THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS By Ajahn Sumedho - DharmaFlower.Net

contemplation, one begins to see the unpleasantness of saying foolishthings or just babbling or chatting away for no good reason.For lay people, Right Livelihood is something that is developed as youcome to know your intentions for what you do. You can try to avoiddeliberately harming other creatures or earning a living in a harmful,unkind way. You can also try to avoid livelihood which may causeother people to become addicted to drugs or drink or which mightendanger the ecological balance of the planet.So these three - Right Action, Right Speech and Right Livelihood -follow from Right Understanding or perfect knowing. We begin to feelthat we want to live in a way that is a blessing to the planet or, atleast, that does not harm it.Right Understanding and Right Aspiration have a definite influence onwhat we do and say. So panna, or wisdom, leads to sila: Right Speech,Right Action and Right Livelihood. Sila refers to our speech andactions; with sila we contain the sexual drive or the violent use of thebody - we do not use it for killing or stealing. In this way, panna andsila work together in a perfect harmony.RIGHT EFFORT, RIGHT MINDFULNESS, RIGHT CONCENTRATIONRight Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration refer to yourspirit, your heart. When we think of the spirit, we point to the centreof the chest, to the heart. So we have panna (the head), sila (the body)and samadhi (the heart). You can use your own body as a kind ofchart, a symbol of the Eightfold Path. These three are integrated,working together for realisation and supporting each other like atripod. One is not dominating the other and exploiting or rejectinganything.They work together: the wisdom from Right Understanding and RightIntention; then morality, which is Right Speech, Right Action andRight Livelihood; and Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and RightConcentration - the balanced equanimous mind, emotional serenity.Serenity is where the emotions are balanced, supporting each other.They’re not going up and down. There’s a sense of bliss, of serenity;there is perfect harmony between the intellect, the instincts and theemotions. They’re mutually supportive, helping each other. They’re nolonger conflicting or taking us to extremes and, because of that, webegin to feel a tremendous peacefulness in our minds. There is asense of ease and fearlessness coming from the Eightfold Path - asense of equanimity and emotional balance. We feel at ease ratherthan that sense of anxiety, that tension and emotional conflict. Thereis clarity; there is peacefulness, stillness, knowing. This insight of theEightfold Path should be developed; this is bhavana. We use the wordbhavana to signify development.