Threefold Training

Threefold Partition

Eightfold Path

Method of Practice


Virtue

Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood

Five Precepts


Mind

Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration

Four Jhanas


Wisdom

Right View
Right Intention

Four Noble Truths







Five Precepts





  1. The first precept consists of a prohibition of killing, both humans and all animals.

  2. The second precept prohibits theft and related activities such as fraud and forgery.

  3. The third precept refers to sexual misconduct, and has been defined by modern teachers with terms such as sexual responsibility and long-term commitment.

  4. The fourth precept involves falsehood spoken or committed to by action, as well as malicious speech, harsh speech and gossip.

  5. The fifth precept prohibits intoxication through alcohol, drugs, or other means.




Precept

Accompanying virtues

1. Abstention from killing living beings

Kindness and compassion

2. Abstention from theft

Generosity and renunciation

3. Abstention from sexual misconduct

Contentment and respect for faithfulness

4. Abstention from speaking lies (falsehood)

Being honest and dependable

5. Abstention from intoxication

Mindfulness and responsibility









Four Jhanas




Jhanas
(Concentration Stages)

Factors Abandoned

Factors acquired or intensified

Notes

1st Jhana

Five hindrances:
1. Sloth and torpor
2. Doubt
3. Ill will / aversion
4. Restlessness
5. Greed / sensual desire

Five Jhana factors:
1. Applied thought
2. Sustained thought
3. Rapture
4. Happiness
5. One-pointedness of the mind

• Five hindrances are opposed to the five jhana factors.

• Characterized by rapture and happiness born of seclusion

• Commentarial teachings and just a few suttas specifically list one-pointedness as a feature of first jhana;
      many suttas omit explicit reference to the factor one-pointedness.

2nd Jhana

1. Applied thought
2. Sustained thought

1. Rapture
2. Happiness
3. One-pointedness of the mind

• Disappearance of applied and sustained thought
• Characterized by delight and happiness born of concentration

3rd Jhana

Rapture

1. Subtle happiness
2. One-pointedness of the mind

• Rapture fades, revealing a quiet, subtle, and pervasive happiness.
• Characterized by the subtle enjoyment of a mind that is mindful and equanimous

4th Jhana

Happiness

1. One-pointedness of the mind
2. Equanimity

• Happiness is replaced by equanimity.
      The mind is profoundly stable, still, and equanimous.

• Mindfulness is purified by equanimity.







Four Noble Truths



dukkha 

('not being at ease', "suffering," from dush-stha, "standing unstable,") 

is an innate characteristic of the perpetual cycle (samsara, lit. 'wandering') of grasping at things, ideas and habits;



Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering:
birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering;
union with what is displeasing is suffering;
separation from what is pleasing is suffering;
not to get what one wants is suffering;
in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.




samudaya 

(origin, arising, combination; "cause")

dukkha (unease) arises simultaneously with tanha ("craving, desire or attachment, lit. 'thirst');



Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering:
it is this craving [tanha, "thirst"] which leads to re-becoming, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there;
that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for becoming, craving for disbecoming.




nirodha 

(cessation, ending, confinement)

dukkha can be ended or contained by the confinement or letting go of this tanha;



Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering:
it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.




marga 

(path, Noble Eightfold Path) 

is the path leading to the confinement of tanha and dukkha.



Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering:
it is this noble eightfold path;
that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.