Editing Noble Eightfold Path (section)

===Origins: the Middle Way===
According to Indologist Tilmann Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term ''the [[Middle Way]]''.{{sfn|Vetter|1988}} In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the Eightfold Path.{{sfn|Vetter|1988}} Tilmann Vetter and historian Rod Bucknell both note that longer descriptions of "the path" can be found in the early texts, which can be condensed into the Eightfold Path.{{sfn|Vetter|1988}}{{sfn|Bucknell|1984}}{{refn|group=note|One of those longer sequences, from the ''CulaHatthipadopama-sutta'', the "Lesser Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant's Footprints", is as follows:{{sfn|Bucknell|1984|p=11-12}}
# ''Dhammalsaddhalpabbajja'': A layman hears a Buddha teach the Dhamma, comes to have faith in him, and decides to take ordination as a monk;
# ''sila'': He adopts the moral precepts;
# ''indriyasamvara'': He practises "guarding the six sense-doors";
# ''sati-sampajanna'': He practises mindfulness and self-possession (actually described as mindfulness of the body, kāyānussatti);
# ''jhana 1'': He finds an isolated spot in which to meditate, purifies his mind of the hindrances (nwarana), and attains the first rupa-jhana;
# ''jhana 2'': He attains the second jhana;
# ''jhana 3'': He attains the third jhana;
# ''jhana 4'': He attains the fourth jhana;
# ''pubbenivasanussati-nana'': he recollects his many former existences in samsara;
# ''sattanam cutupapata-nana'': he observes the death and rebirth of beings according to their karmas;
# ''dsavakkhaya-nana'': He brings about the destruction of the dsavas (cankers), and attains a profound realization of (as opposed to mere knowledge about) the four noble truths;
# ''vimutti'': He perceives that he is now liberated, that he has done what was to be done.
A similar sequence can be found in the [[Samaññaphala Sutta]].<ref name="Gethin2008_p142"/>}}