Your first impulse may be to say (as I did) personal experience via the noble eightfold path. That in and of itself is a good answer; however, what does the path itself entail? Does it mean that we should learn only by direct experiences, or is it a combination of that and something else? To find the answer, I began looking through the Suttas for some hint of the Buddha's general teaching structure. The noble eightfold path itself has eight distinct subjects, and those subjects become fairly broad and all-encompassing when you divide them into their constituents. But, just as they can be broadened, they can also be condensed into three easier to deal with sections — virtue, concentration and discernment — with each factor falling under one of these three categories.
The first thing I noticed was the Buddha doesn't advise anyone to strive for awakening without at least some form of guidance. Moreover, if the path to nibbana was so easily found and simple to follow, there wouldn't really be a need for a 'turner of the wheel,' would there? So the reason that the Buddha doesn't just suggest searching for an end of suffering blindly and without direction is precisely because this path isn't necessarily easy to find or follow on one's own, let alone teach. This idea is conveyed in places like SN 6.1, where the Buddha, sitting in seclusion not long after his awakening experience, thinks to himself:
This Dhamma that I have attained is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, peaceful, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be experienced by the wise. But this generation delights in attachment, is excited by attachment, enjoys attachment. For a generation delighting in attachment, excited by attachment, enjoying attachment, this/that conditionality and dependent co-arising are hard to see. This state, too, is hard to see: the resolution of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding. And if I were to teach the Dhamma and if others would not understand me, that would be tiresome for me, troublesome for me.
To actually 'see' what the Buddha is pointing at for ourselves, then, we must follow a similar path, one that combines the three basic principles of virtue, concentration and discernment into one. While it's true that the Pali Canon records cases of people just hearing the Dhamma and attaining the fruits of the path, these spiritual advanced people are relatively few and far between, the product of both past and present skillful actions and ripening conditions that the average worldling (puthujjana), intoxicated with sensual pleasures, doesn't possess. Not only that, but they had the added benefit of having the Buddha himself as their guide. Many had to put a lot of effort into their practice.
The most difficult part of the equation is how do you teach something that's unconditioned, beyond concepts and worldly phenomena? No language or method of analysis can impart this kind of knowledge to an individual in and of themselves; it's a realization or gnosis that's born from experience coupled with insight. So, for this reason, the Buddha devised a way for practitioners to gain both—the noble eightfold path. Through this path the Buddha combines methods of virtuous conduct (sila), methods of meditative concentration (samadhi) and methods of developing discernment or insight (panna), and these three intertwined modes of training help to give rise to what are often called the factors for awakening.
Sila or virtue is taught by the Buddha as the foundation of the practice, especially in regard to meditation. Virtue helps to provide the meditator with a mind that's free from remorse, and a mind that's free from remorse is better able to develop deep states of concentration, which are difficult to develop when the mind is consistently worried or agitated (AN 11.2). The training of virtue is best known by the five precepts:
1. Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures.
2. Adinnadana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I undertake the precept to refrain from taking that which is not given.
3. Kamesu micchacara veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct.
4. Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I undertake the precept to refrain from incorrect speech.
5. Suramerayamajja pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness.
The five precepts are the basic training rules all Buddhists are encouraged to observe to the best of their ability, and are based on the principle of harmlessness (ahimsa) and renouncing unskillful behaviours that cause other beings harm and provoke retaliation. They constitute the basic level of virtue the Buddha advises is necessary for the peace of mind conducive to a successful meditation practice, and they are seen as gifts "that are not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and are unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & priests" (AN 8.39). In the context of the eightfold path, this also includes right speech, right action and right livelihood, which are the factors classified under the division of virtue. Without this solid base of virtue, it's extremely difficult to achieve a sufficient state of mental calm and absorption. (Believe me, it's hard to meditate when you've done a lot of things you regret; they're the first things that pop up when the mind starts to get quiet.)
But even though discernment comes at the end of the triad, one won't see the benefits of practicing virtue without at least a modicum of discernment. 'You have to crawl before you can walk,' as the old saying goes. Therefore, it can be said that right resolve, which is classified under the division of discernment, also lies at the beginning since the wisdom and resolve needed to undertake a path of renunciation and harmlessness in the first place must already be present in some degree. This brings to mind the first two lines of the Dhammapada:
Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.
Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.
Next we have samadhi or concentration. The category of concentration consists of right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. In the context of the path, concentration means meditation, which generally consists of centering the mind on a single meditation object in such a way that eventually leading to states of deep meditative absorption (jhana). And just as discernment is needed to practice virtue, and virtue acts as a foundation for concentration, concentration and discernment go hand in hand. Of course, certain ancient commentaries, as well as contemporary teachers, tend to treat them as two completely separate things, but in reality it seems almost impossible to differentiate between the two when looking at how the Pali Canon itself treats them. For example, there's this passage from the Dhammapada:
There is no meditative concentration for him who lacks insight, and no insight for him who lacks meditative concentration. He in whom are found both meditative concentration and insight, indeed, is close to Nibbana.
