The Eightfold Path

Questioner: I understand that awareness or mindfulness is useful; but I still do not know how to be mindful in daily life. I feel I have no time for it; I have to do my work.

Nina: The development of insight, vipassanā, is precisely the development of right understanding of ourselves, of our daily life. However, it seems that people want to know many other things but not themselves. Are we afraid of knowing ourselves? The Buddha pointed out that knowing ourselves is more beneficial than knowing other things.

We read in the Visuddhimagga (XII, 82) that the Buddha so acted that King Mahā-Kappina and his retinue were invisible to the queen who had followed him with one thousand women attendants and who was sitting nearby. We read:

…And when it was asked, “Have you seen the king, venerable sir?”, he asked: “But which is better for you, to seek the king or to seek yourself?” She replied, “Myself, venerable sir”. Then he likewise taught her the Dhamma as she sat there, so that, together with the thousand women attendants, she became established in the fruition of stream entry (sotāpanna), while the ministers reached the fruition of non-return (anāgāmī), and the king that of arahatship.

The development of insight should not be separated from daily life; it is precisely in our daily life that insight, right understanding of realities, should be developed. There should be awareness of nāmas and rūpas which appear in our daily life. Thus we develop the eightfold Path. If people say that they have no time to develop insight they have not understood what the eightfold Path is.

Question: What exactly is the eightfold Path? Is it the same as mindfulness? Is it essential for the attainment of enlightenment? Will it make us happier and does it help us to fulfil our duties better?

Nina: When we speak about a reality we should know what type of reality it is, otherwise we cannot have a clear understanding of it. Which ultimate reality, paramattha dhamma(45), is the eightfold Path? There are four paramattha dhammas:

• citta (consciousness)

• cetasika (mental factor arising with the citta)

• rūpa (physical phenomena)

• nibbāna

The eightfold Path consists of eight factors and these are cetasikas. They are sobhana cetasikas (beautiful mental factors) arising with the sobhana citta which is mindful of a characteristic of nāma or rūpa. In being mindful of nāma and rūpa the eightfold Path is developed. At the attainment of enlightenment the eight factors arise with the lokuttara citta, “supramundane citta”, which experiences nibbāna. Then the Path is lokuttara. When the factors of the eightfold Path do not arise with the lokuttara citta the Path is “lokiya”, “mundane”.

You asked me whether the eightfold Path is the same as mindfulness. Mindfulness, sati, is one of the factors of the eightfold Path; it is called “sammā-sati”(46) or “right mindfulness”. As we have seen, sati arises with sobhana citta. Sati is sammā-sati of the eightfold Path when it arises with the paññā , wisdom, which understands a characteristic of nāma or rūpa appearing through one of the six doors. Any time there is mindfulness of a characteristic of nāma or rūpa which appears, the eightfold Path is being developed.

Question: Thus, the object of the eightfold Path has to be any characteristic of nāma or rūpa which appears through one of the six doors, is that right?

Nina: That is right. A person or a tree are concepts or ideas we can think of, but they are not ultimate realities which appear one at a time through the six doors. Only ultimate realities are the object of the eightfold Path. Seeing is a reality with its own unchangeable characteristic which can be directly known, without the need to think about it. Seeing is a nāma which experiences visible object, that which appears through eyesense; there is no person who sees. Hearing is another reality with its own unchangeable characteristic; it can be directly known when it appears. Hearing is a nāma which experiences sound through earsense; there is no person who hears. If we learn to see nāma and rūpa as they are the wrong view of self will be eradicated.

Question: I have learned that the objects of the eightfold Path are those of the Four Applications of Mindfulness or “satipaṭṭhāna” which are the application of mindfulness of the body, of feelings, of cittas and of dhammas. Is sound included in the objects of mindfulness?

Nina: Is sound real?

Question: It is real.

Nina: Why is it real?

Question: Anybody can experience sound through the ears.

Nina: Since sound is a reality which can be experienced can there not be awareness of it?

Question: Yes, there can be awareness of it.

Nina: Sound is an object of mindfulness or satipaṭṭhāna because it is a reality with its own characteristic which can be experienced. If there is mindfulness of the characteristic of sound more often, we will learn that it is only a kind of rūpa which can be experienced through the ear-door and which is different from the nāma which experiences sound.

Question: What about unhappy feeling, is it also object of mindfulness?

Nina: Is it real?

Question: Certainly.

Nina: Thus it is object of mindfulness or satipaṭṭhāna. All realities which can be experienced through the six doors can be objects of mindfulness or satipaṭṭhāna.

