We read in Buddha’s life that, after practicing for a while with a group of ascetics, he realized that the extremes of asceticism and austerities would not give him the answers that his heart was seeking. He left the group and chose to lead his life differently, staying clear of the extremes of both self-denial and self-indulgence. Known as the Middle Way, this method became an important ingredient of Buddha’s teachings.
The Middle Way is the path of moderation, the path which discourages the extreme of austerity, on one hand, and of sensual indulgence, on the other. The implication is that the ideal lies somewhere in the middle, the fine balance which avoids the pitfalls of the two extremes of doing too much or too little of anything.
Buddha’s realization and subsequent teaching to practice moderation in everything—in food, rest, work—was not new. Centuries earlier, Krishna had taught the same thing (Gita, 6.16–17):
नात्यश्नतस्तु योगोऽस्ति न चैकान्तमनश्नत: । न चातिस्वप्नशीलस्य जाग्रतो नैव चार्जुन ॥
युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्तचेष्टस्य कर्मसु । युक्तस्वप्नावबोधस्य योगो भवति दु:खहा ॥
Nātyaśnatas-tu yogo’sti na caikāntam-anaśnataḥ;
Na cātisvapna-śhīlasya jāgrato naiva cārjuna.
Yuktāhara-vihārasya yukta-ceṣṭasya karmasu;
Yukta-svapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā.
“[Success in] yoga is not for one who eats too much or too little—nor for one who sleeps too much or too little. Yoga becomes the destroyer of suffering to one who is moderate in eating, living, working, sleeping and waking.”
This is what the Buddha said (in his talk known as Dhamma-cakka-ppavattana Sutta or, in Sanskrit, Dharma-cakra-pravartana Sūtra):
“Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. There is an addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is an addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable.”
All of this makes complete sense. It is also obvious—as obvious as the advantage and joy of driving in the middle lane, avoiding not only the expectation, compulsion and danger of speeding in the left lane but also the generally slow exiting and incoming vehicles in the right lane. (The right/left arrangement is different, of course, for those driving in India, UK and a handful of other countries.) The Middle Way has all the advantages of driving in the middle lane and moving ahead with a steady pace.
But then we also read in Buddha’s life about his unswerving and fierce resolve when he sat under the Bodhi tree:
इहासने शुष्यतु मे शरीरं त्वगस्थिमांसं प्रलयं च यातु ।
अप्राप्य बोधिं बहुकल्पदुर्लभां नैवासनात्कायमत्श्चलिष्यते ॥
Ihāsane śuṣyatu me śarīraṁ
tvag-asthi-māṁsaṁ pralayaṁ ca yātu;
Aprāpya bodhiṁ bahu-kalpa-durlabhāṁ
naivāsanāt kāyam ataś-caliṣyate.
“Let my body wither away on this seat and the skin, bones and flesh return to the elements. Without attaining Knowledge, which is difficult to get, my body will not move from this place.”
This does not sound like the Middle Way at all. Did the Buddha, then, abandon his own teaching when he made the unusually brutal resolve which led to his enlightenment? If he did, then the Middle Way that he advocated looks like a mistake, not a profound and practical teaching.
The wisdom of following the Middle Way feels indisputable, but so is the need for firm resolve and determination in one’s spiritual striving. Is there a way to harmonize these seemingly contradictory stances?
One possible way is to recognize that a firm resolve is productive only when supported by clear insight and wisdom. History is replete with instances of people whose abundant determination was fueled by ambition or greed or hurt or revenge—and this produced more harm than any good. Only when the will-power is harnessed by a wise and mature mind, and employed in the pursuit of a noble goal, does it become an instrument of good, personal and collective.
It is the practice of moderation, or the Middle Way, that creates the right environment in which a person can cultivate the necessary wisdom to see clearly what is good and what is not. Buddha’s maturity and wisdom were the direct result of following the Middle Way. Only then—and not before— did Buddha’s dramatic resolve under the Bodhi tree lead to the highest state of enlightenment.