Chapter 20: The Way
The eightfold path leads to purification; effort and mindfulness free from Mara's bondage.
15 argumentative units
- 01Assertion of the Eightfold Path as supreme
The speaker establishes that the eightfold path is the best way, alongside the four truths, passionlessness, and enlightened vision as the highest virtues.
- 02The eightfold path as the only way
The author claims this path is the sole means to purify intelligence and warns that all alternatives are deceptions of Mara.
- 03Promise of ending pain through the path
Following this way leads to the end of suffering, a truth taught by the Buddha when he understood the removal of afflictions.
- 04Requirement of personal effort
The individual must undertake their own effort; the Buddhas are merely teachers, and only the thoughtful who practice are freed from Mara's bondage.
- 05Three realizations leading to purity
Understanding that all created things perish, cause suffering, and are unreal brings equanimity and leads to the way of purity.
- 06Sloth as obstacle to knowledge
A person lacking diligence and mental strength, despite youth and physical capability, will never attain knowledge or the way.
- 07Discipline of speech, mind, and body
A practitioner must guard speech, restrain the mind, and refrain from bodily wrongdoing; these three disciplines constitute the wise path.
- 08Zeal as condition for acquiring knowledge
Knowledge grows through diligence and diminishes through negligence, so one must actively cultivate zeal for knowledge to flourish.
- 09Destruction of lust as forest
One must destroy lust completely (not partially) because danger emanates from this forest; full elimination brings freedom.
- 10Sexual love as mental bondage
Even the smallest attachment of man to woman keeps the mind enslaved, comparable to a calf's dependence on its mother's milk.
- 11Removal of self-love
One must uproot self-love as easily as plucking an autumn lotus and pursue the peaceful path to Nirvana shown by Buddha.
- 12Foolish disregard of mortality
A fool makes worldly plans without acknowledging death's inevitability, delaying recognition of life's impermanence.
- 13Death's indiscriminate power
Death claims even the prosperous and distinguished, carrying them away while distracted, like a flood sweeping away a sleeping village.
- 14Futility of family bonds against death
Family relationships—children, parents, and relatives—provide no protection when death arrives; kinship cannot prevent or stop death.
- 15Call to wise action regarding Nirvana
A wise person who understands the powerlessness of kinship against death should urgently pursue the path to Nirvana.