Posted inMC Podcasts

Teisho: Losing Our Way, Finding The Way

February 1, 2018

“… Right view is about getting clear about how things actually are ...”

 The Way

Description: Henry relates a story about getting lost on a walk in the Black Forest in Germany, while following a path he thought he knew fairly well. Compared to the clear map in his head, everything seemed to be different than it should be. This experience brought to mind right view. This is the first element of the Eightfold Path, which was relayed by the Buddha in his first sermon as the means to liberation from suffering. Right view is about getting clear about how things actually are, regardless of what map of life we may have had in our minds. In early Buddhism the main points of right view are: to be clear that there is karma; and to understand the three marks of existence—all things impermanent, everything is intrinsically dissatisfying, nothing has intrinsic “thing-ness” or “selfhood”. “If we can align our mental maps of existence with these propositions, we can become more confident that we are not lost in a labyrinth of our own making. We might get lost if we trust our own, inner mental maps too much…if we are too sure of what we think we know.”

Post & Featured image: Path by jplenioCCO Public Domain.

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