What Is The Middle Way

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Buddha's teachings have been labelled a lot

of things over the course of the last 200
years. Prior to the 1800s, the teachings of
the Buddha were not considered a religion,
but a way of life; an enlightenment
philosophy. “Buddhism,” as a modern word,
was invented around the late 1800s.
Comparatively speaking, all of the World’s
religions could not exist without their gods,
saviors or deities. However, Buddhism does
not need Buddha to exist. According to the

Buddha’s teachings, anyone can become a

Buddha.

Writers of the Dhamma, intentionally isolate certain teachings of the Buddha for the benefit of readers. In

order to illuminate the practicality of the teachings, Dhamma writers such as myself, seek to find ways to

present the Buddha’s teachings in as clear a manner as possible. However, expressing those teachings in a

manner that are both meaningful and useful to the reader, 1s not entirely dependent on the writer’s education

or intelligence.

The Middle Way to Happiness

Discovering the Middle

Way, taught by the Buddha,

requires first a willingness to ne
want a better life right now. This | A
Middle Way is a working model
outlining a specific method for

how life ought to be lived in

otder to achieve actual happiness. ©

The "Middle Way," is not
about improvement. It is about
changing how we think, but also understanding

why we think what we do think. The Middle Way

requires an examination of our cyclical and
habitual ways of thinking, which is the source of
suffering.

Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist nun,
provides the following explanation of the Middle
Way.

“As human beings, not only do we seek resolution,
but we also feel that we deserve resolution. However,
not only do we not deserve resolution, we suffer from
resolution. We don’t deserve resolution, we deserve
something better than that. We deserve our birthright,
which ts the Middle Way, an open state of mind that
can relax with paradox and ambiguity. To the degree
that we've been avoiding uncertainty, we're naturally
going to have withdrawal symptoms; withdrawal from
always thinking that there’s a problem and that
someone, somewhere, needs to x it.

The Middle Way ts wide open, but it’s tough
going, because it goes against the grain of an ancient
neurotic pattern that we all share. When we feel lonely,
when we feel hopeless, what we want to do 1s move to
the right or the left. We don’t want to sit and feel what
we feel. We don’t want to go through the detox. Yet
the Middle Way encourages us to do just that. It
encourages us to awaken the bravery that exists in
everyone without exception, including you and me.”

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The Middle Way is about change, and Pema “The Middle Way is wide open, but it’s

does not sugarcoat the fact that you will encounter
resistance from your ingrained habitual thinking
and behavior, because we are attached to the
concept of a “my-self.”

tough going, because it goes against the grain of
an ancient neurotic pattern that we all share.”

Before delving into the Middle Way and being

So, put on your seat belts, this is going to be a able to have confidence that the Dhamma?

bumpy ride. But, wait. Oh, you thought that promises permanent solutions, you must be aware
Buddhism was all about lovely music, warm fuzzy of some of the external obstacles and hindrances
relaxing meditation, pithy’ sayings, and food-for- that will stand in your way. Some of these

obstacles are none other than the things we
believe to be true and common to life. Being
ignorant, in many respects, to the truth about the
nature of reality, we accept the alternatives,
without giving it a second thought. However,
much of what we believe to be common to life,
are the very things that cause our own suffering,
frustration, anger, sadness, and apathy. Life does
not generate these things...you do.

thought aphorisms. Why do I say, “It’s going to
be a bumpy ride?” Why are you here, this
moment? In fact, what time is it? You may be
thinking, “What an odd question?” Actually, the
time is not on your clock, it’s never been on your
clock, because the time is now, this moment.

Consider what may have attracted you to this
essay? Perhaps, like everyone else, you too are

wanting some respit from this hasty, harried :
; NOTE: To appreciate the importance of
existence we call life? I think, that at one time or PP P

, understanding these obstacles, this essay will
another, everyone hopes there is something better
5 traverse many subjects addressing the various
than what we have been doing for years on end:

“common” hindrances that are commonly
encountered. These obstacles will also touch on
the very essence of how actual happiness is
achieved. For it is within these very hindrances
where the knowledge of achieving happiness are
to be found. Therefore, the information that
follows, highlights many of the issues that make it
difficult to clearly see what the Middle Way is, and

is not.

