The Four Noble Truths And The Eightfold Path In The Buddhist Religion

Christian Rodriguez
Professor King
Second Paper
December 1, 2012

The Eightfold Path And The Four Noble Truths In this paper, I will be explaining the importance of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold path in the Buddhist religion. I will also explain why these two systems of rules and instruction on meditation are important to each other. They are important to Buddhist beliefs and apply to freedom of re-birth and the way of Nirvana. These noble ways of life need to be perfected in order to attain nirvana.
The Eightfold path and the Four Noble Truths where arranged by Siddhartha Gautama as the substructure of all of his teachings. Although, many Buddhist have many differences in the way they practice Buddhism, Siddhartha’s teachings
This acts in conjunction with the four noble truths, one cannot practice ‘right understanding’ if one does not have a clear understanding of the four noble truths and what they stand for. The four noble truths also guide believers in the right direction of the eightfold path. As quoted earlier in the essay, in order to procure freedom of rebirth and untimely gain nirvana, the four noble truths must be exercised and perfected. If a believer wants to preserve their perspicuous wisdom they gain from the four noble truths it needs to be cultivated correctly. This is made possible by maintaining the right understanding.15 The second ideal of the eightfold path is the “right thought”.16 This step requires the follower to give up their own selfish desires and dumping there wants for unnecessary things. For the follower to accomplish this they must replace their thoughts with right thoughts. The follower must make a conscious decision that this is the best choice for them and that they will complete and maintain this step in order to gain full benefits from it. All thoughts of desire and selfishness must be replaced with thoughts of peace and have no attachment to the craving.17 The third part of the eightfold path is having “right speech”, The speech of one can greatly affect the life of another and therefore it is necessary that Buddhist speak uplifting and graciously. Buddhist must also strive to
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