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Glimpses of World Religions
only the destruction of misery is possible. And with the destruction of greed, immediately the worried condition of
mind vanishes. (4) There's a way of prevention of misery. If one wants to
avoid misery, one should remove the greed. For removing or destorying greed, one should adopt (put into practice)
the “Arya Ashtangik Marg”. Ārya Ashtangik Marg - Madhyam Pratipad or the eightfold path – The middle unit
In the opinion of Lord Buddha, the path of self-restraint leading a man to his cherished goal is eight-fold. It is the unfailing and appropriate path that roots out the misery completely. And it is this path alone which takes a man to supreme knowledge (Bodhi) and to Nirvana. This is the path of the good and welfare. It is, in fact, a road to Nectar or Immortality.
The path of sexual enjoyments or 'wish and luxury is a rustic way, improper, discourteous and degraded or disgraceful. The way of rigid, stringent penance (Tapas) and giving pain to the body is full of misery and distressing; and so Buddha has carved out the middle way between them and has advocated it. This is the noble eight-fold path – the Middle way. This comprises : (1) Right vision (2) Right Decision (3) Right speech (4) Right Action (5) Right livelihood (6) Right effort (7) Right memory (8) Right Samādhi (Prolonged meditation)