Isn’t that what most people aim for; a time in life
when we are not so up against the wall with
everything? In order to fulfill this desire, some
people merely engage in an endless stream of New
Age entertainment, temporarily distracting one’s
worries, frustration and responsibility of life. All
such ideaologies are merely distractions from the
real causes of suffering. And, there doesn’t seem
to be any New Age methodology that is
permanent or that teaches how life ought to be .
lived in order to find actual happiness. The Art of Seeing

One of the cornerstone

teachings of the Buddha is

Buddha’s teachings, however, are not a

temporary fix, like New Age blather or a shot of

whiskey, a good joint or binge watching TV known as the Middle Way. In
programs. So, if you ate looking for a temporary, the original Pali language this
New Age fix, this is not the essay for you. Buddha is called Majjhima Patipada’

spent 45 years explaining to others that a
permanent fix is real and available. But, as Pema
Chodron mentions:

(mah-jee-mah pati-pah-dah).

' Pithy: def “Brief, forceful, and meaningful in expression; full of vigor, substance, or meaning; terse; forcible.”

2 Dhamma: Pali U4 “The order of law of the universe, immanent, eternal, uncreated, not as interpreted by Buddha only, much less
invented or decreed by him, but intelligible to a mind of his range, and by him made so to mankind as knowledge: awakening; the
constitutive element of cognition & of its substratum, the world of phenomena; that which forms a foundation and upholds.”

3 Majjhima (Middle) Patipada (Way) Pali middle Assy way Ufedal : Majjhima def: “middle ; medium ; moderate.” Patipada def:

“means of reaching a goal or destination, path, way, means, method, mode of progress.”

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All sorts of labels are invented to try and isolate
or define the Buddha’s teachings, attempting to
describe the concept of “Buddhism.” However,
none seem to hit the mark. How could a single
word or phrase possibly describe the scope and
depth of his words and their meanings. I would
like to propose just such a phrase.

Regardless of the subject matter of any one of
the 84,000 teachings the Buddha spoke, there is
one element present in all of them that is quite
evident. For forty-five years the Buddha’s efforts
were centered on one thing...teaching the art of
seeing. This is precisely what the Buddha’s
teachings are about: The Art of Seeing.

Given the hundreds of thousands of written
and recorded testimonies throughout the centuries
since the Buddha, one thing is clear: Practice of
the Buddha’s teachings transcends rational
thought. Even with commentaries and essays such
as this one, all that a writer is able to transmit to
the reader is a re-stating of the teachings and
techniques of the Buddha, albeit in modern
format, but includes the writer’s own experiences;
as far as such experiences may have progressed

through right and proper practice.

With right and proper practice there is a
dependency not only on the practitioner’s intent,
but on the absorption of correct information.
Correct information, according to the Buddha, is
determined by evidence exhibited by a “wise”
teacher’s own knowledge and behavior. As the
Buddha stated, if the knowledge disseminated by a
teacher is found to be beneficial, skillful, and
correct, then this is not only the teacher to follow,

but one can have confidence in that teacher.

Misrepresentation of the Dhamma

Now, there is an

Misintorma ion opposite condition to

the art of seeing, and

this is ignorance (avijja‘),
which appears in many
forms. Ignorance
precedes this

misinformation.

Misinformation seems to be a kind of social
cancer, rapidly metastasizing® in this present age.
There appears to be no subject that is immune,
including the teachings of the Buddha. From false
quotations that the Buddha never uttered, to the
intellectual paparazzi who seek to weaken or
discredit the Buddha’s teachings for their own

ends.

There exists another Pali word closely
addressing the characteristics of many so-called
Dhamma writers, which is andha-bhita® (ahn-
dha-boo-tah). This Pali word zeroes in on the state
of mind of one who is mentally blind, whose
intellectual understanding is in darkness, despite
having the appearance of intellectual prowess and

knowledge.

Whether the teachings of the Buddha
constitute a religion or not, I will leave to the
reader such distinction. Now, some writers, who
claim to practice and defend the concept of
“Buddhism” as a religion, often times get one
critical factor very wrong. The claim is that the
teachings of the Buddha constitute a religion, but,
conversely, they claim that to label the teachings
of the Buddha a philosophy or a way of life, is

strictly a Western concept.

