“First of all, Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. If anything at all, it is realistic, for it takes a realistic view of life and the world. It looks at things objectively (yathābhūtam). It does not falsely lull you into living in a fool’s paradise, nor does it frighten and agonize you with all kinds of imaginary fears and sins. It tells you exactly and objectively what you are and what the world around you is, and shows you the way to perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and happiness.”
Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught
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What is middle way in buddhism ?
The Middle Way – This is the Path for leading a pure religious life without going to extremes.
In order for a person to escape from the world of suffering is to adopt a noble way of life. By noble way of life, Lord Buddha meant a way of life in which one will follow the Eightfold path preached by the Tathagata himself. In Buddhism, these Eightfold paths are also referred to as the middle path or the Middle way. Lord Buddha advised his followers to avoid the two extremes of sense pleasures and self-mortification. In order for oneself to have a spiritual breakthrough in our route to enlightenment, it is vital to adopt the Middle path which is a righteous way of life.
The Middle path advocates the awakening of inner wisdom and the intrinsic value lying deep within oneself. The Noble Eightfold Path of right outlook, right aims, right speech, right action, right means of livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation is what we call the Middle Way.
- Renunciation of sense pleasures
- Self mortification meaning
- Dissapointment of His five ascetic disciples
- Lord Buddha and Sujata
At the present day Bodh Gaya under the Bodhi tree, Lord Buddha attained salvation.
1. Renunciation of sense pleasures
Before attaining his endless wisdom, Lord Buddha along with his five ascetic companions had been traveling and trying to find a way to achieve enlightenment. Lord Buddha was the prince Siddhartha of the royal Shakya family in a place called Lumbini ( a place in present-day Nepal). Renouncing the sense pleasures in the form of his material wealth and command from the beginning itself as they always regarded it as low, unworthy, and unprofitable. However, Lord Buddha and his five ascetic companions namely, Kaundinya, Bhadrika, Vashpa, Mahanaman, and Ashvajit undertook the path of self-mortification in their route to salvation.
2. Self mortification
Self-mortification means the process of self-denial or the subjugation of own self thereby inflicting pain and discomfort to oneself physically as well as emotionally. Through this means, we try to bring everything under our own control. For example, fasting. To find a spiritual breakthrough, Lord Buddha and his five ascetic companions were trying to find out a way that can show them the path to salvation.
They resorted to the self-mortification process of fasting, sleeping on stones with a minimal amount of clothing, sleeping among corpses and thorns, etc. At the time of Lord Buddha, there was a genuine belief among the peoples that the rigorous self-mortification process would ultimately pave way for the purification and emancipation from the world of sorrows. Lord Buddha and his five ascetic companions tested the truth in it.
Struggling thus for six long years into the intense rigorous self-mortification process, his body has become so weak due to the lack of nourishment and he was virtually at the door of death. Seeing himself no nearer to his goal, he realized the utter futility of adopting this process of inflicting pain on oneself. Not discouraged with all his wrong efforts for the whole six years, Lord Buddha searched for a new way with an open mind. He realized that his weak body will not take him to his desired goal.
3. Disspointment of his five ascetic companion
So this was the reason that Lord Buddha abandoned the idea of self-mortification by taking normal food. This act of Lord Buddha had extremely disappointed his five ascetic companions who believed that Lord Buddha has now resumed a world of abundance and had given up his effort in route to spiritual awakening. So his five ascetic companions left him in disappointment and disgust.
“Let a man neither gives himself over to pleasures … nor yet let him give himself over to self-mortification … To the exclusion of both these extremes, the Truth-Finder has discovered a middle course.”
Gautama Buddha
Lord Buddha realized that self-mortification was never a means to escape from the world of suffering’s rather he must focus on the inner awakenings within the self. In solitude, he meditated without a teacher in calmness with his unaltered faith in his own purity and strength.
4. Lord Buddha and Sujata
Sujata was said to be the daughter of rich village headmen and she always used to visit the Banyan tree at the present day Sujata Garh located near Bodh Gaya. According to Indian Hindu tradition, people worship the Banyan tree representing longevity, and the divine creator for its power to full fill the wishes and material gains. Sujata always visited this place and worshiped the Banyan tree to grant her wish to have a child. Soon her wish was full filled and she became a mother.
At the same time around, Lord Buddha in search of his inner spiritual awakenings happens to meditate under the same Banyan tree. Sujata decided to offer a bowl of milk rice to the Banyan tree as a mark of reverence for the full-filled wish. However, she found a very weak skeletal man meditating calmly under the Banyan tree on reaching the spot.
Initially, Lord Buddha refused to take the offering of Sujata’s bowl of milk rice. But the constant realization of the futility of self-mortification with the continuous insistence from the lady who according to the legend had said
“That means one should not give too much pain to himself nor enjoy too much relaxation. One should always follow the middle path.”
Upon this realization, Lord Buddha accepted the offering and this was his last meal before his salvation from the world of sufferings. This sets the whole event for the unfolding of one of the most auspicious events in the Buddhism world, i.e. “The turning of the first wheel of Dharma”, ie the four noble truths.
The middle way quotes
Here we have listed some quotes on the middle way.
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