Middle Path Dharma

Middle Path Dharma

There are several possible connections to the middle. The most obvious is that it was emphasized in the school called the Madhyamika (Middle Path school), whose instruction is that the Dharma occupies a middle position between realism and idealism.

The usual instruction otherwise is that Buddhism endorses a middle ground between extremes, particularly in the practical sphere of mysticism between asceticism and libertinism, but sometimes more generalized as a type of uber-moderation.

All of these instructions are correct in a sense, in that there is a paradigmatic theme which the Dharma embraces that may be applied as one orients to the world of objects and value.

The Path or Marga is a formula which orients to the condition of the aspirant, and as one begins to identify and put into practice the proper keys of its 8-spoke wheel (generally referred to as view, aspiration, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration), one expediently settles into a proper relation to the whole.

An essential element of that process is dedicated moderation in all things, even including moderation. Thus, whatever one's station or condition, solving this formula entails finding one's proper route in the world of anguish (dukkha, samsara), such that one adopts a Dharmic lifestyle with ethical choices.

This in turn affects desires, and what had been the parameters of seeming extremity change through time, such that one moves toward greater and greater clarity, and shifts subtlely more and more toward the precepts embraced by those whose dedicated beacon and encapsulated specialty is supported by the sangha system built in traditions.

Thus, the most important reason that Buddhism is called The Middle Path is that by employing its principles and disciplines with sustained and dedicated effort this leads to the insight sufficient to identify and discern a set of personal actions which, if chosen, gradually reducing one's footprint, harm, and anguish through dwelling in the Middle of All Things.

By embracing the Dharma, one becomes able to see the Golden Road of the Middle, and open the Parachute into Nirvana.