The Middle Way (Eightfold Path) – Realistic Mindfulness

This is the seventh post of the “middle way” articles. It is only a personal exploration of the middle way; just my understanding of it. The eightfold path (the “middle way”) is described as the path to the cessation of suffering or the fourth noble truth.

This post will cover the subject of Right or Realistic Mindfulness.

To review, the eightfold path, (the middle way) has the following parts (the discipline it is connected to is in parenthesis):

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1. Realistic Understanding (Wisdom)
2. Realistic Thought (Wisdom)
3. Realistic Speech (Ethical Conduct)
4. Realistic Action (Ethical Conduct)
5. Realistic Livelihood (Ethical Conduct)
6. Realistic Effort (Mental Discipline)
7. Realistic Mindfulness (Mental Discipline)
8. Realistic Concentration (Mental Discipline)

For a description of why I describe these as “realistic” as opposed to right or rightful please read my post Right or Realistic Effort.

- DV

Rightful or Realistic Mindfulness is a difficult thing to write about.  One reason is that it is so central to middle way, it is important to get it right.

Path-full Steps

As I move through each of the separate parts of the path, it seems each is crucial in its particular way.  Each separate step is beneficial to the practitioner, but combined with the understanding of the rest of the steps, the strengths of each, the potential for change, the potential for the decrease in suffering is magnified.  Each step of the path, as written, seems so simple, but bringing each step into one’s everyday life is difficult to most.  As difficult as waking up each morning an hour early, or giving up coffee.  Much of the path is based on giving up short term comforts for long term gains.  There is a slight discomfort in all of these things, but once someone decides that it is really something they want to do, the effort seems not so difficult.  Mustering the intention and the will to do so is the difficult part.  Bringing in each step where it applies to one’s life takes some contemplation, but not as much as we think.  After a quick relaxed review of the path, the mind will generally focus in on a part that a person will find “easy” or “difficult”.  These are the parts of the path that the person should consider as something to contemplate.   Each time a review occurs, progress will have been made, changes will have taken place, and a new path will show importance.  Such is the way of the path.  A gentle movement towards progress.

Last week I reviewed the two other parts of the path that deal with what is called mental discipline, Rightful Concentration and Rightful Effort and the difference between those two steps of the path.  Rightful Mindfulness is the last of the mental discipline steps.  Where rightful effort represents tools which we can use to monitor and adjust our thinking, and rightful concentration represents a tool (meditation) in which we can train our minds to focus on rightful thinking, rightful mindfulness actually defines what an ideal way of thinking would be.

To truly understand some of these steps, including rightful mindfulness, it is good to review why we would want to follow such a path as the middle way.   One way to do this is to review the origin of the path, the Four Noble Truths.  They are the foundation for Buddhism. A more detailed view of the Four Noble Truths can be found in the post “The Buddha Taught: The Four Noble Truths.” For reference I will summarize them here:

1. Suffering Exists
2. Suffering is caused by craving or aversion
3. There is an end to suffering
4. The path to the end of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path

Ending suffering is a noble mission for sure.  One stage in the path is recognizing that it is not only the selfish goal of ending our own suffering that we are focusing on, but how the path can also end suffering for others.  But I get a head of myself.

What is Mindfulness?

The mindfulness discipline is an understanding of what is the second noble truth: suffering is caused by craving or aversion. Humans tend to concentrate on fears and hopes and less on the task at hand.  Undisciplined focus on hopes and fears can cause a view of the world that is not based on the reality of that world, because hopes and fears do not represent reality. A hope is the want of something in the future that does not exist.  A fear is the aversion of something in the future that does not exist.  When we focus on our hopes and fears, we are reacting to those things that do not exist in reality.  This focus on non-realistic objects, in most cases, distracts us from enjoying what is reality, or what we have right now. Focus on non-realistic objects can effect our intentions and actions, which to others present, who are not aware of our hopes and fears, seem in the best case chaotic and in the worst, down right selfish.

Being mindful is the simple act of being present.

Being present to the people and things around you.  Not thinking ahead, not looking towards the past, not worrying about the future, not attempting to force a outcome that you would like.  Being mindful is the simple act of being here now.  Turning off all the distractions, real and in the mind, that keep someone from the reality of what they are doing. The reality is listening to a friend, listening to music, washing the dishes, focusing on the mundane things we do with the same focus as the things we think not so mundane.  In reality, all things are pretty mundane.

How does mindfulness help?

Mindfulness allows each person to be present for their lives and the lives of people around them.  Disciplined attention to what is real, what matters, what needs to be done.  Mindfulness is an appreciation of the senses, of the eye, the ear, the nose, the mouth, the body, and the mind.  Mindfulness brings balance into our lives, bringing ourselves to what is really around us. In the end, what is real is what really matters. Mindfulness is focused attention to what is real, and that focus will allow us to make realistic decisions based on what is reality.

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