NO MORE EXTREMES

The word “middle” suggests balance, but Buddhism’s Middle Way should not be confused with a sort of middle-of-the-road compromise or passivity. 

The concept of the Middle Way occurred to Gautama Siddhartha, destined to become the Buddha, while he was a young man.  Born a prince, he enjoyed every physical comfort and pleasure he could ever want.  Dissatisfied with the pursuit of fleeting pleasures, however, he set out in search of something that was deeper, more enduring, a philosophy.

First, he tried extreme asceticism as found in Jainism, which had him depriving himself of food and sleep, to the point of physical collapse.  Realizing the futility of this path, he went on to study meditation with two esteemed yogic teachers, Alara Kalama, first, and then Uddaka Ramaputta, who taught him all they knew.  However, this was still not what he was after.  It was human suffering that he was trying to get at, to solve.

It was while in solitary meditation under a tree in Budhgaya, as it is now called, that he had a revelation.  What followed was his doctrine of the Noble Eightfold Path, principles such as right belief, right conduct, right speech, and so forth, by which individuals could govern their behavior, in a moderate way, in a Middle Way, that would free them from their suffering.  No more extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification.  Liberated from suffering, a person could go on to gain higher levels of wisdom, culminating in the bliss of Nirvana.

Still, he had one more matter to settle.  Should he remain a Buddha for his own sake or should he become a Buddha for all, a teaching Buddha?  What if others did not understand his message?  After struggling with himself at length, he decided finally that if just one person benefited from what he had to say, it was sufficient.  So it began.