Page 10 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

illustrating the way in which people fall out, this story

underscores the point that one should not allow oneself to be
carried away simply by words. Though admittedly there is some
difference between 'noble' and 'holy', the whole controversy

was about a matter of comparatively minor importance).

Asta means simply 'eight', while anga means 'limb', 'member',
or even 'shoot'. In some modern North Indian languages, for
instance, they speak of the panchanga-pranam or prostration

with the 'five limbs', that is to say, the two arms, the two legs,
and the head. In Sanskrit and Pali the head is called the uttama

anga or 'highest member'. Thus although we usually think of
the Noble Eightfold Path as consisting of eight successive steps
or stages, the use of the word anga would seem to suggest that

the 'steps' are not so much successive as simultaneous. In
reality the Path is eightfold in the sense of being eight-limbed

or eight membered rather than being made up of eight steps.
Marga means 'path' or 'way'.

Perfect Vision
The first so-called step on the Noble Eightfold Path is samyag-

drsti (Pali samma-ditthi). This is usually translated as 'Right
Understanding', but such a rendition is far from satisfactory.
Here, as so often is the case with Buddhist terms and

expressions, we can get at the real meaning of the words only
by going back to the original language. What, then, does

samyag-drsti really mean? Samyag, which is prefixed to all eight
angas of the Path, means 'proper', 'thorough', 'whole',
'integral', 'complete', 'perfect'. It is certainly not 'right' as

opposed to 'wrong'.

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