Peace : The Middle Way

THE MIDDLE WAY

In his first discourse the Buddha calls the Noble Eightfold Path the middle way. He calls it the middle way because the eightfold path avoids all extremes in conduct and in views. In the discourse the Buddha points out that there are two extremes which a seeker of enlightenment has to steer clear off. These two extremes are, on the one side, indulgence in desire, on the other, self -mortification. Some hold the view that sensual indulgence, the grasping of luxury and comfort, is the greatest happiness. But the Buddha, from his own experience, calls this way a low, inferior ignoble course which does not lead to the realization of the highest goal. The other extreme is not so common but has always an attraction for religious seekers. This is the extreme of self-mortification. Those who follow this practice hold that the way to liberation is through strict and austere asceticism. The Buddha himself followed this path of asceticism before his enlightenment, but he found that it does not lead to the goal. Therefore he called the path of self-affliction, painful, ignoble and not conducive to the goal.