[inofindy]

The Eightfold Path - Right Understanding, means to me an acceptance of the Four Noble Truths. I say acceptance rather than understanding because I feel it takes time to have a profound understanding of the Four Noble Truths.
So for a person setting out on the Eightfold Path acceptance or belief that the Four Noble Truths are reality can be conceived as Right Understanding.
What does Right Understanding mean to you?
With gratitude
Gary

[DesautocaD]

Right understanding is the confirmed belief in the validity of the four noble truths. Right understanding is also something that is continuously developed, like the rest of the NEFP

[Nothatspecial]

The sole lecture of the Four Noble Truths awakes toward the understanding of suffering. There is no need to believe because once you have read carefully that core teaching this awakening is in itself the arising of Right View. This is what in Soto is meant by Luminous Mind or Buddha Nature. It is an experience. It is a deep insight. You will never see the world again in the same way you saw it before the knowledge of this simple (but no easy) teaching.

MN141 is clear about this: "What is right understanding? It is this knowledge of suffering, knowledge of the arising of suffering, knowledge of the cessation of suffering, knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of suffering — this is called right understanding".

Also MN9 develops in more detail Samma ditthi or Right View exploring other ways to understand dukkha and its cessation but remembering again that Right View is about understanding the Four Noble Truths:

"The Four Noble Truths
13. Saying, "Good, friend," the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question: "But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dhamma?" — "There might be, friends.

14. "When, friends, a noble disciple understands suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way leading to the cessation of suffering, in that way he is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

15. "And what is suffering, what is the origin of suffering, what is the cessation of suffering, what is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? Birth is suffering; aging is suffering; sickness is suffering; death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; not to obtain what one wants is suffering; in short, the five aggregates affected by clinging are suffering. This is called suffering.

16. "And what is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being and craving for non-being. This is called the origin of suffering.

17. "And what is the cessation of suffering? It is the remainderless fading away and ceasing, the giving up, relinquishing, letting go and rejecting of that same craving. This is called the cessation of suffering.

18. "And what is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is just this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view... right concentration. This is called the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

19. "When a noble disciple has thus understood suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way leading to the cessation of suffering... he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way too a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dhamma."

Soto has a deep concern about this development through what we call sitting meditation or zazen.

[Efonukmp]

SN12.15 is a short and beautifull reminding of the core aspects of what the historical Buddha taught:

"By & large, Kaccayana, this world is in bondage to attachments, clingings (sustenances), & biases. But one such as this does not get involved with or cling to these attachments, clingings, fixations of awareness, biases, or obsessions; nor is he resolved on 'my self.' He has no uncertainty or doubt that just stress, when arising, is arising; stress, when passing away, is passing away. In this, his knowledge is independent of others. It's to this extent, Kaccayana, that there is right view."

[Flatlytaize]

Also a very provocative sutta is SN56.11, the one where is told the moment when the Wheel of Dhamma is set in Motion meaning this that once you have an subtle glimps of the Four Noble Truths the insight about this teaching is set in motion thorugh the development of "understanding" as a direct experience:

"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the cessation of stress'... 'This noble truth of the cessation of stress is to be directly experienced'... 'This noble truth of the cessation of stress has been directly experienced."

Thus, to "set in motion" the wheel of Dharma referes to this awakening to dukkha, to the origin of dukkha, to the cessation of dukkha and to the practice of the cessation of dukkha. Once the the wheel is set in motion, things will never be as they were before.

I feel this is good enough to start the practice of Right View...

[Nidsstese]

What does Right Understanding mean to you?

Right understanding for me is the validity of the Four Noble Truths developed in a conceptual sense, with the all important addition of the understanding which arises and develops through meditation, which is non-conceptual.

[ViaxobbimeVar]

The Eightfold Path - Right Understanding, means to me an acceptance of the Four Noble Truths. I say acceptance rather than understanding because I feel it takes time to have a profound understanding of the Four Noble Truths.

Hi

What does right understanding mean to me?

In aspiring to practise the path, acceptance of the Four Noble Truths is required via trust or faith.

But there must also be some understanding because the Four Noble Truths, which includes the Noble Eightfold Path, instructs how to practise.

It is not necessary to understand what the Buddha tried to express in the 1st Noble Truth (which is subject to many interpretations).

But what is to be practised needs to be understood.

In brief, all of the path factors are based in abandoning the cause of suffering, that is, abandoning craving.

Practising the path begins with abandoning craving (liking, disliking, obsessing, etc) and developing right intention.

The Buddha said:

The origin of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is the craving that produces new becoming, accompanied by indulgence and lust, liking this and [disliking] that; in other words, craving for sensual pleasure, craving-to-be and craving-not-to-be.

