Venerable Sir, how do we, the lay devotees, embark on this path of the Dhamma?

The path of the Dhamma means the ‘Noble Eightfold Path.’ The reason why a bodhisatta attains the noble omniscience of buddha-hood by perfecting the ten perfections (pāramitā) for an extremely long time span consisting of four incalculable periods and a hundred thousand eons is to unearth this Noble Eightfold Path for the world, to revive it for the world. This Noble Eightfold Path divides into three broad divisions as sīla―morality, samādhi―concentration, and paññā―wisdom. In relation to wisdom, Buddha sets forth the following two things: (1) ‘Right View’ (sammā-diṭṭhi) and (2) ‘Right Thought’ or ‘Right Intention’ (sammā-sankappa). As regards morality, the following three things have been set forth: (3) ‘Right Speech’ (sammā-vācā), (4) ‘Right Bodily Action’ (sammā-kammanta), and (5) ‘Right Livelihood’ (sammā-ājīva). And as for concentration, (6) ‘Right Effort’ (sammā-vāyāma), (7) ‘Right Mindfulness’ (sammā-sati), and (8) ‘Right Concentration’ (sammā-samādhi) have been expounded. The Noble Eightfold Path means the aggregation of these eight constituent steps. The person who treads the path of the Dhamma must certainly wade into this Noble Eightfold Path.

Buddha has set forth the Noble Eightfold Path in a sequence. It is as a direct result of developing one step that the next step gets developed. That is to say, developing one step becomes the cause for the next step to grow. For instance, it is only if one develops ‘Right View’ that ‘Right Thought’ gets developed; only if ‘Right Thought’ is developed will ‘Right Speech’ develop. It’s a dhamma laid out [based] on the phenomenon of cause and effect.

He or she who enters this worthy path of the Dhamma must definitely enter the Noble Eightfold Path through the entrance called Right View. Bypassing the main entrance called Right View if you entered the Noble Eightfold Path through by-entrances using shortcuts, easy routes, comfortable paths, then what is sure to develop in you would be the ‘eightfold wrong path’ (micchā-magga). For you to understand the above point more clearly, let me tell you an example. One day a gentleman came to the kuṭī to meet the Bhikkhu. Based on what he claimed he spent most of his time on meditation. As he was explaining to the Bhikkhu about the improvement in his meditation, the troop of monkeys that often hangs around in the vicinity of the Bhikkhu’s abode drew nearer, shaking and jolting boughs and branches. At that the gentleman who meditated stated monkeys were our ancestors. When the Bhikkhu had asked him how monkeys could be our ancestors, he replied that we were descended from the monkey. Bhikkhu asked him whether he hadn’t read the ‘Aggañña Sutta’ the Buddha had expounded in relation to the origin of the world.1 And then that gentleman said he had indeed read the relevant discourse but refused to accept the facts mentioned in it.

Look! He is not prepared to accept a Dhamma proclaimed by Lord Buddha himself, and yet meditation has become the principal undertaking of his life. Chasing a Right Mindfulness, a Right Concentration, without Right View. Some revered-folks who pursue education in the field of science refuse to believe there are beings who are born spontaneously (opapātika)―that is, born without the instrumentality of parents or an apparent external influence or cause. Holding this view is terribly dangerous. What you are seeing here is the consequence of failing to enter the Noble Eightfold Path through the entrance called Right View. Hallmarks of the pointless exercise of seeking Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration in the name of meditation while circumventing the main entrance that is Right View are all too apparent in present society.

1 ‘Suttas’ may be rendered as ‘discourses’ by the Buddha.