Reddit reviews The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering

Practicing the steps of the Noble Eightfold Path is a very large undertaking. It can seem overwhelming and you can be consumed and inhibited by an over analysis of all the steps and how they fold into your life.

One of the ways that I have been directed to practice the path is to break it down. Take one aspect of the path and use that as your focus for a week, or more. Really centralize your practice on that one aspect of the path, picking through and applying the practical wisdom and reasoning of that path in your daily life and meditating on the application and impact of it.

It is incredibly useful to read about the aspects of the path as you are practicing them as well. There is an amazing resource by a world renowned and respected Buddhist scholar, Bikkhu Bodhi. I can not recommend this book enough for understanding and applying the Noble Eightfold path into your life.

https://www.amazon.com/Noble-Eightfold-Path-Way-Suffering/dp/192870607X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480866871&sr=8-1&keywords=noble+eightfold+path

Start small. Journal every night. Write about what you did right that reflected your walking of the path that day, identify where you need to improve and be grateful that you get a chance to walk it all.

It all takes time, but most off all it takes discipline, understanding and consistent accountability and application in your life to walk such a difficult but rewarding road. You will stumble. You will feel lost. You will need reminders. But you will also develop a certain heart intuition that begins to guide your actions over the purely cerebral analyzation that is happening now. Good luck!

Oh, I wanna try too:
>Are there different "branches" of Buddhism, sort of like in Christianity?

• The Schools of Buddhism
  
• Differences between the schools
  
  >Who was The Buddha?
  
  
• PBS documentary on The Buddha
  
• BBC documentary on The Buddha
  
• Buddha Nature
  
  > why is there prayer in Buddhism? How is Buddhist prayer different than, say, Christian and Islamic prayer?
  
  
• IIRC only a few sects actually 'pray' in the classical sense, otherwise it's simply paying homage; showing respect, saying thanks.
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puja_(Buddhism)
  
• Paying Homage
  
  >Do Buddhists go to temples on a certain day of the week like Christians? Is there a ritualistic process on what is done each day?
  
  
• This depends on the hours your local temple/center holds. However there are 'typical hours', once in the 'morning', once in the 'afternoon', and once in the 'evening'.
  
• Ritualistic processes will depend upon the culture of the school of Buddhism you subscribe to.
  
  > If I call my local Buddhist temple or meditation center, would someone there be willing to talk to me over the phone and introduce me in real life to what Buddhism is?
  
  
• They may be busy, and ask you to come back later.
  
• Some zen schools will turn you away outright to test your resolve. (This is wrong, see /u/Gundi9's comment bellow.)
  
  > Basically, I would really appreciate it if you could explain to me what Buddhism means to you, what your daily Buddhist lifestyle is, and how it affects you.
  
  
• I meditate, keep the 4 noble truths at the forefront of my attention and make a concerted effort to stay on the 8 fold path.
  
  Also, here are some books:
  
  
• The Dhammapada
  
• The Dhammapada is so ubiquitous i'm certain you can find versions of it online for free.
  
• The 8 Fold Path
  
• Also, see our sidebar, it says things I didn't, and probably says the things I did say so much more gooderbetter.
  
  TADA!
  
  

I agree with what /u/abhayakara said on this. I think you've misunderstood the nature of the 8FP as moralistic. It's actually incredibly practical and commonsense-based (and completely secular, if you so choose). Also, I want to reiterate the point that Buddha did not teach literal rebirth. I highly recommend Bikkhu Bodhi's pithy book (which you could read in a day) ... https://www.amazon.com/Noble-Eightfold-Path-Way-Suffering/dp/192870607X

I think you should lean on the fundamentals of Buddhist practice:

• work on understanding the Four Noble Truths
  
• re-read about the Noble Eightfold Path (also available in print)
  
• and work on maintaining a daily meditation habit.
  
  It sounds like you are setting up a sin/sinner system around masturbation and pornography and are looking to be saved. You are not bad or a sinner. Drop this mode of thinking. Plenty of people don't masturbate or consume porn and are not enlightened in the classical Buddhist sense. It's not the point of the path. (Perhaps a byproduct but there are many of those.)
  
  It's most helpful when looking thoughts and behaviors to consider what is skillful and what is unskillful. Skillful behaviors promote wholesome mind states. Unskillful behaviors spring from greed/hatred/delusion and generally lead to unwholesome mind states. So you need to work on cultivating the good and avoiding the unwholesome.
  
  Something I've found helpful when about to do something unskillful is to reflect:
  
  >This leads to my own affliction or to the affliction of others or to the affliction of both.
  >
  >It obstructs discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding.
  
  https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.019.than.html

I don't have a "go read this book/article and learn everything you need to know" answer ready to go. But, I would bet that this book is an incredible resource on the topic. Bhikkhu Bodhi is known as not only a deeply practiced monk in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism but also an exceptionally well educated scholar of Buddhism.

Nice job! And thanks for sharing.

Is this the book you're reading? Is it good for a modern audience? https://www.amazon.com/Noble-Eightfold-Path-Way-Suffering/dp/192870607X/

"What Makes You Not a Buddhist" by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse is a great intro to Buddhist ideas. It can be read for free on scribd without logging in. If you like it, consider buying it to support the author.

Another common suggestion is Way to the End of Suffering by Bikkhu Bodhi.

You can get this in book form ( 144 pages ) on Amazon

Try Bhikkhu Bodhi's The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering, for a focused and in-depth look at the 8 fold path, 'the 4th thing' the Tathagata taught after awakening.