Buddhist Character Structure
Many of the above concepts are accepted by modern psychologists, especially the Adlerians and Behaviorists and in modern psycho-cybernetics. But more than twenty five centuries ago, the Unsurpassable Trainer of Personality (anuttaro purisadamma sarati), the Buddha, the Awakened One, formulated a system of transforming character based on these principles. When one examines this system carefully, one realizes that Buddhism is a system of personal growth and inner transformation. This system is called the Sublime Eightfold Way. The Sublime Eightfold Way (commonly translated as the Noble Eightfold Path) is laid down as follows:
1. Harmonious Perspective
2. Harmonious Aspiration
3. Harmonious Speech
4. Harmonious Action
5. Harmonious Lifestyle
6. Harmonious Practice
7. Harmonious Attention
8. Harmonious Equilibrium
This Sublime Eightfold Way is not a set of commandments or rules of living as some describe it. It is a description of the character structure of the true Buddhist. One has to acquire this character structure in order to become a Buddhist. A change in character is rarely a sudden change, though sometimes it could appear to be so. After a long period of struggling to understand, the harmonious perspective may dawn upon one when the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle suddenly click into place. When the harmonious perspective appears, the rest of the structure falls into place. The individual's life becomes reoriented and reorganized to reach the very special goal of inner calm called Nibbana.