The Eightfold Path, Part Two (an ongoing introduction to Buddhism…as I understand it)

Wisdom

1. Right View

2. Right Intention

Ethical Conduct:

3. Right Speech

4. Right Action

5. Right Livelihood

Mental Development:

6. Right Effort

7. Right Mindfulness

8. Right Concentration



Right Intention follows from Right View. When we have gained Right View, we find it easier to manage the psychological influences that manipulate our actions. Right Intention is a personal commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement.


The Buddha made distinctions between three varieties of intention:


    

  • renunciation, or the resistance to the influence of desire
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  • non-aversion, or loving-kindness
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  • non-injury, or compassion.
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When Right View has been achieved, we are motivated to renounce attachments to pleasure, wealth, power and fame. We understand that all sentient beings are caught up in the web of dukkha and we feel a connectedness, which is accompanied by a flowering of loving-kindness. As these sensations evolve, we naturally renounce aversion, hatred, violence and cruelty.