Buddhism

==Paths to liberation==
{{Main|Buddhist paths to liberation}}

The ''[[Bodhipakkhiyādhammā]]'' are seven lists of qualities or factors that promote spiritual awakening (''bodhi''). Each list is a short summary of the Buddhist path, and the seven lists substantially overlap. The best-known list in the West is the [[Noble Eightfold Path]], but a wide variety of paths and models of progress have been used and described in the different Buddhist traditions. However, they generally share basic practices such as ''sila'' (ethics), ''samadhi'' (meditation, ''dhyana'') and ''prajña'' (wisdom), which are known as the three trainings. An important additional practice is a kind and compassionate attitude toward every living being and the world. [[Buddhist devotion|Devotion]] is also important in some Buddhist traditions, and in the Tibetan traditions visualisations of deities and mandalas are important. The value of textual study is regarded differently in the various Buddhist traditions. It is central to Theravada and highly important to Tibetan Buddhism, while the Zen tradition takes an ambiguous stance.

An important guiding principle of Buddhist practice is the [[Middle Way]] (''madhyamapratipad''). It was a part of Buddha's first sermon, where he presented the [[Noble Eightfold Path]] that was a 'middle way' between the extremes of asceticism and hedonistic sense pleasures.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=23, 81}}{{sfnp|Keown|1996|pp=24, 59}} In Buddhism, states Harvey, the doctrine of "dependent arising" (conditioned arising, ''pratītyasamutpāda'') to explain rebirth is viewed as the 'middle way' between the doctrines that a being has a "permanent soul" involved in rebirth (eternalism) and "death is final and there is no rebirth" (annihilationism).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=72}}{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|p=49, ''antagrahadrsti''}}

===Paths to liberation in the early texts===
A common presentation style of the path (''mārga'') to liberation in the [[Early Buddhist Texts]] is the "graduated talk", in which the Buddha lays out a step-by-step training.<ref>Carole Anderson (2013), ''Pain and its Ending'', p.143</ref>

In the early texts, numerous different sequences of the gradual path can be found.<ref name=":0">Bucknell, Rod, "The Buddhist Path to Liberation: An Analysis of the Listing of Stages", ''The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'' Volume 7, Number 2, 1984</ref> One of the most important and widely used presentations among the various Buddhist schools is The [[Noble Eightfold Path]], or "Eightfold Path of the Noble Ones" (Skt. ''<nowiki/>'āryāṣṭāṅgamārga'''). This can be found in various discourses, most famously in the ''[[Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta]]'' (The discourse on the turning of the [[Dharma Wheel|Dharma wheel]]).

Other suttas such as the ''Tevijja Sutta'', and the ''Cula-Hatthipadopama-sutta'' give a different outline of the path, though with many similar elements such as ethics and meditation.<ref name=":0" />

According to Rupert Gethin, the path to awakening is also frequently summarized by another a short formula: "abandoning the hindrances, practice of the four establishings of mindfulness, and development of the awakening factors".{{sfnp|Gethin|2001|pp=xiii–xiv}}

====Noble Eightfold Path====
{{Main|Noble Eightfold Path}}

The Eightfold Path consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of [[dukkha]].{{sfnp|Ajahn Sucitto|2010|pp=87–88}} These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the [[Four Noble Truths]] and asserts the path to the cessation of ''dukkha'' (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness).{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=81–83}}{{sfnp|Anderson|2013|pp=64–65}} The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and [[karma|karmic]] accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of rebirth and suffering.{{sfnp|Harvey|2016|pp=253–255 }}{{sfnp|Bodhi|2010|pp=1–13}}{{sfnp|Williams|Tribe|Wynne|2012|p=52}}

