The Middle Path - A practical way of life

Oasis

When we were taught about Buddhism in school, we were naturally taught about adopting the middle path in everything we thought and did. At that young age, it did not make sense at all. It was the age when learning about religion and religious philosophies was boring to say the least. To understand these philosophies was not to be expected and to adopt them was well nigh impossible.

But now at an older and wiser time and age, Buddha’s eight fold path really makes sense. According to the Buddha, the root cause of all suffering is desire. Suffering can be eradicated by following the ‘middle path’ (madhyamaka) which steers clear of the extremes of asceticism and sensual indulgence. This can be achieved by adopting the eight-fold path that consists of: right view, right aspiration, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. The middle path is the core of Buddha’s teaching and can be adopted in all walks of life. But what does adopting the middle path mean in actual terms? A lot of experience with life later I realised that adopting the middle path simply means maintaining a balance in life.

That begins with our lifestyle and extends to the big things in life. Doctors tell us to eat a balanced diet -the middle path! We are told to maintain a work life balance. Again, a middle path. We are expected to maintain balanced relationships with friends and colleagues- the middle path again. Parents want balanced syllabus in schools, balanced homework so children can play. We are expected to maintain control over thoughts and speech so we don’t end up hurting friends and colleagues.

The list is endless. ‘Think before you act or speak ‘ could be a valuable motto to practice in life. This could apply to personal, professional and political life. Just think what society would be like if our politicians refrained from inciting violence for political gain. Or terrorists refrained from acts of violence to achieve their goals.

So I have now realised that the Buddha’s middle path could actually be practiced as a way of life and not be confined to the pages of a history textbook.