This path, which Gotama calls a "middle" or "centered" path, outlines a way of life that includes every aspect of a persons' humanity. Here is the classical definition:
.........And this path: the path with eight branches: complete view, complete thought, complete speech, .........complete action, complete livelihood, complete effort, complete mindfulness, complete .........concentration.
I translate samma as "complete" rather than as the more usual "right." It is what the term literally means; the phrase samma sambuddha, for example, means a completely awakened one, not a rightly awakened one. "Complete" lacks the moralistic overtones of "right" and suggests how each element of the path can be an integral part of a whole ("integral" is from the Latin integer - entire). The eightfold path is a model for a centered life, which is balanced, harmonious, and integrated instead of imbalanced, discordant, and fragmented. It is not a recipe for a pious Buddhist existence in which the practitioner does everything right and gets nothing wrong.
---Stephen Batchelor, in after buddhism---
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