All of the Buddha's teachings are about what to do. The noble eightfold path is something to do. The path of craving is something not to do.

"The Buddha said a teacher’s first responsibility to his students is to give them a sense that there are some things that should be done, and other things that should not be done.

There were people in his time who taught that everything you experience right now is either the result of past action or the result of the will of a creator God or it’s totally random. In each of those cases, he said, you’re leaving people defenseless, unprotected, bewildered. He uses that word “bewildered” as our normal reaction to suffering. You’re leaving people bewildered because you give them no idea of how to escape from the suffering they’re experiencing right now. You give them no basis even for thinking that there is such a thing as what should be done and what should not be done.

After all, if everything you experience is based on past actions, then you could be a killer of living beings, you could be a thief, you could engage in breaking any of the five precepts, and you couldn’t do anything about it.

The same if a creator god had created your experience, or if things were totally random. You tried to do something, you’d have no idea that there is such a thing as cause and effect. So you wouldn’t know what to do.

In all those cases, the Buddha said, you’re left defenseless, because what we need more than anything else is guidance as to what should and shouldn’t be done. You want the guidance to come from someone who knows what he or she is talking about. Someone who has more experience than you do. And that’s why he taught. That’s why all of his teachings are about what to do. The noble eightfold path is something to do. The path of craving is something not to do."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Choices"

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