The Middle Way

☸️ The Middle Way (Pali: majjhimā paṭipadā, Sanskrit: madhyamā pratipada)

This is the Eightfold Path taught by the Buddha, which leads to the end of suffering and freedom from saṃsāra through wisdom, ethical conduct and spiritual discipline. Being “middle” means refraining from the categorical views of eternalism and annihilationism, as well as from extreme asceticism and equally extreme indulgence in sensual pleasures.

⚖️ Beyond Extremes

The Buddha’s first sermon opens not with the four noble truths, but with a description of two extremes that should not be followed:

• Chasing sensual pleasures - “low, vulgar, worldly”
• Self-mortification - “painful, ignoble, useless”.

The Middle Way (that is, the Eightfold Path) is a third road. And this road is not a balance or a compromise between the extremes. The original concern, “how do I enjoy more”, gives way to a different question: “how does suffering work and how can it be avoided”.

The Noble Eightfold Path does have a “middleness” of its own (see, for example, MN 139), at least in its wording:

• neither extol nor disparage (talk about the practice, not about people)
• neither hurry nor lag behind in speech
• neither cling to local words nor override the way the other person speaks

But each time this “middle” is defined precisely, and never as “a bit less of the extremes”.

💡 In Practice

• Notice the moment when practice turns into a cozy ritual with no challenge in it or, the other way round, into self-torment with a session schedule and a stopwatch. And choose the right action.