As regards your question whether the eightfold Path is essential for the attainment of enlightenment: it is essential, there is no other way. When one attains the first stage of enlightenment, the stage of the sotāpanna, the wrong view of self is eradicated completely. The clinging to the concept of self can be eradicated only if we develop the wisdom which clearly knows that all phenomena in us and around us are only nāma and rūpa and nothing else but nāma and rūpa. Thus realities will be known as they are.

You also asked me whether the eightfold Path will make us happier, whether it helps us to fulfil our duties better. Our own defilements make us unhappy and at times we find life very difficult. In developing the eightfold Path we do not immediately eradicate defilements but we acquire a clearer understanding of our life. When there is less clinging to the notion of self, there is less darkness in our life. Right understanding is to the benefit of both ourselves and others. When we have more understanding of our own life we will also have more understanding of others. Through the development of satipaṭṭhāna there can gradually be more conditions for kusala cittas with kindness and compassion. When we do our daily tasks with kusala cittas do you not think that they are performed better?

Question: You explained that the eight factors of the Path are eight sobhana cetasikas, beautiful mental factors. Do all eight factors have to arise with the citta which is mindful?

Nina: Not all eight factors arise together when the citta is not lokuttara citta, “supramundane citta” experiencing nibbāna. When lokuttara citta arises at the attainment of enlightenment all eight factors accompany the citta.

Question: What is the first factor of the eightfold Path?

Nina: The first factor is sammā-diṭṭhi, right view or right understanding. Sammā-diṭṭhi is the kind of paññā which directly understands a characteristic of nāma or rūpa, appearing through one of the six doors. Without right understanding of nāma and rūpa and of the way to develop the eightfold Path enlightenment cannot be attained.

We read in the Kindred Sayings (V, Book XII, Kindred Sayings about the Truths, Ch IV, par 7, The Parable of the Sun) that right view is the “forerunner” of full comprehension of the four noble Truths. The four noble Truths are realised at the attainment of enlightenment. We read that the Buddha said:

Monks, just as the dawn is the forerunner, the harbinger, of the arising of the sun, even so is right view the forerunner, the harbinger, of fully comprehending the four Ariyan truths.

Of a monk who has right view it may be expected that he will understand as it really is: This is dukkha…this is the arising of dukkha... this is the ceasing of dukkha…this is the way leading to the ceasing of dukkha.

Wherefore, monks, an effort must be made to realise: This is dukkha, this is the arising of dukkha, this is the ceasing of dukkha, this is the way leading to the ceasing of dukkha.

We should know to what end we wish to develop the eightfold Path. Why do you want to develop it?

Question: I want to develop it in order to eradicate defilements such as anger, jealousy, stinginess, and all other kinds of impurities -in other words, everything which is degrading and immoral.

Nina: People think that vipassanā can solve all their problems at once and they believe that defilements can be eradicated immediately. But for how many lives have we accumulated defilements? Since these lives are countless how could we eradicate defilements immediately? So long as we are not yet ariyans the aim of our development of vipassanā is to know the truth about ourselves, in order to eradicate the wrong view of self. We have to be so very patient. We should not forget the sutta about the knife-handle (Kindred Sayings III, Middle Fifty, Ch V, par 101, Adze-handle), where we read that the Buddha said:

…Just as if, monks, when a carpenter or carpenter’s apprentice looks upon his adze-handle and sees thereon his thumb-mark and his finger-marks he does not thereby know: “So and so much of my adze-handle has been worn away today, so much yesterday, so much at other times.” But he knows the wearing away of it just by its wearing away.

Even so some of the wrong view is eliminated each time there is mindfulness of nāma or rūpa, but we cannot see how much is eliminated each day.

Question: But when there is strong attachment or when we are very angry how can there be awareness at the same time?

Nina: When there is a lobha-mūla-citta (citta rooted in attachment) or a dosa-mūla-citta ( citta rooted in ill-will), there cannot be a citta with mindfulness at the same time, since there can only be one citta at a time. But shortly after the akusala citta has fallen away there can be kusala citta with mindfulness. The characteristic of akusala can then be the object of mindfulness, and it can be known as nāma, not self.

Question: Can we not be so disturbed by lobha or dosa, especially when they are intense, that awareness is impossible?

Nina: Are strong desire and intense anger realities?

Question: Yes, they appear, they are realities.

Nina: Then they can be known as they are. If one makes oneself believe that it is impossible to be aware of particular realities, one has not understood what the eightfold Path is: the development of right understanding of whatever reality appears. Some people are so afraid of akusala citta that they try to flee from the reality which appears at that moment. They think that they should apply themselves to a particular practice, such as concentrating on their breathing, in order to regulate awareness. When they act in this way without awareness of the reality which appears at the present moment, they are not developing the eightfold Path. When one develops the eightfold Path which is called the “middle way”, there should be awareness of any kind of reality which appears, even if it is akusala.

