukkha ends if you stop wanting something
- Nirvana can be reached by following the eightfold path
By following the first noble truth, which goes under the ‘wisdom’ section, one can achieve all the other noble truths. Also, the second noble truth (right thought), which is to think correctly about life so that you don’t be selfish and care about others rather than concentrating on yourself, will also allow you to follow the other rules because you need to be able to think correctly to be able to follow the rules. All of the rules in the eightfold path, prevent you and others form suffering (dukkha), as well as allowing you reach nirvana, because you are committing good actions, so they are just as important as each other. If you do not follow any one of these rules you will not be able to fulfill another, which can lead you to committing bad action. This will result in your life force being reincarnated to a lower stage.