The origin of suffering, as a noble truth, can be abandoned.

~~~~

The way leading to cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is simply the noble eightfold path, that is to say, right view, right intention; right speech, right action, right livelihood; right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

The way leading to cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, can be developed.

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta What right understanding means to me is it is the guide to how to practise the Noble Eightfold Path.

Kind regards

[Flistelib]

Thank you all for your replies and thank you Kaarine for the links.
With gratitude
Gary

[nicegirlflor]

When seeing Element mention suffering (dukkha) in #7, I remembered a talk of Ajahn Chah's that I'd read. It's called ''Understanding Dukkha'' and I thought I'd post it here.



"It sticks on the skin and goes into the flesh; from the flesh it gets into the bones. It's like an insect on a tree that eats through the bark, into the wood and then into the core, until finally the tree dies.

We've grown up like that. It gets buried deep inside. Our parents taught us grasping and attachment, giving meaning to things, believing firmly that we exist as a self-entity and that things belong to us. From our birth that's what we are taught. We hear this over and over again, and it penetrates our hearts and stays there as our habitual feeling.

We're taught to get things, to accumulate and hold on to them, to see them as important and as ours. This is what our parents know, and this is what they teach us. So it gets into our minds, into our bones.

When we take an interest in meditation and hear the teaching of a spiritual guide it's not easy to understand. It doesn't really grab us. We're taught not to see and to do things the old way, but when we hear the teaching, it doesn't penetrate the mind; we only hear it with our ears. People just don't know themselves.

So we sit and listen to teachings, but it's just sound entering the ears. It doesn't get inside and affect us. It's like we're boxing and we keep hitting the other guy but he doesn't go down. We remain stuck in our self-conceit. The wise have said that moving a mountain from one place to another is easier than moving the self-conceit of people.

We can use explosives to level a mountain and then move the earth. But the tight grasping of our self-conceit - oh man! The wise can teach us to our dying day, but they can't get rid of it. It remains hard and fast. Our wrong ideas and bad tendencies remain so solid and unbudging, and we're not even aware of it. So the wise have said that removing this self-conceit and turning wrong understanding into right understanding is about the hardest thing to do.

Continued:

http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Understanding_Dukkha1.php

[Innockcroff]

There are two types of Right Understanding

Mundane Right Understanding and Super-mundane Right Understanding

when we believe Buddha's Teaching and practising eight-fold path we are having Mundane Right Understanding

when we experience the Truth in Buddha's Teaching we are having Super-mundane Right Understanding

once one gets this super mundane right understanding one is said to be a Noble Person (one of the Eight Noble Ones)

[layedgebiamma]

it takes time to have a profound understanding of the Four Noble Truths

The most profound understanding of the Four Noble Truths would be liberation itself.

What does Right Understanding mean to you?

Knowing the true nature of the world. Knowing that each of us is responsible for our own response to the world. Knowing that the mind is the creator of all suffering and that the mind alone can transcend suffering. Understanding that a human has no core, is not separate from the breeze that lifts their hair. Understanding that we are not born and will not die. And a bunch of other interesting understandings and knowings.

[JacomoR]

giving meaning to things

Very profound: nothing has any more meaning than that which we give it ... life included.

[gfkasjhfg]

Ajahn Chah: I love the man.

[highattainlet]

For me, I like to tie it in with mindfulness. As I see events or situations arise (lets say, someone steals from me), I apply understanding to the root and reason of the suffering and understanding that the suffering only occurs because of emotions placed upon the 'object' creating attachment to it. I then also recognize and understand the arising of the emotions, such as anger or regret, and understand that there is no sense in stressing over things that are past... And then I can easily let those emotions 'go'.

A lot of people worry about things outside of their control, and I think that is a major cause of stress and worry for many people in the modern world. I think also an understanding of how illogical it is to worry about things in which we have no control over, can relieve many people's stress and worries.

But I suppose more or less all of you are right, it is basically understanding the Four Noble Truths and applying them in real-time to all situations.

[verybigf]

For me, I like to tie it in with mindfulness. As I see events or situations arise (lets say, someone steals from me), I apply understanding to the root and reason of the suffering and understanding that the suffering only occurs because of emotions placed upon the 'object' creating attachment to it. I then also recognize and understand the arising of the emotions, such as anger or regret, and understand that there is no sense in stressing over things that are past... And then I can easily let those emotions 'go'.

A lot of people worry about things outside of their control, and I think that is a major cause of stress and worry for many people in the modern world. I think also an understanding of how illogical it is to worry about things in which we have no control over, can relieve many people's stress and worries.

Makes sense to me, but is also a facet of understanding the Four Noble Truths, I think.