The Path to Enlightenment

Those who seek the path to Enlightenment must first remove all ego
pride and humbly be willing to accept the light of the Truth. All the
treasures of the world, all its gold and silver and honors, are not to
be compared with wisdom and virtue.

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring
peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind.
Anyone who can control the mind can find the way to Enlightenment, and
all wisdom and virtue will naturally come.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from
good deeds, and wisdom from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely
through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the
guidance of virtue.

The Buddha's teaching, which tells people how to eliminate greed, anger
and foolishness, is a good teaching. And those who follow it attain the
happiness of a good life.

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Buddha's 4 Noble Truths, part 1

<1> One, Suffering - Suffering and frustration come from our
difficulty in facing the basic fact of life that everything around us
is impermanent and transitory. Rich or poor, average or gifted, all
life is subjected to the following: the trauma of birth, the pathology
of sickness, the fear of physical and mental degeneration, the phobia
of death, and karmically to be tied to what one distastes, or to be
separated from what one loves. All things must arise and pass away.

<2> The second noble truth is desire. The cause of suffering and
frustration occurs because out of ignorance, we divide the perceived
world into individual and separate things. The desire to pull apart
from the rest of life and seek fulfillment for the separated self, at
the expense of all other forms of life, causes suffering to the whole,
as Life is One Being. Our duty to our brothers and sisters is to
understand them as extensions, other aspects of ourselves, as being
fellow facets of the same reality.

<3> The third noble truth: Suffering and Frustration can be ended. If
the cause of life's suffering is those inclinations which tend to
continue or increase separateness, in fact all forms of selfish
craving, then the cure lies in overcoming such cravings. If we can be
released from the narrow limits of self interest into the vast expanse
of universal life, we will be free of our torment.

<4> The fourth noble truth is the Eightfold Path: The overcoming of
desire is through the substitution of the personal wants into divine
inclination. The way out of our captivity is through the Eightfold Path
of Enlightenment.

These are the steps on the Eightfold Path:

Right Knowledge leads to Wisdom.
Right Aspiration leads to Divine Inclination.
Right Speech leads to Truth and Understanding.
Right Behavior leads to Goodwill.
Right Livelihood leads to Sharing.
Right Effort leads to Highest Outcome.
Right Mindfulness leads to Purposeful Living.
Right Absorption leads to Unity.

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Excerpted from:
http://www.souledout.org/wesak/wesakaudio.html#buddha1

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