Michael Tebbano's List: Zen Buddhism & Leadership

• To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime,   we inevitably have to endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death;   and we have to endure psychological suffering like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression.
• The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things and the ignorance   thereof. Transient things do not only include the physical objects that surround   us, but also ideas, and -in a greater sense- all objects of our perception.
• The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha. Nirodha   means the unmaking of sensual craving and conceptual attachment. The third   noble truth expresses the idea that suffering can be ended by attaining dispassion.
• There is a path to the end of suffering - a gradual path of self-improvement, which is described more detailed in the   Eightfold Path.

2 more annotations...

• It begins with  the intuitive insight that all beings are subject to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of the true nature  of all things.
• Right intention can be described best as commitment to ethical  and mental self-improvement. Buddha distinguishes three types of right intentions: 1. the intention of renunciation, which  means resistance to the pull of desire, 2. the intention of good will, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion,  and 3. the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop  compassion.
• 1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell  deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully, 2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against  others, 3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and 4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose  or depth.
• Positively formulated, right action means to act kindly and compassionately, to  be honest, to respect the belongings of others, and to keep sexual relationships harmless to others.
• Right livelihood means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally  and peacefully.
• 1. to prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states, 2. to abandon unwholesome states that have already  arisen, 3. to arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen, and 4. to maintain and perfect wholesome states already  arisen.
• It is the mental ability to see things as they  are, with clear consciousness. Usually, the cognitive process begins with an impression induced by perception, or by a  thought, but then it does not stay with the mere impression.
• right concentration, refers to the development of a mental force that occurs in natural  consciousness, although at a relatively low level of intensity, namely concentration.

6 more annotations...