I have not written a series in some years, since before the nomad life, but I wanted to get back into it by outlining what I call the “Maggasekha Way”. I’m still developing the various deeper connections and intricacies of this concept, but what will follow in this series is the basic framework and understanding. After this introduction will come four parts, each focusing on one of the for attitudes.
Every day a few years back on the Maggasekha Discord, I got into the habit of posting 4 emojis, like so :
The Development of these specific concepts into a package arose unconsciously, organically over time as I wrote my morning greetings to the community. Someone who is well versed in the suttas may already have connected the four images to various suttas, because indeed these are not something I made up like some self-help guru, but they are truly, as I have named the title of the article, attitudes the Buddha gives us for how to properly live the path.
I have chosen the word attitude with care here, lets look at the definition :
manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind
This last part of the definition is most important for our purposes – an orientation of the mind. These four attitudes orient and guide the Maggasekha (Student of the Path) along the Noble Eightfold Path, keep that person in the right direction, equipped with the appropriate mental attitudes to thrive and develop on it.
The four that I will detail in this series of articles are not the totality of such attitudes, there are more, but these four are prominent and work together as a cohesive whole quite well.
So briefly, what are the four?
Live like the mountains are closing in
Practice like your head is on fire
Raise high the banner of seers
Roar your lions roar
Each one of these has one or more suttas that discuss the concept and attitude and it’s importance to the path. in the following four articles I will do my best to elucidate the meaning and purpose of these similes and their respective suttas and their importance on the path. See you soon with the first installment.