buddhism

Last time, we looked at the fourth piece to the puzzle of a fulfilled life free from unhealthy attachments, according to the Buddha’s teaching: right action. Its focus is on avoiding actions that will negatively impact ourselves and others, and actively seeking actions that work to the freedom and benefit of all. We also saw … Continue reading The Eightfold Path, Part 5: Right Livelihood

So far in our journey through the Buddha’s Eightfold Path, we’ve looked at worldview, thoughts, and speech. It should come as no surprise that the fourth element of the path is action, completing the ‘thought, word, and deed’ triplet we all know so well. Once again I’ll introduce the idea within its Buddhist context before … Continue reading The Eightfold Path, Part 4: Right Conduct

Our world is in a crisis of communication. Politicians seem to lie more than they tell the truth, corporations argue that they shouldn’t have to tell the truth about their products, and of course social media is a cesspool of click bait and rage bait. A whole economy has been built off of eliciting feelings … Continue reading The Eightfold Path, Part 3: Right Speech

The previous post in this series introduced the Eightfold Path, which outlines the eight basic elements of Buddhist commitment and life that they believe lead to freedom from the cycle of attachments, suffering, and karma, and discussed the first of these elements, right (or, skillful) understanding. This is about the way we understand the world … Continue reading The Eightfold Path, Part 2: Right Resolve

A few weeks ago, towards the start of this series, we looked at the Fourth Noble Truths, which are the most basic distillation of Buddhist thought. As a reminder, they go something like this: Dissatisfaction or suffering is everywhere; the cause of this suffering is our attachment; suffering can end by severing those attachments; and … Continue reading The Eightfold Path and the Gospel: 1. Right Understanding