The Noble Eightfold Path (Episode #87)

The Way Out Is In

Plum Village

Education, Religion & Spirituality, Buddhism, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

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🗓️ 17 April 2025

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

🎟 Get tickets to the live podcast episode in London. Welcome to episode 87 of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. In this installment, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach/journalist Jo Confino discuss the Noble Eightfold Path, a fundamental teaching that was emphasized by the Buddha. The eight elements of the path are: right view, right thinking, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right diligence, right mindfulness, and right concentration. The hosts focus on each element and explain their interconnectedness and how they form a comprehensive approach to self-discovery, personal transformation, and spiritual development. Jo and Brother Phap Huu also emphasise the importance of making the Noble Eightfold Path relevant, accessible, and applicable to contemporary challenges and needs, and the role of Plum Village community in adapting these teachings.The episode ends with a short meditation guided by Brother Phap Huu. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/ With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ List of resources Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing Dhyana in Buddhism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhyana_in_Buddhism The Bodhi Treehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_tree Dharma Talks: ‘Right Livelihood and True Love’https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/right-livelihood-and-true-love 51 Mental Formationshttps://plumvillage.org/transcriptions/51-mental-formation The Way Out Is In: ‘Taming Our Survival Instinct (Episode #65)’https://plumvillage.org/podcast/taming-our-survival-instinct-episode-65 Sister Lang Nghiemhttps://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-lang-nghiem Sister True Dedicationhttps://www.instagram.com/sistertruededication/ Brother Phap Ung https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/brother-chan-phap-ung The Five Mindfulness Trainings https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-5-mindfulness-trainings The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainingshttps://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-14-mindfulness-trainings Old Path White Clouds https://plumvillage.org/books/old-path-white-clouds-2 Quotes “The question is whether you want to liberate yourself or not. If you do, practice the Noble Eightfold Path.” “‘Now I have a path, there’s nothing to fear’ – because once you have the path, even if suffering is there, you will know how to walk it, because you start to see the way.” “The Buddha said that there are two extreme paths that we should avoid. The first one is seeking sensual pleasures, the pleasures of the world. The second is the practice of depriving the body, such as the practice of asceticism. Those extremes do not lead towards happiness and peace, they lead to failure on the path of understanding and love. And he said we have to find a middle way. And the middle is the Eight Noble Path.” “What we see, what we hear, what we taste, and what we consume on a daily basis will affect the way we are thinking. So, by focusing and practicing right thought, you will start to have a lot of agency. You will start to reflect on how your thought patterns are created, what habits arise in your daily life because of your thoughts, because of the ingredients that have been taken in through your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and mind consciousness.” “We do workshops on learning how to listen before even speaking. How to listen with our whole body, how to listen so that we don’t react, how to listen so we don’t allow our judgmental mind to try to fix that person right away. And then

Transcript

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0:00.0	Dear listeners, welcome to this latest episode of the podcast series The Way Out is In.
0:27.2	I'm Joe Confino working working at the intersection of personal transformation and systems evolution. And I'm Brother Phaphu, a Zen Buddhist monk, disciple of Zen Master Tickinghan in the Plum Village tradition.
0:33.9	So, dear listeners, today we are going to be looking at something called the Noble Eightfold Path,
0:41.8	which is in a sense at the heart of the Buddha's teachings.
0:46.5	And in fact, when he was close to his death, he said, the question is whether you want to liberate yourself.
0:54.7	If you do, practice the noble eightfold path.
0:59.4	And that is what we are going to do today.
1:03.2	The way out is in. Hello, dear friends. I am Joe Confino.
1:19.2	And I'm Brother Fab Hu.
1:20.8	So, brother, this is episode 87 of our podcast.
1:25.0	And we have now, at this moment, arrived at one of the fundamental teachings
1:29.8	of Plum Village, the Buddha, Ticknat Han. So is this the first time we're going to be
1:37.4	talking about this? I think it is the first time that we are giving it the spotlight that
1:42.8	it deserves, but throughout all of the 86 episodes,
1:49.2	the Eight Noble Path was threaded through the teachings, the sharings, and the different themes that
1:55.6	we have discussed. Great. So, brother, you are going to lead us through these eight. And what I'm going to do first,
2:03.8	I'm just going to read them out, because I think it's useful just to hear them. And then we will go,
2:09.5	because they are in Ticknat-Han's book, they are sort of shown in a circle. So we're going to go
2:16.2	round the circle, because then it's not linear, because of course
2:19.4	they are all interrelated. But the eight are right view, right thinking, right speech, right action,
2:31.7	right livelihood, right diligence, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
2:41.0	So, brother, before we get into these, all of them have the word right in front of it.
	...

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