Right View

May 28, 2014

Dear Readers,

Thank you for continuing to read our monthly newsletters on the Noble Eightfold Path. In this newsletter for the month of May, we will be learning about the first point of the Noble Eightfold Path, Right View. But first, lets review.

Life has dukkha (suffering). The way to be free of suffering is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path by practicing eight points: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. Try to follow the Noble Eightfold Path in your life, and you will have complete happiness, free from suffering.

What does Right View mean? Right means complete or correct. View is the way we look at things or the way we understand things. So, Right View is the correct way of understanding the world. When we use the Right View, we understand the way that the world works so that we can make the best decisions. When we have a good understanding, we will make the right choices and avoid the bad choices. If we don't make bad choices, we will be happier.

When we use Right View, we can learn so much more about the world. What can we learn about the world with Right View?

1. Karma - Every action has a reaction. Think of Karma like a boomerang. When you throw the boomerang (the action), it will come back to you (the reaction). Karma is the reaction. When you do a good action, a good reaction will happen to you. If you do a bad action, a bad reaction will happen to you. Good actions are called wholesome actions; bad actions are called unwholesome actions. We use Right View to learn that when we do a wholesome action, something wholesome will happen to us, so we will always try to do wholesome actions.

2. Three Characteristics of Living Things

The three characteristics of living things are three things that can be seen in all living things.

1. Anicca - Impermanence. Impermanence means that everything changes. Nothing can stay the same forever.

2. Dukkha - Suffering. All living things have suffering.

3. Anatta - "not-self." This means that we cannot think of things as "mine." Nothing is truly owned by one person. When we try to cling on to objects, we become unhappy when we lose them.

When we discover these three characteristics of living things, we learn that the world is not perfect. When we realize that the world is not perfect, we learn to make better choices during our life.

3. Dukkha

Again, dukkha is a very important idea. All living things have suffering. When we learn what causes suffering, we can have less suffering and be happy. Right View helps us learn more about suffering. When we know more, we can stop dukkha. We use the Noble Eightfold Path, starting with Right View, to stop suffering.

Right View helps us learn more and more, so that we can make wholesome choices. Usually, we make bad choices when we are confused or we don't know something. Right View makes us understand things so that we will make the right choices and live a happy life.

How can you use Right View in your life? Always try to understand the world. When you don't understand something, ask a good person or a good book. You can learn the truth even after you have made a mistake. The important thing to know is - ALWAYS KEEP LEARNING! Even adults should always learn. Learning helps us make the right choices so that we will be happy.

Now that you have learned about Right View, next month, you can read more about Right Intention. Right View is only the first step on the Noble Eightfold Path. Remember to check the website often so that you can learn more about Buddhism, including the Noble Eightfold Path.

Thank you for reading!

Ruvini