Chapter 6 - The Eightfold Path

Summary

This chapter examines the best known and documented summary of the Buddha’s path to enlightenment, the noble eightfold path. This lists eight stages beginning with right view and ending with right concentration. It is pointed out, however, that this list stops short of the three associated meditative practices by means of which, according to the Buddha’s own account, he attained enlightenment. Discussion then turns to the much less well-known Tenfold Path, which does include the final stages of the “stepwise training”. How the two versions came to exist is explained by taking account of the historical context of and polemical differences within early Buddhism. This analysis suggests that an original eightfold path was first extended to ten stages through the addition of two initial stages, then later reduced to the canonical eight by excising the final two stages, which henceforth were taught only to the most advanced meditators.