religions discussion post

This week I ask you to write a reflective journal. Using your textbook, or the handout, I would like you to take EACH practice of the 8 Foldpath and practice it! What does this mean? In your Journal, I want something that looks like this: 1. Title: Brand Your Journey 2. Step-by-Step Action Plan: This action plan (ie-using religious practices) is an effort to take the Noble Eightfold Path and APPLY it to your everyday life. To do this I ask that you cut and paste the practices of EACH step in the 8 fold plan, and then identify a place in your life where you can put it into action or what you would do to make this kind of correct action possible. 3. Buddhist Intervention: You may have either two lists, or combine this into the step above. For each practice in the 8 Foldpath, come up with a Buddhist Intervention. Use a Buddhist gong if you'd like, or a deep breath, or some kind of awareness trigger. For a few days, try to live righteously. And then talk about it in the Journal. Give me a few sentences on each. Example: The Noble Eightfold Path: Making Time for My Own Life The first step on the 8 Foldpath is Correct or Right View, which means understanding the nature of things, specifically the 4 Noble Truths. I am in this religion class to learn about religion. A lot of times I am too tired or don't feel like I really care. At all. So I decided, for my Buddhist Intervention, to take a whole hour, get some coffee, and find a quiet place to actually read the text book and learn about the history and teachings of Buddhism. Unfortunately, my daughter had a huge project, and the dog threw up on the couch, and my boss emailed me a report to get done, so I had to do what I usually do, which was quickly cut and paste the 4 Noble Truths. I feel the suffering. I will try to make space tomorrow. The Four Noble Truths comprise the essence of Buddha's teachings, though they leave much left unexplained. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. That leads me to my second 8 Foldpath, correct intention. Correct intentions means to avoid thoughts of attachment, hatred and harmful intent. I decided the best way to do this was to stop fantasizing about having a life of my own on a beach somewhere, after I murdered my family, and set some intentions for myself. I have no time for myself and feel resentful all the time. So I decided to get up one hour earlier just once this week so I could have coffee and read. I did this, and even though it only lasted 30 minutes, I felt much less resentful of my family all day long....