The Fourth Noble Truth: The Path

The Buddha taught that by living ethically, practicing meditation, and developing wisdom and compassion, we can end the suffering we create by resisting, running from, and misunderstanding reality.

The Fourth Noble Truth is a summary of the essential elements to recovery, or awakening, called the Eightfold Path. The Path is a set of instructions, a practice, and a way to investigate and be aware of the conditioned responses we cling to. These are the eight factors of the Path:

● Wise Understanding
● Wise Intention
● Wise Speech
● Wise Action
● Wise Livelihood
● Wise Effort
● Wise Mindfulness
● Wise Concentration

These eight factors can be broken down into three groups: The Wisdom group of Wise Understanding and Intention; the Ethics group of Wise Speech, Action, and Livelihood; and the Concentration group of Wise Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration.

Each of us will understand and practice each aspect of this Eightfold Path in our own way. We develop our wisdom, ethical practice, and concentration as far as we can in any given moment. As we come to a deeper understanding of the Four Noble Truths, we’re able to bring more effort and concentration to letting go of our greed, hatred, and confusion. Our ethical development will cause us to reflect more deeply on the sources of our unwise actions.

The Eightfold Path is a way of life that each of us follows and practices to the best of our current understanding and capacity. The Path is not a religious journey, and has nothing to do with belief, prayer, worship, or ceremony. It’s a guide to practice and a road that leads to a deep experience of the Noble Truths.