Page 15 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

Thus the Path of Vision may arise for different people in all

these different ways. For some it has even arisen in a dream!
(In Bucke's Cosmic Consciousness there is the remarkable case
of a man who had a very vivid 'archetypal' dream which

completely altered the whole course of his life). However the
Path of Vision may arise, we should be very careful not to lose

it, not to forget it. This happens very easily for, as the poet
says, 'the world is too much with us.' We may have an
experience so wonderful that we might think we will never

forget it, but after a short time, after a few days or weeks, it's
no longer there. It is as though it had never been. So we should

cherish it, cultivate it, dwell upon it — try to deepen it, to
clarify it — try to develop it, all the time. We should eventually

try to permeate and transform with it our whole being, our
whole life.

To sum up we may say that the aim of this great Buddhist
teaching of the Path of Vision and the Path of Transformation

is to enable us to bring the whole of our life — our whole
being, our whole existence, on all levels — up to the level of its
highest moments. This is what it means to evolve spiritually.

This is what it means to follow the Noble Eightfold Path. It
means to achieve Perfect Vision by one means or another and

then transform our whole being in accordance with that vision.

The Nature of Existence

What, then, is Perfect Vision? In the literature of Buddhism
there are many expositions of Right Understanding, as Perfect

Vision is generally called. One might even say that there are
too many of them, for some expositions are not very helpful
and may even be

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