The Eightfold Path

The Eightfold Path is the “how to” of the Buddha Way. It is a structure that encompasses the Buddhist teaching and shows us how to live those teachings. The core of the Eightfold Path includes wisdom, concentration, and ethics. These three essential practices comprise the most important teachings for twenty-first century Buddhism. If we understand the entirety of the Eightfold Path we can correct many of the problems of imbalance in our communities and in our personal lives. The purpose of a spiritual life is to align our action with our understanding. If we have the steadfastness to remember the three core practices of wisdom, concentration, and ethics, we can stop the swirling world of suffering and find freedom, we can find the universal perspective in the particulars of our ordinary lives and be free. We can move from a mind of complaint to a mind of gratitude. The Eightfold Path teaches us how to create a spiritual life and how to fully live it.

• Zen Teachings in Challenging Times
• The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering
• Receiving the Marrow: Teachings on Dogen by Soto Zen Women Priests
• Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet
• The Mountains and Waters Sutra: A Practitioner's Guide to Dogen's "Sansuikyo"
• The World Could Be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path
• Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts
• A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind
• Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
• The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation