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Eightfold Path: Right View (3 of 3)

Continuing the theme of the Eightfold Path, this is the third and final discussion about the first factor of the eight-factored path, that of Right View^[1]. I've made a distinction between what I call conventional Right View and liberative Right View—the view that is liberating. We might also think of the first one as provisional Right View and the second as verified Right View.

Provisional Right View

When someone is brand new to a spiritual life, or even a self-reflective life, and new to Buddhism, it might be that they'll take on Buddhist teachings provisionally. They might say, "Let me check it out. This seems to be what they're saying." Someone might even tell you, "Provisionally believe in this, take this point of view." Conventional Right View initially acts as a kind of provisional belief.

The heart of that belief is the idea that our actions are consequential, that what we do is actually quite important and bears fruit. It has an effect on the world and on ourselves, and it's useful to pay attention to that and take it into account. In particular, it's useful to understand actions and their consequences from the perspective of what is wholesome and unwholesome, what is suffering and what is not suffering, what is healthy and not healthy, and what is harmful and not harmful. There is a distinction that's made.

Initially, one might just believe provisionally that certain things are wholesome or helpful. For example, some people are told that you should believe that not killing is wholesome, not stealing is wholesome, not engaging in sexual misconduct is wholesome, and not lying is wholesome^[2]. If someone doesn't already know that, then please accept that provisionally. Act as if it's true.

The idea is that as we act that way, it becomes verified for us. At some point, we see for ourselves, "Oh, this is actually right. I'm so much better off not killing, stealing, and lying. My life is happier, more open, and less stressed." So we see there is a difference between wholesome and unwholesome. It gets more and more subtle, or more precise over time, moving beyond these gross violations of the precepts, but the idea is that we're moving to a verified understanding.

Liberative Right View

Liberative Right View is a deep understanding of how thoroughly things are inconstant, changing, and impermanent^[3]. It's very easy to hear Buddhist teachings and take this as a belief, thinking, "Now I have to believe that everything is impermanent," and then we want to argue with it. At most, as a belief, it's a provisional belief that maybe is useful to think about. "Yes, things change, and let me take it into account that things change. They'll be different than what I expect, they'll be different than they are now. Sometimes they'll be better, sometimes unfortunate things will happen." This constant change is built into the structure of human life and reality.

It might be a useful belief for some people who believe the opposite—that everything's fixed. But the real idea is that this is supposed to be verified. Only when it's verified in a certain way, when we see it really clearly for ourselves and know it as a direct experience, can Right View be liberating. That's the whole thrust of Right View: it is the view that brings liberation and freedom in the mind.

The important part of Right View is not just that you have the perspective that everything is changing. The real importance is that it is a catalyst for freedom. The freedom that we experience is what opens up the next steps of the Eightfold Path. Seeing impermanence and inconstancy deeply for oneself can be a catalyst for the mind to become free.

The Pull of Clinging

In the meditation we just did, I encouraged you to count your breathing. Sometimes staying on track with counting the breath can be a little difficult. It's easy enough to count to ten, but to really do it in meditation—from one to ten repeatedly—if the mind is not concentrated, we'll see that it wanders off very easily. Sometimes you can hardly get half a count in before the mind gets pulled off into its thoughts.

It's possible sometimes to feel that pull, the glue, the gravitational pull of thinking, of being concerned about things and what's important. Seeing this is a very important thing to see, because we start seeing the power of the mind to be caught up in its thoughts and its ideas. We come back to the counting, and then we get pulled again. You can feel the pull.

Not only feeling the pull, but we can see how we latch onto ideas, fantasies, stories, memories, and plans. There's a kind of latching on. That getting hooked on and grabbing on, in Buddhist language, is called clinging or attachment^[4]. It can be mild, and it can be quite strong.

Three Projections

One of the features of this kind of clinging or latching onto ideas is that we also latch onto our projections, our interpretations, and the ideas we project onto reality. There are three primary projections that this liberating practice of observing inconstancy and impermanence is meant to free us from.

