Hi friends! Well done @starter on putting this list together. It’s a great way to learn more about the suttas and put them into practice!
With deep respect Ayya, I think you are not correct in this. Actually, it’s a common misunderstanding.
Often we mistakenly conflate two similar but separate gradual methods from the suttas; Anupubbikathā and Anupubbasikkhā.
Anupubbikathā = step-by-step “Gradual Instruction” (kathā meaning speech)
Anupubbasikkhā = the "Gradual Training (sikkha meaning training)
Gradual Instruction was given by the Buddha, often to lay people, such as in the talk directed to Suppabuddha in the Udana, below. This Gradual instruction is the sequence that starts with generosity, virtue, etc, ending in the the 4 Noble Truths (right view):
“This one here is able to understand the Dhamma”, and having regard to the leper Suppabuddha he related a gradual talk, that is to say: talk on giving, talk on virtue, talk on heaven, the danger, degradation, and defilement of sensual desires, and the advantages in renunciation—these he explained. When the Gracious One knew that the leper Suppabuddha was of ready mind, malleable mind, unhindered mind, uplifted mind, trusting mind, then he explained the Dhamma teaching the Awakened Ones have discovered themselves: suffering, origination, cessation, path.
(Suppabuddhakuṭṭhi Sutta Ud 5.3)
Then there’s Anupubbasikkhā , Gradual Training, which is different to the Gradual Instruction sequence but has similarities, which laregly accounts for so much confusion about the two. The Gradual Training is explained in detail in suttas such as Cūḷahatthipadopama Sutta MN 27 and describe the entirety of the holy life, especially the life of monastics. The Gradual Training starts with the arising of the Buddha in the world (this is also the arising of Right View) who teaches the Dhamma (also Right View):
… a Realized One arises in the world, perfected, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide for those who wish to train, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed. He realizes with his own insight this world—with its gods, Māras and Brahmās, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, gods and humans—and he makes it known to others. He teaches Dhamma that’s good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, meaningful and well-phrased. And he reveals a spiritual practice that’s entirely complete and pure.
A householder hears that teaching, or a householder’s child, or someone reborn in some good family. They gain faith in the Realized One, and reflect, ‘Living in a house is cramped and dirty, but the life of one gone forth is wide open. It’s not easy for someone living at home to lead the spiritual life utterly full and pure, like a polished shell. Why don’t I shave off my hair and beard, dress in ocher robes, and go forth from the lay life to homelessness?’ After some time they give up a large or small fortune, and a large or small family circle. They shave off hair and beard, dress in ocher robes, and go forth from the lay life to homelessness.
Once they’ve gone forth, they take up the training and livelihood of the mendicants. They give up killing living creatures, renouncing the rod and the sword. They’re scrupulous and kind, living full of compassion for all living beings…
There follows in detail large sections on virtue, sense restraint, mindfulness and clear comprehension, contentment, , the bliss of blamelessness, overcoming hindrances etc which is what I believe @Starter is referring to above, looking at the flow and sequence ( the formatting could be made a bit clearer with headings etc which would be easier to read)
Here, the author is right to start with Right View for the gradual training.
I love this aspiration!
Many people feel right view is something that only develops at the very end of the path. But Right View is a bit of a recursive loop, in that a modicum of Right View is always required on the spiritual path, even at the very beginning, otherwise we would never make any progress toward the full Right View which liberates. This seems a bit of a paradox especially when we look at the gradual instruction and see that Right View is at the end of the sequence. The reason for this, I think, is that the Buddha is building up confidence in the listener in his teaching and making sure that the development of understanding is based on experiential wisdom, not just faith; so he begins with things that are easy to know for oneself - generosity is good. Ethics are good. You want to go to heaven? The deities got there doing these things… but… there are some drawbacks… can you see them? And so on… only when the Buddha is convinced of his listeners’ ability to l understand does he introduce the 4 Noble Truths, which is probably the classic way we think of Right View, however, the Buddha has been developing the seeds of right view in the conversation all along and those things that he mentioned are also right view.
Right View is needed at the beginning:
“Mendicants, the dawn is the forerunner and precursor of the sunrise. In the same way, right view is the forerunner and precursor of skillful qualities.
