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.