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Alexandr Korol
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Post by Alexandr Korol »

Morality (śīla): right speech, right action, right livelihood — “cultivation of conduct.” Concentration (samādhi): right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration — “cultivation of the mind,” associated with the practice of shamatha.
“Right,” “true” (Sanskrit: samyak, Pali: sammā) here means aligned with the “Middle Path” — between extreme asceticism and hedonism, between belief in an eternal ātman (sassatavāda; see also anatman, anatmavāda) and the materialist view of complete destruction of the soul after death (ucchedavāda). Among Buddhists, there are two views on the order of practicing the three stages of the Eightfold Path: 1) first morality (śīla), then concentration (samādhi), and then wisdom (prajña); 2) the stages of morality and concentration should be carried out simultaneously with the cultivation of wisdom.
If a follower makes the Four Noble Truths a key part of their life, and then is able to free themselves from “egoistic self-awareness” and see the truths “as they are,” then, according to the Digha Nikaya, they will attain “elation,” “joy,” and “serenity.” Interpretation of the Truth of the Path in the Prajñāpāramitā Sutras

In the Mahayana Prajñāpāramitā sutras, the Four Noble Truths are presented in greater detail and reinterpreted “on a deeper level” than in the “first turning” of the “Wheel of Dharma” performed by the Buddha in the Deer Park. When comparing the presentation of the Four Truths in the Theravāda suttas and the Prajñāpāramitā sutras, the greatest difference lies in the interpretation of the Fourth Truth. The Prajñāpāramitā teaching offers a path based on the realization of “emptiness” and the development of bodhicitta (the altruistic aspiration to attain full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings). The realization of “emptiness” combined with the attainment of bodhicitta represents the “perfect unity” of wisdom (prajñā) and method (upāya).

Four aspects of the Truth of the Path

Path (mārga): there exists a path of liberation that irreversibly eliminates defilements, which must be realized within one’s own consciousness; this path is understood as non-conceptual wisdom (prajñā) that directly perceives the absence of inherent existence (“emptiness”).