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Talk: Bringing Our Practice to the Current Difficult Times: An Eightfold Path
2025-07-07 Talk: Bringing Our Practice to the Current Difficult Times: An Eightfold Path 66:51
Donald Rothberg
For the Buddha, practice was understood as involving three trainings, in wisdom, meditation, and ethics (sila). Ethics, typically under-emphasized in later Buddhism, including Western Buddhism, with sometimes clear negative consequences, had as its horizon helping others. The Buddha said: “Wander forth . . . for the welfare of the multitude, for the happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world.” The later emphasis on the bodhisattva develops this emphasis further. In this talk, we suggest a contemporary “Eightfold Path” for understanding and responding to the current difficult times in the society and world. It’s outlined in terms of three wisdom guidelines, two meditation guidelines, and three ethics guidelines. The talk is followed by discussion.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

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