The Buddhist path was first taught by the Buddha as the fourth Noble Truth. It is twofold: the outer path includes all the methods that take confused, suffering beings to the goal of nirvana or enlightenment, while the inner path describes the various mental states and understandings experienced along the way.

Each Buddhist tradition teaches its own characteristic combination of methods but in general the Buddhist path always has three aspects: ethical discipline, meditation practices and wisdom or the understanding that is cultivated at each stage.

Windows into Buddhism presents resources on ethical discipline separately in the section on Ethics. This is because ethics is often addressed as a subject in its own right in the school programme, and for Ethics teachers the materials are therefore more easily accessed on their own.

In this section on the Buddhist Path we offer resources on meditation and compassion as they are practised in different traditions. You will also find materials on the Buddhist path as a whole under General as well as points on the Buddhist practice of Retreat.

The wisdom aspect of the path is addressed mainly under World View.

It is therefore important to remember that all these different elements need to come together for the Buddhist path to be complete.