The Eightfold Path: Right Intention

“When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it” — The Alchemist

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism tell us that the Eightfold Path is how we move towards freedom from suffering. Right Intention is the second “step” on that path, after Right View.

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” — Lao Tzu

Isn’t the road to hell paved with good intentions? Why speak of intention at all?

Tony Robbins has a fun little game he makes people play that I think explains this. Look away from the screen for a minute (truly difficult, I agree) and count all the red objects around you.

Maybe there’s a little red on one of your posters, or maybe there’s a window and a red car outside. Maybe there’s a pair of red scissors on your desk.

Now that you’ve counted all the red things around you, I want you to (without looking) tell me all the blue things you saw.

Truly difficult? Maybe it’s because you were so intent on seeing red things.

Water The Flowers, Pull The Weeds

The story goes that the Buddha, when he was meditating, found the patterns of thought that bubbled up in his mind tended to have certain themes.

The first kind of thoughts and impulses were those that would logically bring more suffering to himself and others: desire, ill-will, and harmfulness.

The second kind were those that might reduce suffering and promote well being — Renunciation, Good Will, and Harmlessness.

The positive ones are meant to directly parallel and oppose the negative ones, like putting good things in your freshly emptied closet to keep it from filling with seven times more demons than before.

The Intention of Renunciation

As The Four Noble Truths say, suffering arises from desire.

Desire leads to suffering because we’re programmed to feel good as we approach goals and feel bad when we fail.

The intention of Renunciation is to gradually give up our attachment to our desires.

Achieving that promotion won’t make you happy. Being rich won’t make you happy. Finding a lover won’t make you happy. Only your psyche can do that.

If you succeed and reach the top of the mountain, then sure, you’ll feel special for a minute as a result. But inevitably there will be a moment of “now what?” where you realize your achievement was really an empty thing.

Now the Buddha didn’t expect everyone to flip a switch and become an ascetic monk. Not everybody is meant to. Jumping into renunciation too zealously would just be another attachment that causes suffering.

Buddhism is often called the “Middle Way” — it is neither asceticism or wild self-indulgence, but the achievement of harmony between both impulses.

The Intention of Good Will

Realizing that freedom from suffering (happiness) is your goal causes two things.

First, you will begin to seek out increasing happiness in yourself. As you practice self-love and self-kindness, you will naturally improve at expressing love and kindness towards others.

On this concept hangs all the laws of all the prophets…

Again, loving-kindness is not something that can be “forced.” That would be an attachment that causes suffering. It can be cultivated by contemplating the Right View that you are already “saved.”

The Buddhist version of that fact is that the world and yourself are empty and impermanent, and therefore you are free to move away from suffering at your own pace.

The Christian perspective might be: you who are so great a sinner compared to who you could be, won’t God’s love still be there for you when the sun rises in the morning, the birds chirp, and your body is full of strength and freedom?

The Intention of Harmlessness

If the Good Will of loving-kindness is more like the goal, then the intention of Harmlessness is more like the means.

On your way to achieving freedom from suffering, another thing to consider is to not cause extra suffering as a result of your journey.

Don’t beat yourself up with guilt for not being full of Good Will. Likewise, don’t expect others to be instantly enlightened either.

Harmlessness is compassion.

Practicing Right Intention

Turn your inner eye on your intentions. Ask yourself often: “what is my current purpose, and why?”

Be honest — is that really what you want?