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Eightfold Path: Right View (1 of 3)

So this morning, I'll start on the factors of the Eightfold Path. The first factor, which some people consider the most important, is called Right View. Sometimes it's said—and the Buddha says sometimes—that if you are really centered in Right View, all the other factors of the Eightfold Path will naturally unfold.

There is Right Intention (or Right Consideration, as I'll talk about a different translation). With Right Consideration, there's Right Speech. With Right Speech, Right Action. With Right Action, Right Livelihood (the right way of living or right lifestyle). Then comes Right Effort and Right Mindfulness. And with Right Mindfulness comes Right Concentration.

So these things kind of build on each other. It's natural that one follows the other. The emphasis in this little talk is that there's something about Right View that naturally leads to the rest of the Eightfold Path. How is that? What is this Right View?

The word in Pali is very similar to the English word "view." The word is diṭṭhi^[1] (d-i-ṭ-ṭ-h-i). It means more literally "to see," or is derived from the verb "to see" or "to look." It's a way of looking. So it's similar to the English word "view," where you can go to a vista and see a great view of the town below you. From high up, you have a nice overview, your view.

But "view" is also used in English to mean a belief, an opinion, or an orientation a person has towards something. You might say, "That's your view, but I have a different view." Pali and English have this similar kind of double meaning around this word, and that double meaning comes into play when we look at what the meanings are for Right View.

There are two categories of meanings for Right View, which I relate to two ways I've talked about the Eightfold Path. On one hand, the Eightfold Path can be a beginner's practice. When someone comes to Buddhism, learns about the Eightfold Path, and begins to follow it. On the other hand, it could be someone who has some real maturity in the practice—some deep realization of freedom—where Right View is a consequence of that realization.

For the person who begins, it is sometimes called the more conventional Eightfold Path. Conventional Right View is closer to the English idea of a belief, an understanding, a perspective that we adopt, or a frame of reference for understanding our experience. I like the language of "frame of reference" or "perspective" because a belief implies you have to believe something. A perspective or frame of reference means it's a way of looking that doesn't necessarily involve a belief. There can be many perspectives, and for now, we're going to use this one. But it's okay to see it as a belief.

I call this the conventional Right View. Then there's the liberating Right View. For today, I'll mention this conventional Right View that's more like a belief. There are two kinds of beliefs, perspectives, or frames of reference for understanding our experience that make up this conventional Right View.

The first is a very ordinary idea—a perspective or belief that is so deeply ingrained in many of our lives that we don't even think about it. We operate as if we have this perspective already, and we do have this perspective. So it's not really a foreign idea. It's just emphasized and made conscious in a way that maybe isn't always so conscious, or maybe not applied as deeply as it could be. And that is the view that our actions are consequential—that what we do has consequences.

Some people might say, "What's the big deal with that?" The big deal is that we want to take care of our actions. We are the custodians of our actions. We want to start becoming responsible for what we do, to have some choice about it, and to understand a little bit about what is a wise action and what is not wise to do. Actions have consequences. If we slander our best friend, not only might they hear about it and end the friendship, but it also feels yucky inside ourselves. If we did it at a moment when we were distracted or caught up or reactive, and then afterwards we realize what we've done, it just feels lousy.

On the other hand, if we find ourselves spontaneously behind our friend's back praising their good qualities, then we might have a nicer feeling inside. The consequence may be a nice feeling, a sense of happiness, or feeling that it's nice to remember those good qualities. That feels good. It's nice to have shared it with someone else and celebrated it. And if they hear about it, maybe they feel happy, and then that happiness continues in all kinds of ways. They might come back and say nice things to you. So what we say can have huge consequences. We want to be careful to recognize that what we say is consequential, not to be intimidated or closed down, but to be considerate about what we say.

The same thing applies to our actions. The things we do in the world are consequential. Sometimes they may be minorly so, but even that can be consequential in the long term or in the big picture. When I came back from living almost three years in a Zen monastery, one of the consequences of being there—living a very intentional life, very mindful and present for so many ordinary things we did every day: sitting down, standing, walking through doors, walking down steps, chopping vegetables, cleaning the toilets, everything was done with a certain kind of real focus and intentionality—was recognizing that I had choice. When I came back to a somewhat ordinary life and started living how normal people live, I recognized in a way I had never done before that I had a lot more choice about how I act and what I say. It became subtle, where I became aware that I had a choice in how I sat in a chair.

Before going to the monastery, I just sat in a chair and didn't think about it. After the monastery, I was conscious and mindful about how I sat. I would choose to sit in a way that had a good consequence, that made me more alert and present, and didn't turn off my attention. I wanted to be present.

So this idea that actions have consequences bears out in the practice. If we are interested in the primary Buddhist purpose—the fundamental way of describing it, you can't get more basic than this. You can get more lofty and have other ways of talking about the purpose of Buddhism, but from the Buddha's point of view, the most fundamental, core purpose is to bring an end to suffering.

This principle that our actions have consequences plays out in relationship to suffering and freedom from suffering. Our actions can move in one direction or the other: they can move towards greater suffering or greater freedom from suffering.

This leads to the second conventional Right View. That is the view that some actions are wholesome and some are unwholesome. Some are skillful or unskillful, depending on how the word kusala^[2] is translated (k-u-s-a-l-a). Kusala can be translated as skillful or wholesome. To make it really practical and maybe more understandable for English speakers, sometimes I like to render those concepts as helpful and not helpful, or harmful and not harmful. So, kusala is helpful; it's not harmful. Unwholesome is what is harmful and not helpful.

The ability to see that distinction and know that it makes a difference which we choose is at the heart of this Eightfold Path. It is a kind of belief, but it's not really a doctrinal belief; it's more like a principle. That's why it is a frame of reference or an orientation that we adopt. We adopt the orientation that every action we do is consequential. We do this in a relaxed way, not being burdened by it. As if you're going to run a marathon, you start slow and easy; you don't go all out. But the idea is to orient ourselves now that our actions are consequential and that we're responsible for the consequences. In a certain way, there is a lot more choice in what we say and do than most of us really recognize. The goal is not to be burdened by that choice, but to actually find it liberating to have choice.

It takes a while to get the hang of this, but we learn to choose that which is relaxing, that which brings ease, happiness, and well-being. Rather than the act of being conscious of choice becoming a duty or a burden, it is clearly felt like going through open doors. We keep going through the place where there's ease, freedom, and goodness. Coincidentally, the place where the doors are open—where there's ease, relaxation, openness, and happiness—tends to be in the direction of goodness. It tends to be the direction of being ethical, the direction that leads us to freedom.

So, regarding the conventional Right View, some people will say that it has to do with understanding karma^[3]. I say that the fundamental, core idea of karma is that our actions have consequences. Just have that principle as you go through the day. Have that orientation. Over the next 24 hours, before we come back tomorrow and I teach about the liberating Right View, you might tune into your choices in what you say and what you do. You might also tune in a little bit to noticing the consequences of your actions.

You might review it afterwards: "How did that feel? How did that make me feel? Was that good for me, or was that not good for me? Was that helpful or not helpful? Do I feel more alert, or do I feel more kind of down from what I just did?" This applies to both action and speech. If you really get subtle and your mindfulness is strong, you'll see that the mind, the thoughts, and the motivations are also a kind of action. What we think has consequences too.

Then the practice gets really fascinating and really useful when we're able to see our thinking and realize that our thoughts are also consequential for how we feel and how we are. We can choose, in a healthy, appropriate way, not to think that which undermines us, and we can choose to think that which supports us.

So, conventional Right View. I look forward to talking about liberative Right View tomorrow. Thank you.