The Noble Eightfold Path is grouped into [[Three disciplines of Buddhism|three basic divisions]], as follows:{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}}{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–85}}{{sfnp|Bodhi|2010|pp=47–48}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Division
! Eightfold factor
!''Sanskrit, Pali''
! Description
|- style="background:#cff;"
| rowspan="2" |Wisdom<br />(Sanskrit: ''[[Wisdom in Buddhism|prajñā]]'',<br />Pāli: ''paññā'')
|1. Right view
|''samyag dṛṣṭi,<br />sammā ditthi''
|The belief that there is an afterlife and not everything ends with death, that Buddha taught and followed a successful path to nirvana;{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}} according to Peter Harvey, the right view is held in Buddhism as a belief in the Buddhist principles of [[karma]] and [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]], and the importance of the [[Four Noble Truths]] and the True Realities.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–84}}
|- style="background:#cff;"
|2. Right intention
|''samyag saṃkalpa,<br />sammā saṅkappa''
|Giving up home and adopting the life of a religious mendicant in order to follow the path;{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}} this concept, states Harvey, aims at peaceful renunciation, into an environment of non-sensuality, non-ill-will (to lovingkindness), away from cruelty (to compassion).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–84}}
|- style="background:#cfc;"
| rowspan="3" |Moral virtues{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–85}}<br />(Sanskrit: ''[[śīla]]'',<br />Pāli: ''sīla'')
|3. Right speech
|''samyag vāc,<br />sammā vāca''
|No lying, no rude speech, no telling one person what another says about him, speaking that which leads to salvation.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}}
|- style="background:#cfc;"
|4. Right action
|''samyag karman,<br />sammā kammanta''
|No killing or injuring, no taking what is not given; no sexual acts in monastic pursuit,{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}} for lay Buddhists no sensual misconduct such as sexual involvement with someone married, or with an unmarried woman protected by her parents or relatives.{{sfnp|Gowans|2013|p=440}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Andrew Powell |url=https://archive.org/details/livingbuddhism00powe |title=Living Buddhism|publisher=University of California Press |year=1989|isbn=978-0-520-20410-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/livingbuddhism00powe/page/24 24]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=David L. Weddle|url=https://archive.org/details/miracleswonderme0000wedd|url-access=registration|title=Miracles: Wonder and Meaning in World Religions|publisher=New York University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-8147-9483-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/miracleswonderme0000wedd/page/118 118]}}</ref>
|- style="background:#cfc;"
|5. Right livelihood
|''samyag ājīvana,<br />sammā ājīva''
|For monks, beg to feed, only possessing what is essential to sustain life.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|p=12}} For lay Buddhists, the canonical texts state right livelihood as abstaining from wrong livelihood, explained as not becoming a source or means of suffering to sentient beings by cheating them, or harming or killing them in any way.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83, 273–274}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Martine Batchelor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fL3mykqlOJcC&pg=PT59|title=The Spirit of the Buddha|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-300-17500-4|page=59|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055838/https://books.google.com/books?id=fL3mykqlOJcC&pg=PT59|url-status=live}}; Quote: "These five trades, O monks, should not be taken up by a lay follower: trading with weapons, trading in living beings, trading in meat, trading in intoxicants, trading in poison."</ref>
|- style="background:#9fff80;"
| rowspan="3" |Meditation{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–85}}<br />(Sanskrit and Pāli: ''[[samādhi]]'')
|6. Right effort
|''samyag vyāyāma,<br />sammā vāyāma''
|Guard against sensual thoughts; this concept, states Harvey, aims at preventing unwholesome states that disrupt meditation.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=83}}
|- style="background:#9fff80;"
|7. Right mindfulness
|''samyag smṛti,<br />sammā sati''
|Never be absent-minded, conscious of what one is doing; this, states Harvey, encourages mindfulness about impermanence of the body, feelings and mind, as well as to experience the five [[skandha]]s, the five hindrances, the four True Realities and seven factors of awakening.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=83}}
|- style="background:#9fff80;"
|8. Right concentration
|''samyag samādhi,<br />sammā samādhi''
|Correct meditation or concentration (''dhyana''), explained as the four jhānas.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}}<ref name="bucknellkangp12">{{cite book|author1=Roderick Bucknell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSaOAQAAQBAJ|title=The Meditative Way: Readings in the Theory and Practice of Buddhist Meditation|author2=Chris Kang|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-1-136-80408-3|pages=12–13}}</ref>
|}