Right view gives rise to right thought. Right thought gives rise to right speech. Right speech gives rise to right action. Right action gives rise to right livelihood. Right livelihood gives rise to right effort. Right effort gives rise to right mindfulness. Right mindfulness gives rise to right immersion. Right immersion gives rise to right knowledge. Right knowledge gives rise to right freedom.”
Pubbangama Sutta AN 10.121
Often in the suttas, Right View is defined in various clear and practical ways which seem more applicable to our daily lives and perhaps more easy to attain compared to the lofttier Right View that liberates:
Right View In Brief:
“One understands wrong view as wrong view and right view as right view: this is one’s right view.”
Mahācattārīsaka Sutta MN 117
Right View as the Standard pericope on Kamma and Knowledge
‘There is what is given and what is offered and what is sacrificed; there is fruit and result of good and bad actions; there is this world and the other world; there is mother and father; there are beings who are reborn spontaneously; there are in the world good and virtuous recluses and brahmins who have realised for themselves by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world.’ This is Right View…"
I like that definition above tells us that generosity is actually right view, which neatly dove-tails together the Gradual Instruction (starting with generosity) and (Gradual Training) starting with Right View, doesnt it? And here, we also see the mention of heavens, which also forms part of the gradual instruction sequence too.
Two-fold Division of Right View
This is often called Mundane and Transcendental Right View, the mundane version being worldly and conditioned " that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions" is the same definition given just above, about giving, sacrifice, rebirth, other worlds etc, and the transcendental being “noble, taintless and surpamundane”, which is Right View as the Path Factor :
“And what, bhikkhus, is right view that is noble, taintless, supramundane, a factor of the path? The wisdom, the faculty of wisdom, the power of wisdom, the investigation-of-states enlightenment factor, the path factor of right view in one whose mind is noble, whose mind is taintless, who possesses the noble path and is developing the noble path: this is right view that is noble, taintless, supramundane, a factor of the path.
“One makes an effort to abandon wrong view and to enter upon right view: this is one’s right effort. Mindfully one abandons wrong view, mindfully one enters upon and abides in right view: this is one’s right mindfulness. Thus these three states run and circle around right view, that is, right view, right effort, and right mindfulness…Mahācattārīsaka Sutta MN 117
Right View as the Ten Wholesome Actions
Here again we see the recursive loop where right view is needed to understand what is skillful but is also part of what is skillful.
A noble disciple understands the unskillful and its root, and the skillful and its root. When they’ve done this, they’re defined as a noble disciple who has Right View, whose view is correct, who has experiential confidence in the teaching, and has come to the true teaching…
And what is the skillful? Avoiding killing living creatures, stealing, and sexual misconduct; avoiding speech that’s false, divisive, harsh, or nonsensical; contentment, good will, and right view. This is called the skillful. And what is the root of the skillful? Contentment, love, and understanding. This is called the root of the skillful. Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta MN 9
Right View is Seeing the Four Noble Truths
“And what is right view? Knowing about suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering. This is called right view.”
Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta MN10
Right View is also knowing Dependent Origination, which is how most people think of right view, which seems to put right view far out of reach somehow, making us feel like it is not something we can see right here and now in front of us, when actually, looking at the various ways the Buddha defined Right View, is very tangible and visible to us. Seeing those things mentioned above as right view would very much propel us on the path!
When we see the exclamation of people’s delight in hearing the dhamma and understanding something they had previously been ignorant of, that is a little bit of Right View, too:
“Excellent, sir! Excellent! As if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to the lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with good eyes can see what’s there, the Buddha has made the teaching clear in many ways.
Sāmaññaphala Sutta DN 2
For many of us, hearing the Dhamma for the very first time, and on subsequent hearing is that spark of Right View that spurs us onto the path. In a way, it is that small bit of Right View which we need to make progress, which is why Right View is also at the beginning of the Noble Eightfold Path. This is why it is placed at the beginning of the Gradual Training and also at the end!
Also important of course is yoniso manasakara (wise attention); it wouldn’t matter how much we hear about gradual training or gradual instruction if we aren’t paying wise attention!