The Eight Fold Christian Path

"The mind is everything. What you think, you become."
"To understand everything is to forgive everything." 
- Buddha

Buddhism is a religion or a way of life that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices largely based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Guatama. He is also commonly known as the Buddha which translates into "the awakened one." He is recognized by Buddhists as an enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end their suffering by eliminating ignorance which involved our desire to be indulged. When this can be ignored, we reach the sublime state of nirvana. 

The Four Nobles Truths:

1. All things in the world bring suffering and sorrow. 
2. The cause of suffering is the craving of life's pleasures. 
3. Suffering ends only when desire ends; letting go of all desire is the end of Buddhism. 
4. One will attain Enlightenment in the end of suffering by following the Eight Fold Path.

The Eight Fold Path: 

1. Samma-Ditthi — Complete or Perfect Vision, also translated as right view or understanding. Vision of the nature of reality and the path of transformation.
2. Samma-Sankappa — Perfected Emotion or Aspiration, also translated as right thought or attitude. Liberating emotional intelligence in your life and acting from love and compassion. An informed heart and feeling mind that are free to practice letting go.
3. Samma-Vaca — Perfected or whole Speech. Also called right speech. Clear, truthful, uplifting and non-harmful communication.
   
4. Samma-Kammanta — Integral Action. Also called right action. An ethical foundation for life based on the principle of non-exploitation of oneself and others. The five precepts.
5. Samma-Ajiva — Proper Livelihood. Also called right livelihood. This is a livelihood based on correct action the ethical principal of non-exploitation. The basis of an Ideal society.
6. Samma-Vayama — Complete or Full Effort, Energy or Vitality. Also called right effort or diligence. Consciously directing our life energy to the transformative path of creative and healing action that fosters wholeness. Conscious evolution.
7. Samma-Sati — Complete or Thorough Awareness. Also called "right mindfulness". Developing awareness, "if you hold yourself dear watch yourself well". Levels of Awareness and mindfulness - of things, oneself, feelings, thought, people and Reality.
8. Samma-Samadhi — Full, Integral or Holistic Samadhi. This is often translated as concentration, meditation, absorption or one-pointedness of mind. None of these translations is adequate. Samadhi literally means to be fixed, absorbed in or established at one point, thus the first level of meaning is concentration when the mind is fixed on a single object. The second level of meaning goes further and represents the establishment, not just of the mind, but also of the whole being in various levels or modes of consciousness and awareness. This is Samadhi in the sense of enlightenment or Buddhahood.

Verses I guided my worship on:

Revelation 21:4 "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

Titus 2:11-14"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

My Eight Fold Path: 

For my Eight Fold Path, I decided to include a theme of water in some of my steps as water represents so many values that we don't necessarily abide by on a day to day basis. Water purifies, gives life, allows us to reflect and is thus a pivotal element in our lives. 

Right View: 

Take a shower to cleanse the bad in your life. Think about life, try and reflect on the events that took place in your life prior to the shower. See how you can improve upon your mistakes and continue your successes. Find peace in reflection and solitude. 

Right Thought:

Drink an entire bottle of water to purify all the malice in your life. Stand behind a veil of ignorance and rid your mind of negative thoughts. 

Right Speech:

A thank you can go a LONG way. Go to five people who have a lot of impact on your life. Thank them for all they've done for you. I thanked my friends for coping with all of my craziness. I thanked my stepmom for caring for me as if I were her own. I thanked God for giving me this life of comfort and love. You must do this out loud. 

Right Action: 

Get out a guitar or your laptop and start jamming to some tunes - praise songs are great! Or go do something you love to do. You have to learn to alleviate the burden in your life. It'll remind you of how great life could be and with this feeling of elation, your conduct towards others should be altered to a better one. 

Right Livelihood:

Go to your closet now and take out all the clothes you don't wear or don't need. You should have a huge bag now as you are all affluent people with a lot of unnecessary clothes. Donate this bag of clothes to the needy! :) 

Right Effort:

That thing that you've always wanted to overcome or try? Do it. Try everything to appreciate life. There will be some things you don't like, but there will always be some things you adore. I took the SAT this weekend. Didn't like it at all, but I overcame the challenge and was able to look at my life more appreciatively - some people go to hagwon for this ALL summer, winter and even school days. 

Right Mindfulness:

Make a list of 10 good things in your life right now. Don't make it trite like "a loving family" and "great friends." Try and think of the things you wouldn't notice you'd be thankful for. 

Examples of mine: 

Though SATs did not go as well as I wanted them to go, I finally was able to experience it for the first time! I learned to time manage and I feel really good on one math section - my worst section. 

I'm a senior next year? Though anxious and nervous, I'm excited to go through the college process and learn to cope with the highs and lows. 

Right Concentration:

Read the Bible for 15 minutes. Feel enlightened. Pray. I would really just say to bare your soul to God during this time. 

Insight: 

From this experience, I learned a lot. First, it's really relaxing to take a break and just think about life. With the hustle and bustle of life, we often forget how beautiful life can be and how thankful we should be for all the things we have in our possession. I also learned that small things like saying thank you or taking the time to write a list of great things can make a huge impact on your life or others' lives. When I told my stepmom thank you, she hugged me and thanked me for saying such nice things. I changed the course of her day. Really communicating with God through the bible and prayer opened my eyes on how much God loves us all. He provided us with SO much in this life and I feel like I finally found something constant and everlasting within my life: His love and His support. I also learned that we should try and follow the ways of God by ridding self desire and self containment and move the concentration from ourselves to others. This is the only way we can finally achieve a right life.