The Eightfold Path is one of the early teachings the Buddha gave after his enlightenment • they are guidelines for living in accordance with the Dharma; they are guidelines for how to comport yourself, how to relate to one another, how to be in the world in a way that's more wise, more skillful, and more accurate • the first of the eight is right VIEW — cultivating clearer seeing, cultivating the ability to see for yourself, be curious, and to look deeply into the nature of your experience and the nature of reality • the second is right RESOLVE — having seen clearly what's going on, you develop the resolve to do something about it • the third is right SPEECH — not just blurting out whatever comes into your mind, but paying attention to your use of words and how you manifest altogether through your speech • the fourth is right ACTION — paying attention to your actions • the fifth is right LIVELIHOOD — is our approach to work ethical, and does our work benefit? • the sixth is right EFFORT — working with ourselves to develop greater skill with our thoughts, our speech, our actions, and interactions • the seventh and eighth — right MINDFULNESS and right CONCENTRATION —are the keys to the whole thing: cultivating mindfulness in whatever we're doing • these eight guidelines are not about being good or bad; they're simply suggestions that we can use to help us see how we go about our life altogether.