Middle way
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In general, the Middle Way or Middle Path (Skt.: madhyamā-pratipad; Pali: majjhimā patipadā)[1] is the Buddhist practice of non-extremism.[2]
More specifically, in Theravada Buddhism, the Middle Way crystalizes the Buddha's Nirvana-bound path of moderation away from the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification and toward the practice of wisdom, morality and mental cultivation. In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, the Middle Way refers to transcendental ways of approaching seemingly antithetical claims about reality.
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[edit] Theravada contexts
In Theravada Buddhism's Pali canon, the Middle Way was articulated by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11):
- "Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. (What are the two?) There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable.
- "Avoiding both these extremes, the Tathagata (the Perfect One) has realized the Middle Path; it gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to Nibbana. And what is that Middle Path realized by the Tathagata...? It is the Noble Eightfold path, and nothing else, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration."[3]
Thus, for the attainment of Nibbana, the Middle Way involves:
- abstaining from addictive sense-pleasures and self-mortification
- nurturing the set of "right" actions that are known as the Noble Eightfold Path.
In this discourse (Pali: sutta), the Buddha identifies the Middle Way as a path for "one who has gone forth from the household life" (Pali: pabbajitena)[4] although lay Buddhists may center their lives on this path as well.
In regards to the Buddha's admonition against the "indulgence of sense-pleasures" (Pali: kāmesu kāma-sukha-allika), Ven. Dr. Rewata Dhamma has written:
- "...This kind of practice is the concern of so-called 'urban civilization,' which condones sensuous pleasues as the highest attributes of bliss; the greater the pleasures, the greater the happiness....
- "The Buddha taught that indulgence in sensuous pleasures is not the practice of enlightened, noble ones (ariyas). Noble ones who live the worldly life do not have attachment to sense objects. For example, in the first stage of an enlightened noble life, the sotāpanna, or stream winner, has not yet overcome lust and passions. Incipient perceptions of the agreeableness of carnal pleasures (sukhasaññā) still linger. Nevertheless, the stream-winner will not feel the need to indulge in worldly pleasures."[5]
When the Buddha delivered the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, he was addressing five ascetics with whom he had previously practiced severe austerities.[6] Thus, it is this personal context as well as the broader context of Indian shramanic practices that gives particular relevancy to the caveat against the extreme (Pali: antā) of self-mortification (Pali: atta-kilamatha).
[edit] Mahayana contexts
In Mahayana Buddhism, the Madhyamaka ("Middle Way") school posits a "middle way" position between metaphysical claims that things ultimately either exist or do not exist.[7]
In the Tendai school, the "middle way" refers to the synthesis of the thesis that all things are "empty" and the antithesis that all things have phenomenal existence.[8]
[edit] See also
- Buddhism
- Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta
- Madhyamaka
- Nirvana
- Noble Eightfold Path
- Tendai
- Middle Way Meditation
[edit] Notes
- ^ Kohn (1991), p. 143. Also see the Pali version of the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (available on-line at www.metta.lk) where the phrase majjhimā patipadā is used.
- ^ Kohn (1991), p. 143.
- ^ Piyadassi (1999).
- ^ See, for instance, PTS, p. 414, entry for "pabbajita."
- ^ Dhamma (1997), p. 25.
- ^ See, for instance, the Mahasaccaka Sutta ("The Longer Discourse to Saccaka," MN 36).[1]
- ^ Kohn (1991), pp. 131, 143.
- ^ Kohn (1991), pp. 143-144.
[edit] Bibliography
- Dhamma, Rewata (1997). The First Discourse of the Buddha: Turning the wheel of Dhamma. Somerville, MA:Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-104-1.
- Kohn, Michael H. (trans.) (1991). The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen. Boston:Shambhala. ISBN 0-87773-520-4.
- Pali Text Society (PTS) ( 1921-25). The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary (PED). London:Chipstead. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/. The entry for "pabbajita" is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2:1:1758.pali.
- Piyadassi Thera (trans.) (1999). Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting in Motion the Wheel of Truth (SN 56.11). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.piya.html.
