Hello Soul Ninja!
I hope you had a relaxing summer. I enjoyed my travels and the break in routine. But fall is beckoning, and it’s time to begin our next collective Soul Ninja project. I hope you’ll join me! This year, from September to April, we are going to practice walking the Eightfold Path.
The Eightfold Path is one of the core teachings of the Buddha. In his first sermon ever at Deer Park, the Buddha shared the Four Noble Truths. Briefly, they are:
- Life always involves suffering. This of course means obvious things like pain and struggle. But we also suffer from a general sense of “unsatisfactoriness” with life. We find life unsatisfying, unfulfilling, unacceptable. As humans, we’re constantly finding something we don’t like. For this reason, we suffer.
- The root cause of suffering is craving. Imagine craving like a never-ending thirst. We grasp at things and long for things, and by doing so, we make life harder for ourselves. Some also describe this as ignorance, because we are unable to see the world in the right way. We cause our own suffering by constantly comparing our life’s reality to an idealized version we want of life that doesn’t actually exist.
- Suffering can end whenever we let go of that idealized version of a perfect life. We cause our own suffering when we cling to that ideal, but we also have the power to release it. The reason we can release ourselves from suffering is because an awakened mind is always available to us. Enlightenment is always possible for us. Peace of mind does not have to depend on external circumstances. It’s worthwhile to note that nirvana, this state of total inner peace, actually means “extinction of thirst.” When we reach nirvana, we let go of that thirst for the world to turn out exactly the way we want.
- There is a path that leads from suffering to liberation. It is the Eightfold Path. By walking the Eightfold Path, we practice embodying our awakened mind.
The Buddha designed the Eightfold Path as a Middle Way between a life of indulgence (seeking pleasure) and a life of asceticism (avoiding pleasure). As a prince, he experienced both. He grew up having everything he wanted and yet feeling unsatisfied. So he gave up his wealth and status and comfort and became a wandering ascetic for six years. During this time, he barely ate, he meditated almost endlessly, and still, enlightenment eluded him. He realized what was needed was a Middle Way: not a halfway point between these two extremes, but a way to transcend them both. On the Eightfold Path, we don’t cower to our cravings, but we don’t deny them either. We learn to live a life of integrated wholeness. This is why the Eightfold Path is not pictured as a straight line, but a wheel. All of these practices work together to move us along.
I am so excited to learn more about the Eightfold Path, and to delve into the deep wisdom within the Four Noble Truths. Just like the Paramita Project, I trust this will be a fruitful way for us to practice being soul ninja out in the world, and deep within our own selves. So come read along and practice as you’re able! If you’re on Instagram, you can follow along at @be.a.soul.ninja. And if you want to sign up for my blog posts to come directly to your inbox, go to the newsletter sign up on my homepage, enter your email, and click on “Posts.” (If you also want to join the general mailing list, click on “newsletter” as well.) I look forward to being on this journey with you! Check out a schedule below of what’s to come.
Walking The Eightfold Path
September: Right View
October: Right Intention
November: Right Speech
December: Right Action
January: Right Livelihood
February: Right Effort
March: Right Mindfulness
April: Right Concentration
*The graphic above is from Tricycle Magazine, which is a great resource for articles on Buddhism. You can read the article here.
