The post titled Abbot’s Commentary: Practice Makes Right is now up on Buddhism for All. Angela from the Buddhism.net team reflected on it, and invites you to do so too.
🌕 Angela’s Reflections:
Right, or Sammā is correct, complete, whole, proper, perfect. Right view guides the practice. That is why the noble eightfold path starts with right view. With right view, the other aspects of the path will be right. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh explains: “ Right view is view that is free from all wrong views born from notions, like being/non-being, birth/death, coming/going, sameness/otherness, and so on. Right View is a kind of insight that helps us to be liberated from all kinds of discrimination, dualism.”
Practices that are not based on right view of reality as it is, the way things are, and nature of mind, do not fully lead to transcending samsara, complete liberation from suffering, nor to the full awakening of the Buddha. Practices have to be infused with right view, to be “right” or “sammā”.
🌱 Journal Reflection Prompts for You:
- 📝 If something is whole, complete, proper and perfect, can it become whole, complete, proper and perfect through practice? Or was it originally already whole, complete, proper and perfect?
- 📝 What is the relationship between receiving teachings on right view, and practicing the methods? Why would both components be important? Can you just have one without the other?
- 📝 It is hard to cultivate right view without receiving teachings on right view. After we receive the teachings, we contemplate and understand the teachings. Finally, we learn the methods to practice the teachings. This is called the 3 ways of developing wisdom: listen, contemplate, meditate. How might you cultivate right view?
Featured image, an AI-generated artwork, by Angela Ho.