The Projection of Permanence

One is the projection that things are permanent, that they'll always be this way. That I'm always this way. That the person I'm talking to will never change; they are always exactly the way my idea of them is. We project all kinds of ideas onto other people. Now that we have a better—not good enough yet, but better—understanding of racism, bias, and prejudice that exists in our society, we see the tremendous harm that happens with this projection that someone is permanently this way. This is who they are, without seeing all the different facets and the changing nature of people.

Or we project that this day is this way. I've told the story of many years ago when my son was quite young. He was what's called a highly spirited child, which meant a lot of work and attention. One day, my wife and I were hovering over him, trying to manage something, and it just seemed so difficult. My wife looked up at me and said, "We're having one of those kinds of days." As soon as she said that, I realized I had been projecting an unconscious projection onto the situation that this is going to be forever. Of course, if you asked me, I knew it wasn't going to be forever, but that was the attitude I had that made it so much more difficult. As soon as she said it's just that kind of day, it freed something in me. I said, "Oh, that's how it is now. It won't be this way later."

If we really see how much change there is, we begin loosening up on that projection of permanence and this latching onto that idea.

The Projection of Happiness

We also have the idea that certain things are happier than they are. We project our expectations and our desire for happiness and pleasure. Certainly, things are pleasant, and we want happiness in Buddhism, but the expecting, wanting, and chasing usually involves projecting ideas, expectations, and dreams on top of things. It can be innocent enough to do that, but in meditation, when you're trying to stay on track on the breath and your mind gets pulled into these ideas strongly and fully, your mind is not free then. The mind is caught.

The Projection of Self

The third projection is the projection of self. The projection of ideas we have about who I am or who other people are, especially ourselves. We get stuck in these ideas, judgments, histories, and identifications. Of course, some identities are appropriate, but here again, the litmus test of staying on the breath—being able to stay, focus, and hang in there with the breath—shows us how much we can latch on and get caught by the identities, definitions, and judgments we have about our self.

Loosening the Grip

As we stay with change and see change, we see that things that are always changing and unfolding don't really fit very nicely into our projections of permanence, our projections of happiness, our projections of suffering, or our projections of self.

To see change and impermanence in a direct, deep way—like in meditation where we're really flowing—the opportunity is to truly settle in, get concentrated, and get very still. Not just to get calm in a nice and meaningful way, but to really start feeling how everything is vibrating, flowing, streaming, and changing all the time. It loosens up the grip of these projections.

As we see the projections and see how we latch onto ideas, it becomes easier to want to let go of some of them, or not hold on. We realize that it's not actually wholesome, helpful, or healthy to be so latched on and hooked onto ideas. It's much more healthy to be able to think in a relaxed, open, creative, and responsible way without getting stuck in our thoughts, latched on, glued to them, and stressed around them.

For the Buddha, the primary insight that is liberating is the insight into inconstancy and change. We see that in the breathing. The breathing is an inconstant, changing stream of repeated phenomena and sensations. It's streaming and flowing, and it can be a wonderful way to begin dipping into the stream of change and impermanence. It begins to show us how we get caught in these projections and this latching on, and it begins to loosen that grip on the mind.

As they loosen, we progressively get more and more free, more and more open and relaxed. That makes all the difference in the world. As the heart and the mind become freer and freer, it sets in motion a whole other way of living, a whole other way of being in the world, and a whole other way of being in ourselves that is born out of liberation.

Looking Ahead

That leads to the next steps of the Eightfold Path. The next four factors have a lot to do with our relationship to other people and how we live with other people. To see how freedom also has social connotations about how we live in the world is the topic of the next four factors of the Eightfold Path, and we'll start that on Monday with Right Intention, or Right Consideration^[5].

I think it's a wonderful coincidence that these things in Right Intention, which have a lot to do with compassion and kindness, are going to be talked about right as we enter into the election days ahead. So I hope that the topics will be supportive in the potentially challenging days ahead.

Thank you, I wish you well, and please be safe. And please remember that you don't have to get locked on and latched onto whatever the mind is thinking. Thank you.