“Without suffering, you cannot grow. Without suffering, you cannot get the peace and joy you deserve.”

“Wherever the Eight Fold Path is practiced, joy, peace, and insight are there.” 

(Hanh 49)

   Buddhism taught me that the process of stopping, calming, resting, and healing is a solution to anyone’s sorrow, stress, or suffering and it has also taught me that living according to the eightfold path can be enlightening and joyful. 

    Throughout our discussions and readings on Buddhism I have learned that it teaches its followers to accept their suffering, understand their sufferings, destroy their sufferings, and then follow the eightfold path to peace of mind and true happiness. 

    The Fourth Noble Truth has impacted me the most because it is a clear set of “Right Ways” to live by. It is what is explained by the quote I have used at the top of the post. It is where I have found the most truth in Buddhism. The Fourth Noble Truth is the path that teaches us to refrain from doing the things that make us or others suffer. The path is known as The Eightfold Path, and it consists of Right View, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Diligence, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

   Right Concentration is split into two practices, Active Concentration and Selective Concentration.It is the "Right Way" that I challenged myself to follow.

 

   Right Concentration has taught me a very valuable lesson. It taught me to develop my concentration skills to help my mind live in the moment or properly use my mind to concentrate on something outside of the now.  A Buddhist will guide someone to just live in the world that they are a part of rather than try to force it to be the world they want it to be. I think that if someone were to take one message or small lesson of Buddhism and adopt it into their everyday life, they should live in the moment and interact with the happenings of the "now."  Instead of thinking "what needs to be done?", "what was a waste of time?", "who needs what?", or "when am I going to get this done?" - One must simply concentrate on what is happening right in front of them. They must think about what is going on in their surroundings or in the current conversation, and accept it. This is called Active Concentration. It relived stress in my life because I was able to appreciate nature, my relationships with people, and allowed me to be less anxious.

   Selective Concentration is when someone concentrates on one object or idea. Every ounce of concentration is used to focus in on that singular subject. While practicing Selective Concentration, you cannot hold a conversation or watch TV. During my challenge, if I needed to think about something that did not have to do with the present moment I practiced Selective Concentration. This allowed me to actually establish a window of time when I would become extremely concentrated on something important to me. I did not break concentration and do something else. If I did, then the Selective Concentration I was trying to practice would just become a lack of concentration. I called this window of time, “Thinking in a productive manner.” Normally I would let an outside moment or subject from my past or future enter my mind and exit as another entered. While practicing Selective Concentration I let the moment or subject enter but I did not stop thinking about that specific thought until I came to a conclusion. I would establish a conclusion of what I would do when that subject entered the now.