The Noble Eightfold Path - the Fourth Noble Truth - provides the basis for our Zen practice and gives us a way to bring the Buddha’s teachings into our own life experiences. It is the teaching that illuminates and animates the Four Noble Truths, leading us to insight into the true nature of phenomena and to liberation from suffering.
Please join us for an eight-week study of the Eightfold Path, led by Myoshin Laurie Haley. Two texts will provide the basis for discussion:
Gil Fronsdal, “Steps to Liberation: The Buddha’s Eightfold Path,” $12 paperback or $5.99 Kindle on Amazon
Bhikkhu Bodhi, “The Noble Eightfold Path, The Way to the End of Suffering,” free at http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/noble8path6.pdf
Thursdays, March 2 - April 20, 2023
6:45 - 8:00 pm
San Antonio Zen Center
417 W. Woodlawn, San Antonio, TX
Meetings will be in-person. Zoom participants are also welcome to participate using the following link and passcode:
Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3fMCa6e
& passcode: 674394
March 9: Continue discussion of Right View (Bodhi, Chapter 2; Fronsdal, Chapter 4)
Possible topics for discussion:
Why is Right View both the beginning and end of the Path? How do the elements of the Path work together?
What are the two types of Right View? What is Wrong View?
Why is “volition” important in the context of karma? (Bodhi, p. 14, Mundane Right View)
Do you encounter obstacles to accepting or practicing Right View?
March 16: Right Intention (Fronsdal, Chapter 5; Bodhi, Chapter 3)
Possible topics for discussion:
Why are our intentions important to our practice—and our lives?
What is Right Intention? Wrong Intention? How do they relate to Karma?
What’s the difference between intention and motivation?
What part does renunciation play in Right Intention? Do you feel any resistance to “renunciation”?
March 2nd’s meeting ended with a discussion of what “morality” means in the context of Right View and the Eightfold Path. We’ll run into this word again, since the three steps of the path— Right Action, Right Speech, and Right Livelihood—are called the “Moral Conduct”, or “Virtue” group. Perhaps our definitions of “right,” “morality,” and “ethics” change or are refined as we continue along the Path. It’s important to recognize our differences and especially our resistance when we discuss these words.
For your consideration, from the Values Institute website:
“Ethics and morals provide a distinction between what is deemed to be good/right and what is deemed to be bad/wrong. This general definition caused many, at times even specialists, to use them interchangeably. The key to understanding the difference between ethics and morals is to look at the level to which a person is able to internalize certain standards…
…ethics being the act of systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong "behavior which suggest that this is done at a community level, often with the endorsement of authority within said community. Morals, on the other hand, are the personal adoption and application of those recommendations that were systemized and defended by the larger group. In other words, ethics are societal standards of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, which are disseminated among a certain community while morals are beliefs constituting a personal compass that guides the behaviour of a person or an organization.
The interplay between these two nations can be tricky. For example, a person may follow the ethics mandated by a certain group, say, a religion, an organization, or a family, but may not have any morals because they have not internalized any of the standards they are following. While another may violate the ethics of the same group in order to uphold personal moral standards.”
The programs of the San Antonio Zen Center are made possible by donations offered by members and attendees of the San Antonio Zen Center. We do not charge for our programs, but your donations ensure that we can continue offering the Dharma to the San Antonio community.