The Whole Path Is Ethics
THE BUDDHA CALLED the noble eightfold path “the way to the cessation of suffering,” and he included each factor in the path precisely because it serves this end.
The eight factors that lead to the end of suffering are often divided into three sections, corresponding to the three phases of Buddhist training. Right view and right intention are assigned to the wisdom group. Right speech, right action, and right livelihood to the ethical group. Right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration to the concentration group.
While the training in ethics in a narrow sense comprises the middle three factors of the path, an ethical orientation pervades the path from beginning to end.
The standard analysis defines as knowledge of the four noble truths, but other definitions of right view give it an ethical slant. In , the Buddha’s disciple Sariputta explains right view as including the ability to distinguish between the unwholesome and the wholesome. The unwholesome consists of the ten ways of bad action, rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion. The wholesome consists of the ten ways of good action. These arise from nongreed, nonhatred, and nondelusion, which can be expressed more positively as generosity, good will, and wisdom.