* Avijja: Pali HIG def “Ignorance” https://dsal.uchicago.edu/c i-bin/app/pali_query.py ?qs=avijja&matchtype=default
)) g P & 8g Y-PY )) y

> Metastasize: def “To be changed or transformed, especially dangerously. To spread, especially destructively.”
6 Andhabhuta: Pali S-UYd def “mentally blind; ignorant” andha (AU) def “Blind, foolish.” https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-
bin/app/pali_query.py ?qs=andha&matchtype=default — Pali Ud bhuta def “recognized the nature of, i. e. from the fact of

being, to be, the nature of being.”

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However, even the word “Buddhism” was not
coined until 1802 CE. Between the Buddha’s time
(roughly about 2,600 years ago) until 1802 CE, in
our era, the word “Buddhism,” particularly in
reference to his teachings being a religion simply
did not exist. The writer(s) who claim that the
teachings are not a philosophy, but rather a
religion, have actually gotten it backwards. Certain
writer(s) discrediting “Buddhism” as a philosophy,
stating that it is strictly a Western invention, are
incorrect. Rather, it is the claim that the teachings
constitute a religion that is actually a Western
invention. Labeling the Buddha’s teachings as a
“religion” did not exist until the nineteenth
century.

When the Buddha was alive, he didn’t teach
nor condone the worship of any gods or god-like
beings. He did not teach prayer as an act of
enlightenment. He strictly forbade the worship of
himself. In fact, he rebuked questions regarding
religion altogether. He did not teach that rites and
ceremonies or that acts of contrition were a way of
practice, culminating in awakening or

enlightenment.

The historical facts are, elements of what
constituted “religion” in the Buddha’s time,
existed in other, very clearly religious traditions;
these being Jainism, Brahmanism, and
Shramanism, Adjavikism, Chavakaism, and

Ajnanism. 7

Some one hundred plus years after the death of
the Buddha, several groups broke away from the
original school, citing certain differences of
interpretation of the teachings, and began
adopting and integrating elements of religious-like
features.

Since that time, many features not taught or
condoned by the Buddha were adopted. Such
adoptions or adaptations are; prayer to saints,
existence of celestial beings that have direct access
with humans, elaborate rites and ceremonies,
offerings, magic, elaborate clothing, marriage, and
more. These features, spuriously attached to what
is now called “Buddhism,” have remained popular
to this day. However, due to the popularity of
these things, the use of the word “Buddhism”
invokes preconceived ideas and concepts that are

not true of the Buddha’s teachings.

Some writers cite, that
because the Buddha clearly was a
central figure, then conceptually
this qualifies him as a saint or a
god. Such a claim has no basis in
fact or theory. Such a claim is
tantamount to saying that
because the Presidents of the
United States are central figures they too should
be considered “religious figures,” implying
godship. It is as absurd to equate that the central
figure of any major personality in history
automatically places them on equal standing with
saints and gods. Application of such a maxim

basically places Elvis on the same footing as the

Buddha.

Regardless of any additions made to the
Buddha’s teachings over the last 25 centuries, the
fact remains that none of the references with
regard to such interpolations’, were ever the focal

point of what the Buddha taught.

7 Religions during Buddha’s time: https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/history-culture/buddhism-in-

india/indian-society-and-thought-at-the-time-of-buddha

° Interpolation: def “With regard to ancient manuscripts, is an entry or passage in a text that was not written by the

original author. As there are often several generations of copies between an extant copy of an ancient text and the
original, each handwritten by different writers, there is a natural tendency for extraneous material to be inserted into

such documents over time.”’

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But still, intellectual writers i.e. interpolators,
continue to use elements of the Dhamma in the
attempt to fit the teachings of the Buddha into the
“religion” mold. Such writers try and accomplish
this by employing features that were adopted by
later schools and traditions. The first major
breakaway school did not happen until some 100
years after the Buddha had died. So, rather than
focusing on the earliest Pali texts that recorded the
actual teachings of the Buddha, these original
teachings are ignored, taking out of context certain
elements, which only serves to support a narrow
intellectual perspective for the purpose of creating

their own pseudo-authority.