Many of the mindfulness meditations can lead to insight as well concentration, while many insight meditations can lead to states of concentration. Right mindfulness consists of developing mindfulness in regard to the four frames or objects of reference, i.e., the body in and of itself; feelings in and of themselves; mind in and of itself; and mental qualities in and of themselves (DN 22). The type of concentration that the Buddha is referring to in the context of right concentration is called jhana or meditative absorption, which can ultimately lead to the "ending the mental fermentations" (AN 9.36). The basic quality here is that there's only one object or focus of mindful-awareness. This focus can eventually lead to states of rapture or joy (piti), which is a factor of the first jhana, all the way on through to the formless attainments—the highest of which is called "the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception."
The most popular method of achieving this type of meditative awareness is mindfulness of breathing, although the four frames of reference can be used as well, especially when coupled with mindfulness of breathing. As Thanissaro Bhikkhu points out in his introduction to DN 22:
At first glance, the four frames of reference for satipatthana practice sound like four different meditation exercises, but MN 118 makes clear that they can all center on a single practice: keeping the breath in mind. When the mind is with the breath, all four frames of reference are right there. The difference lies simply in the subtlety of one's focus. It's like learning to play the piano. As you get more proficient at playing, you also become sensitive in listening to ever more subtle levels in the music. This allows you to play even more skillfully. In the same way, as a meditator gets more skilled in staying with the breath, the practice of satipatthana gives greater sensitivity in peeling away ever more subtle layers of participation in the present moment until nothing is left standing in the way of total release.
The practice of concentration itself has many benefits. It gives the mind a comfortable place to rest and can help to lower blood pressure. It can also help to make one more empathetic. The most important benefit, however, is the ability of concentration to temporarily subdue the five hindrances (nivarana), which the Buddha calls "overgrowths of the mind that stultify insight," i.e., sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and drowsiness, restlessness and anxiety and uncertainty (AN 5.51). SN 47.10, for example, briefly details how directing the mind towards an inspiring object can act as an antidote to these unskillful mental states, and MN 20 lists five methods for dealing with unskillful thoughts in the course of meditation. Once the mind is calm, clear, focused, concentrated and temporarily free of the five hindrances, it's then better able to perform the next mode of training—discernment.
Panna or discernment — which includes right view and right resolve — basically means seeing things as they are in relation to the three characteristics of existence (tilakkhana)—unsatisfactoriness (dukkha), inconstancy (anicca) and not-self (anatta). This development of insight is analogous to what many call vipassana or insight mediation, and is especially useful for the contemplation of the five clinging-aggregates — the most discernible aspects of our experience on top of which we construct our sense of self — as Sariputta, the Buddha's most trusted disciple, explains in SN 22.122:
A virtuous monk, Kotthita my friend, should attend in an appropriate way to the five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. Which five? Form as a clinging-aggregate, feeling... perception... fabrications... consciousness as a clinging-aggregate. A virtuous monk should attend in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. For it is possible that a virtuous monk, attending in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant... not-self, would realize the fruit of stream-entry.
The topics of discernment are numerous, however, and, being entwined with concentration practice, can include things like the contemplation the five subjects of frequent reflection, the contemplation of the body, the contemplation of death, etc. In essence, when the mind of an individual has acquired a solid foundation of virtue, and after the mind has been calmed and settled to a point of focused awareness, it can then proceed to 'experience' life via the profound context of Dhamma:
There is the case where the disciple of the noble ones recollects the Dhamma, thus: 'The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One, to be seen here & now, timeless, inviting verification, pertinent, to be realized by the wise for themselves.' As he is recollecting the Dhamma, his mind is calmed, and joy arises; the defilements of his mind are abandoned, just as when the body is cleansed through the proper technique. And how is the body cleansed through the proper technique? Through the use of scouring balls & bath powder & the appropriate human effort. This is how the body is cleansed through the proper technique. In the same way, the defiled mind is cleansed through the proper technique. And how is the defiled mind cleansed through the proper technique? There is the case where the disciple of the noble ones recollects the Dhamma... As he is recollecting the Dhamma, his mind is cleansed, and joy arises; the defilements of his mind are abandoned. He is thus called a disciple of the noble ones undertaking the Dhamma-Uposatha. He lives with Dhamma. It is owing to Dhamma that his mind is calmed, that joy arises, and that whatever defilements there are in his mind are abandoned. This is how the mind is cleansed through the proper technique.
And the Dhamma is a mirror with many reflections—dependent co-arising, the noble eightfold path, the three characteristics, the four noble truths, etc. So it's not by simply experiencing life that I think we can most effectively realize the freedom and peace of nibbana, nor is it by simply reading the Suttas or listening to Dhamma talks by experienced teachers; but it's a combination of all three (i.e., personal experience, right view/technique and proper guidance) that can really help to free the mind from its defilements. This approach can be likened to the the approach we're encouraged to take in regard to the three jewels of the Buddha, our guide or teacher; the Dhamma, his teachings; and the Sangha, the community of monks, nuns and lay-followers who have practiced well.
In the end, experience in and of itself won't necessarily lead to liberation, especially if our experience of life is characterized by ignorance (avijja) of the four noble truths; but by experiencing life in reference to these "four categories for viewing and classifying the processes of immediate experience," we can be sure to get a clear view of things as they are. And if we're ever in doubt we're on the right path, we can always know the Dhamma by its qualities:
As for the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to dispassion, not to passion; to being unfettered, not to being fettered; to shedding, not to accumulating; to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; to contentment, not to discontent; to seclusion, not to entanglement; to aroused persistence, not to laziness; to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome': You may definitely hold, 'This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher's instruction.'
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