Sue Moon’s Blog

Living the life…… how to do it best. It started, for me, with family and parents making sure I knew the house rules and keeping those boundaries fairly clear. And then there were the teachings of the Catholic Church in the early ‘50’s. It was good and it was simple. The 10 Commandments and a list of sins and so on. That got old in my teen years and I branched out looking to esoteric teachings and then Buddhism and Hinduism which have stayed with me in some form till this day.
I’ve been negligent of late and needing a little more discipline in my life as I am weary with toil and sadness. And as is the case, the Buddha’s teachings came across my desk this morning. The first are the Four Noble Truths:
The Four Noble Truths
1. Suffering is the nature of human existence.
2. Suffering is caused by ignorance. (Some versions say attachment.)
3. Any being may end the suffering arising from ignorance without needing priests or scriptures.
4. The Way to end suffering is the 8-fold path.
Just meditating on these 4 can be a very enlightening session with yourself. And then the answer-the keys to end human suffering:
The Eight Fold Path
1. Right Attitude (Freedom from prejudice, illusion, superstition, doubts, fears, and animosities.)
2. Right Conduct (Living one’s highest standard of conduct and the highest truth we know.)
3. Right Speech (It must be kept true, simple, gentle, and honest.)
4. Right Relationships (They must be honest, just, and enlightened.)
5. Harmlessness (To live without hurting by killing or injuring or causing sorrow.)
6. Right Action (The overcoming of illusion.)
7. Right Thought (Control of the mind keeping it focused on understanding wisdom.)
8. Right Meditation (Practicing to attain inner and outer equipoise.)
I’m monitoring my day by these 8 and see if I really want to add more spiritual discipline to my life, or just think about it.