Right view

Right view (sammā diṭṭhi) is the first factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. It means seeing life in a way that leads towards the end of suffering. It belongs, with right intention, to the wisdom part of the path.

What right view means

When the Buddha defined right view, he described it as knowing the Four Noble Truths: knowing suffering, its origin, its ending and the path that leads to its ending. This is not a creed to sign up to. It is a way of looking at your own experience and noticing how craving produces dissatisfaction, and how letting go eases it.

The discourses also describe a more everyday right view. It is the understanding that actions have results, that generosity matters, that parents deserve respect, and that it is possible to live wisely. In other words, it is trust that what you do and intend shapes what you become. This is the teaching of karma.

Two levels

Teachers often speak of two levels. Ordinary right view supports a good life and good rebirths. Noble, or transcendent, right view is direct insight into impermanence, suffering and not-self, the kind of seeing that uproots greed, hatred and delusion. The first prepares the ground for the second.

A long discourse given by Sāriputta, one of the Buddha’s chief disciples, explains right view from many angles: as understanding what is wholesome and unwholesome, the kinds of nutriment, the links of dependent origination, and more. Each angle comes back to seeing how things arise and cease.

Why it comes first

Right view is listed first because it gives direction to the rest. In another discourse the Buddha says that right view “comes first” in the path: it lets you recognise wrong view as wrong and right view as right. Without some sense of where you are going, effort and concentration can go anywhere.

Right view is not the same as holding the correct opinions. The Buddha warned against clinging even to good views. It grows through reflection, listening to teachings and noticing the results of your own actions.

Developing right view

You can begin by observing cause and effect in daily life. Notice what follows an angry word, and what follows a kind one. Reading the discourses slowly, and asking questions of experienced practitioners, also helps the view mature.