On the one hand, as mentioned earlier, those
writers supporting the concept that the Dhamma
constitutes a religion, say that anyone claiming the
Dhamma to be a philosophy do so because of
Western traditions, influences and beliefs rooted
in Judeo-Christianity. However, this claim
presents a dichotomy or paradox. For example, a
clear demarcation that the various branches of
Judeo-Christianity are “religions” rather than
being strictly “philosophies,” has been the
excepted standard since the Council of Nicaea in
325 CE, when Christianity was made the state

religion of Rome by Constantine the Great.’

Therefore, equating and evaluating the
teachings of the Buddha as religion, is a forced

conceptualization of Buddhism, discounting the

Buddha, and followers of the Dhamma.
No Word for Religion

Neither the Buddha nor those who followed
his teachings, had a word that meant “religion.”
Neither was there a word that conveyed a

conceptual idea of religion.

From the original Pali texts, the word most
commonly translated as “religion,” is
brahmacariya", the transliteration of which is “the
ideal life,” and is only ever used in relation to

achieving enlightenment.

Now, if the Buddha or his followers, had a
word or a term that specifically meant or defined
the concept of 'religion,’ then such a word or
phrase would certainly settle the question of
whether or not the teachings of the Buddha
constitutes a religion. Rather, the
conceptualization of the Dhamma as a religion, is
left to the pragmatism of misinformed Westerners

to frame.

Within the long-long historical development of
Western concepts pertaining to the meaning of
religion in-and-of-itself, therein persists a problem
of whether or not the teachings of the Buddha
constitute evidence of being a religion, because the
modern West has proven incapable of answering
this question, but which the followers of the

Dhamma are incapable of asking.

It is clear from the earliest texts that the
Buddha’s intent was never to frame the Dhamma
into the concepts of what constitutes “religion.” In
fact, Buddha was emphatically against this,
rebuking those who were concerned with such
matters; primarily for giving attention to the

wrong issues.

An adherent of any one of the World-accepted
“religions” would find that practicing the
Dhamma does not amount to “conversion” to the
“religion” of Buddhism, because there is nothing

to convert to.

° Council of Nicaea: https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-important-events/council-nicaea-0010969

10 Brahmacariya: Pali TeARAT def “good & moral living; sense the moral life as way to end suffering; renouncing the world, study of the

Dhamma.” https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/pali_query.py ?qs=brahmacariya&searchhws=yes

he Middle Way tor Modern. Times = Pape:'|6

Buddha’s teachings about the nature and
causes of human suffering along with the
liberation from this suffering, do not change
regardless of whether one practices as a Jew,
Christian, Muslim, pagan, atheist or Zoroastrian.
Consider however, that if a Jew should abandon
Judaism for Christianity, this would require
converting to the representation of the Christian
God from the Jewish God YHWH (Yahweh), thus
constituting a clear conversion (change) from one

religion to another.

Since the Buddha opposed and rejected the
priestly class (Brahmins), and did not teach any
creator deity whatsoever, can there be a religion
without a god? Can there be a religion in the
absence of theology? Therefore, can there be a

conversion in the religious sense?

The truth, according to the teachings of the
Buddha, is not a revelation. It is a personal
discovery or a personal realization. A discovery
that is humanly possible, but that needs no
external sanctification or justification. This, by no
means, implies that followers of the Buddha are
intolerant of those who follow specific religions.
Buddha suggests that such religious adherents
examine what they believe, and to discover for
themselves what is true, and beneficial to the

attainment of wisdom through self-awakening.

In the Tevijja Sutta of the Digha Nikaya, the
Buddha rejected elements of the Brahmin religion,
in essence stating that what is said by the main
religions of his day, particularly the Brahamins, is
unfounded (appati-hira-katam). Buddha goes on
to say that the Brahmans are comparable to a file
of blind men, each holding on to the one before

him, being led by a man who is also blind.

Buddha made a clear statement regarding
teachers, saying that simply repeating what the
king says would not make the servant himself a
king; similarly, a wise man might repeat what wise
men say, but just repeating it does not make them

wise.

