8-Fold Path

A result of Buddha Sakyamuni's first turning of the wheel of Dharma at Sarnath were the four noble truths.  Many have expoused, interpreted, explained, described, meditated upon and put into action these truths.

1. Suffering exits
2. Suffering is caused by desire and attachment
3. Release from suffering is possible
4. The 8-fold path is the way to work to be released from suffering

The 8-Fold Path is the main focus of the Hinayana or Theravada tradition of Buddhism, but the foundation for all other schools and practices.  Here is are two schematics from different schools (not sure which ones yet) that describe and try to quantify the 8-fold path -

This first one I like because its visual shows interaction between the steps on the path that seems to help the viewer understand the progress they might want to take.  I don't yet understand the sanskrit translations of the words, and why it is the format it is in. 

This second one from a transcendental awareness (what?) news journal gives a practical explanation of the path breaking down what I know to be the different categories of practice within each step of the path (from various Tibetan Buddhist sources).

The Path breaks down into three sections (as depicted above in the spiral) as practices of body, speech, and mind.  These aims are to then cleanse, over many many lifetimes, the negative karmic habitual tendencies each human being carries from lifetime to lifetime.