Page 30 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

Perfect Emotion

With the second stage of the Noble Eightfold Path we come to

one of the most important questions, not to say problems, in
the whole of the spiritual life. This is the question of reason and
emotion. We all know from our own experience that it is

comparatively easy to understand a religious or philosophical
teaching intellectually, or theoretically. Abstruse, complex, and

even intrinsically difficult as it may be, with a little mental
exertion and systematic study we can usually manage I to
understand it without too much trouble. But when it comes to

putting that teaching into practice we find this a very much
more difficult matter.’

There is an oft-repeated anecdote from Buddhist history which
well illustrates this point. It appears that in ancient times Indian

monks used to go from India to China in large numbers to
preach the Doctrine, and that at one period of Chinese history

there was a very pious Chinese emperor who was always eager
to welcome great sages and teachers from India. Now one

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