Book contents
- Reconstructing Early Buddhism
- Reviews
- Reconstructing Early Buddhism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Part I Background and Context
- Part II The Path
- Chapter 4 The Stepwise Training
- Chapter 5 Derivative Accounts of the Path
- Chapter 6 The Eightfold Path
- Part III The Practice
- Part IV In Conclusion
- References
- Index
Chapter 6 - The Eightfold Path
from Part II - The Path
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2022
- Reconstructing Early Buddhism
- Reviews
- Reconstructing Early Buddhism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Part I Background and Context
- Part II The Path
- Chapter 4 The Stepwise Training
- Chapter 5 Derivative Accounts of the Path
- Chapter 6 The Eightfold Path
- Part III The Practice
- Part IV In Conclusion
- References
- Index
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.
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- Information
- Reconstructing Early Buddhism , pp. 130 - 162Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022