Page 184 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

At the very beginning of these lectures I pointed out that ahga

means limb, not step or stage, so that the arya-astangika-marga
(Pali: ariya-atthangika-magga) is the eight-limbed, or eight-

membered, or eight-shooted Path, not the Path of eight
successive, discrete steps or stages. Thus the spiritual life is
more like a process of growth, more like the unfolding of a

living thing, than it is like someone going from one stage to the
next of a path, or from one rung to the next of a ladder.

Spiritual growth is like the development of a tree. First you have
a sapling rooted in the earth and then one day the rain falls,
perhaps quite heavily. The rain is absorbed through the roots of

the sapling; the sap rises and spreads into the branches and
twigs — and the tree grows. There is a pause and then again the

rain falls; again the sap rises, and this time not only does it
spread into the branches and twigs, but leaves start unfolding. If
no rain falls for a time, the tree may wither a little, but

eventually more rain falls, — there may even be a real
cloudburst, a real downpour, and then hot only does the sap

rise into the branches and twigs and leaves, but flowers start
unfolding. The following of the Eightfold Path is like that. First
there is a spiritual experience, a glimpse of Reality or, in other

words, a moment of Perfect Vision. This is like the falling of the
rain; and just as the sap rises and spreads into the branches and

twigs, so Perfect Vision gradually transforms the different
aspects of our being. Emotion is transformed, speech is
transformed, actions and livelihood are transformed — even

volitions and awareness. As a result of that moment of Perfect
Vision, to some extent the whole being is transformed.

This process is repeated over and over again, at ever higher

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