1. Right belief, without superstition or delusion.
2. Right aspiration, after such things as the thoughtful and earnest man sets store by.
3. Right speech, speech that is friendly and sincere.
4. Right conduct, conduct that is peaceable, honourable, and pure.
5. Right means of livelihood, _i.e._ a pursuit which does not involve the taking or injuring of life.
6. Right endeavour, _i.e._ self-restraint and watchfulness.
7. Right memory, _i.e._ presence of mind, not forgetting at any time what one ought to remember; and
8. Right meditation, _i.e._ earnest occupation with the riddles of life.
This is the path; there are four stages of it--
1. The stage of him who has entered the path.
2. The stage of him who has yet to return once to life.
3. The stage of him who returns not again, but may be born again as a superior being; and
4. The stage of the worthy, holy one, the _Arahat_, who is free from desire for existence, and also from pride and self-righteousness, and who is saved and has obtained holiness, even in this life.
An Arahat is not equal to a Buddha; the former is himself saved, but the perfect Buddha is able by his perfect knowledge to save others. Of Buddhas, however, there are not many. One becomes an Arahat by a life of strenuous and untiring discipline. Ten fetters are to be broken by which a man is kept from freedom; self-deception is one of them, trust in sacrifice another, and the list embraces both sensual and intellectual weaknesses. One must watch and be sober; every act, however trivial, is to be done with full self-consciousness and earnestness. One must remember that he is engaged in a great and a hard work, and must resolutely "swim upstream," estimating at its proper value every affection and temptation that would hold him back. The body is to be contemned, and all natural ties; emotion is to be uprooted from the heart so that the proper state of entire calm and undisturbedness may be maintained. Then one is an Arahat, a true Brahman. This manner of life requires withdrawal from the world; the true salvation can only be attained by him who has left his home for the houseless life. But Buddhism has also a general moral code for those who have not taken this step; the keeping of it will not save them directly; from the life they are now leading that is impossible, but it is a beginning; it will make it easier for them to become Arahats and attain salvation in some future existence. For all it is good to be free from desire; as all desire contains in itself a germ of death, there is no approach to salvation except in this direction.