What The Buddha Taught His Followers
You may remember that The Buddha taught that all living things suffer. Buddhists call this suffering duhkha. The Buddha taught his followers THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHSand THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH. (The Four Noble Truths are not the same as the Three Universal Truths)  
The FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS are:
1.	Duhkha is everywhere, all the time;
2.	Duhkha is caused by greed and selfishness;
3.	Greed and Selfishness can be ended;
4.	The way to end Greed and Selfishness is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path.
THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH
The Buddha said that you cannot reach Nirvana by living a life of luxury and you cannot reach Nirvana by living a life of deliberate poverty and starvation (Remember: he had tried both). He taught his followers that they should follow a Middle Way between the two extremes.
He said that the Middle Way had eight parts and that to make it work you must follow all of them. This is why The Buddha’s Middle Way is known as the Noble Eightfold Path. 

Right Understanding

The Noble Eightfold Path

Right Thought

Right Meditation

Right Livelihood 

Right Speech

Right Action

Right Effort

Right Self-awareness

The eight parts of the path fall into 3 groups:
Group	Step of the Path	What It Means	
Wisdom	Right Understanding	You must understand the Four Noble Truths. 	
	Right Thought	You must think about the kind of life you lead and make a commitment to live in a caring and unselfish way.	
Behaviour	Right Speech	Always speak in ways that are kind, truthful and not hurtful to yourself or other people.	
	Right Action	Behave in ways that respect living things, respect other people’s property, respect other people’s feelings and respect yourself.	
	Right Livelihood (job)	Do a job that does not lead to harming others. Buddhist believe that five kinds of job cause harm and should be avoided. They are: 
· trade in deadly weapons
· trade in animals for slaughter
· trade in slavery 
· trade in intoxicants
· trade in poisons 	
Mind	Right Effort	Do your best to avoid bad things and do good things:
· Make the effort to avoid evil; 
· Make the effort prevent evil;
· Make the effort to do good to others;
· Make the effort to encourage good in others.	
	Right Self-awareness	Control your mind so that you see things clearly.
· Be aware of your own body and how you move.
· Be aware of your feelings. Aim for pleasant, calm feelings.
· Be aware of your thoughts. Be in control of them. 
· Be aware of the world around you. 	
	Right Meditation	The Buddha gained enlightenment by meditation. So can you.	

Activity
(Write any answers as sentences)
1.	Look at page 1 again. Write one or two sentences to explain what The Buddha meant by “The Middle Way”.
2.	Draw a diagram showing the eight steps of The Eightfold Path. (Buddhist often use the image of a wheel with eight spokes).
3.	Do you think that it would be difficult to follow The Eightfold Path? Would any of the steps be easier to follow?
4.	Which steps on the path would tell a Buddhist 
to do his or her best not to call other people names? 
to be kind to animals?
not to kill?
not to drink alcohol or take drugs?
5.	Look at this summary of The Ten Commandments. Do any of them agree with The Eightfold Path? Can you match any of the commandments with any of the steps? Write about any of the matches you can find.

A Summary of The Ten Commandments	
1.	I am the Lord your God.
2.	You must not worship any other gods.
3.	You must not use God’s name badly.
4.	Remember to keep the sabbath.
5.	Respect you parents.	6.	Don’t kill anyone.
7.	Be faithful to your husband or wife.
8.	Do not steal.
9.	Do not tell lies about people.
10.	Do not be jealous of the things that other people have.