We may be inclined to think that there should not be mindfulness of akusala cittas, especially of those types we find particularly ugly such as cittas with strong desire or anger. Why should we be worried by the reality which appears, even if it is akusala citta? We cannot change the reality which has already appeared, but we can know its characteristic. It is useless to go on worrying about strong desire or anger. At such moments there are nāma and rūpa. Why would it not be possible to know these realities as they are: only conditioned phenomena which are not self?

Through vipassanā we come to know more our akusala cittas, not only the coarse ones but also the more subtle ones. Not only strong desire is lobha, but also enjoyment of beautiful things is lobha. We cannot force ourselves not to enjoy beautiful things since we have accumulated attachment, but we should know that at such moments the cittas are not kusala cittas but akusala cittas. The “middle way” is not forcing oneself to particular practices in order to suppress attachment, but it is knowing whatever reality appears. We should also know moha-mūla-cittas (cittas rooted in ignorance) as they are. Most of the time we do not realize when there are moha-mūla-cittas because moha-mūla-citta is not accompanied by pleasant feeling or by unpleasant feeling, but by indifferent feeling. We may not realize that when the feeling is indifferent there can be akusala citta. When there are no kusala cittas, there are not only many moments of lobha-mūla-citta and dosa-mūla-citta, but also of moha-mūla-citta. We are often ignorant of the nāmas and rūpas which appear, there are countless moments of forgetfulness and ignorance. Moha is dangerous. The moha of today conditions moha in the future. How many more lives will we be ignorant of realities? Through the development of vipassanā we will realize that we are still ignorant of many realities.

Question: I thought that the Buddha said that one should be aware every time one is breathing in and breathing out. Should we not concentrate on breathing?

Nina: So long as we are breathing there is still life. All through life mindfulness should be developed. In vipassanā one does not select any particular object of mindfulness. There can be mindfulness of whatever kind of nāma or rūpa appears through one of the six doors; in this way wrong view and doubt about the realities one takes for “self” can be eradicated.

In vipassanā one does not have to follow any rule. One does not have to concentrate on breathing; if one selects the object of awareness and in this way tries to control sati, there will not be detachment from the wrong view of self. When we speak of breathing, we are using a conventional term of every day language. What are the realities which can be directly experienced when breathing? There can be awareness of phenomena such as softness, hardness, heat, cold, motion or pressure when they present themselves through the door of the bodysense, and they can be known as different kinds of rūpa. Nāmas and rūpas appear, but there is no self who can decide of which reality there should be awareness.

Question: Reflecting on what you said about awareness of nāma and rūpa, I can accept and understand that there is no self, but I cannot experience it as the truth. And sometimes I still feel that there must be a self who directs the mind and makes decisions. Suppose that I decide today to study the teachings and to observe the five precepts; I find it difficult to believe that there is not an ego or self who makes this choice, this decision.

Nina: So long as we are not ariyans, the wrong view of self has not been eradicated; there are yet conditions for clinging to the concept of self. Awareness of nāmas and rūpas will gradually lead to a clearer understanding of what things really are. Then we shall realize that decision-making is a type of nāma arising because of conditions. When wisdom has been developed to the degree that enlightenment can be attained there will be no more doubt about realities and there will be the clear comprehension that there is no self.

In order to develop the right Path there must be from the beginning right understanding about the way of development. If there is some misunderstanding in the beginning one may go the wrong way for a long time. It may be very hard to find the right way again. If one continues having wrong understanding, for how many more lives will there be wrong view?

Question: Is the development of the right Path just watching or observing all the phenomena of one’s life?

Nina: Who is watching? There may be an idea of self who is watching and one may not notice this.

The development of right understanding is not watching or observing. When visible object appears it can be known as only a reality which is experienced through the eyesense, not somebody, not something. When seeing appears it can be known as only the experience of visible object, no self who sees. When one pays attention to the shape and form of something there is another type of nāma, different from seeing, and its characteristic can be known too. All realities which appear through the six doors can be object of mindfulness. Mindfulness is not self, it arises because it is conditioned by listening to the Dhamma, by the study of the Dhamma and by right consideration of it. From the beginning there should not be an idea of self who is watching phenomena or who can select the object of mindfulness.

A very precise knowledge of all the different phenomena which appear should be developed in order to see them as they are, as anattā, beyond control. This is the development of the eightfold Path.