Between the extremes is your way.
The
Middle Way's life philosophy, which is at the centre of the Buddha's teaching holds its full validity nowadays, to the extent to which we are, the most of our time, divided inside and, therefore, paralysed in the every day actions that could bring challenge to our life. Indeed, we are paralysed because we are between two extremes: the right and the wrong, the good and the bad, the useful and the pointless, to waste or to hold and between work and fun.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Divided between these two extreme, we feel stretched, and we fear to move too much, since the stretch, each time we move, is painful. However, Buddha's teaching reminds us that we cannot solve the tension between the two extremes, since these tension has its roots in the idea we have about ''the others'' and the outside world and its request upon us. Therefore, the Buddha's way is the
Middle Way, because when we avoid the extreme points, deciding to centre ourselves, the tensions will disappear.
Indeed, in place of the two horizontal points which stretched us between two different decisions, we find ourselves between our past and our future; the two new points. Indeed, we aren't stretched any more, since the choice between past and future is clear: walk towards your future and let your past being your hidden resource.
The
University of Sydney will host Professor Karen Lang, Professor of Indian Religions at the University of Virginia and University Buddhist Education Foundation Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Sydney in 2011. The free public lecture entitled;
The Buddha's Middle Way: In Defence of Fine Clothes, Good Food and Beautiful Monasteries will be held at 6:00pm on October 11, 2011. Please
see here for more information.