But, many teachers do just that: repeat what
genuinely wise people have taught. People who
simply recite the words of genuinely wise people,
failing to live a life in imitation of them, are not in
any sense wise or good, the same as the originators
of the wisdom were. Buddha underlined the point
that memorizing the words of the wise is not

sufficient to make one wise

Then there is the Pali text, known as the
Abhidhamma, which contains elements of intense
psychological methodologies. Stanford University
places the Abhidhamma Pitaka into the
Encyclopedia of Philosophy rather than the

Encyclopedia of Religion; a curious fact indeed’.

1 'Tevijja Sutta: http://www.palicanon.org/en/sutta-pitaka/transcribed-suttas/majjhima-nikaya/128-mn-3-

dhammadyda-sutta--heirs-in-dhamma.html

12 Appa-ti-hira-katam Pali concatenation Appa: AY def “Small ; little ; insignificant.” Ti: Pak fa def “see” Hira: Pah er def

“a splinter” Katam: Pali sqaritd def “imitate”

13 Stanford University Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Abhidhamma Pitaka : Content specific: “Within this context, dhamma are seen as the

objects of a specific mental capacity called mental cognitive awareness that is considered the central cognitive operation in the process of

sensory perception. Mental cognitive awareness is a particular type of consciousness that discerns between the stimuli impinging upon the

sense faculties and that emerges when the requisite conditions come together. Dhammas are not merely mental objects like ideas, concepts,

or memories. Rather, as the objects of mental cognitive awareness, dharmas may be rendered apperceptions: rapid consciousness-types

(citta) that arise and cease in sequential streams, each having its own object, and that interact with the five externally directed sensory

modalities (visual, auditory, etc.) of cognitive awareness. The canonical Abhidhamma texts portray dhammas, then, as psycho-physical

events with diverse capacities by means of which the mind unites and assimilates a particular perception, especially one newly presented, to

a larger set or mass of ideas already possessed, thus comprehending and conceptualizing it.” https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/abhidharma/

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Included in the main entry of the Stanford
Encyclopedia section regarding the teachings of
the Buddha, known as the Abhidhamma, there is
no mention, reference or slightest inference to

anything “religious.”

In recent years the popular pairing of human
psychology with the methods outlined in the
Abhidhamma, have been combined in the West.
No theology there. While many people benefit
from the psychological healing of the Buddha’s
teachings centering on such things as mindfulness,
which advances one’s emotional intelligence, the

absence of any “religious” element is absolute.

So-called “Buddhist” organizations promote
self-help and self-improvement, but this is an
incorrect representation of the teachings because

the Dhamma pulls apart the very concepts of
“self.”

If one is fastidious about examining the entire
corpus of Pali texts, one discovers that the baseline
concepts focus on the sufferer, but this sufferer is
not going to find liberation from their suffering by

finding or creating the concept of a better self.

One must deal with the causes of suffering
directly as it relates to their individual life, without
the conceptual ideas of a non-existent “self”
getting in the way. Therefore, the Dhamma
directs one to the conscious realization that the
entire concept of a “self” or “my-self,” is utter
fiction.

Buddha disclosed not a religion, but a
transcendent, pre-existent moral law, which he
called Dhamma. The conceptualization of the
Dhamma as religion is the response of decades of
humankind’s inability to understand what religion
actually is, and this is true since the ancient

Roman times.

what

matters

The most vivid treatment of the Buddha’s
attitude toward questions regarding religion, is
found in his teaching of the story about the

poisoned arrow.

In the Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta", the story is
told of a man that is wounded from a poisoned
arrow. Rather than simply pulling the arrow out
before the poison kills him, the man considers a
multitude of questions of; who shot the arrow,
what the arrow is made of, and so on, in endless
details, raising the obvious question of: “What

really matters?”

In the emergent necessity to teach the method
of awakening, Buddha considered that there were
some things that were of no importance, and this
included theoretical arguments regarding the
meaning and application of words. Buddha was
not concerned with religion, but with the suffering

condition of human beings.

“So, Malunkyaputta, remember what is
undeclared by me as undeclared, and what is
declared by me as declared. And why are they
undeclared by me? Because they are not connected
with the goal, are not fundamental to the holy life.
They do not lead to disenchantment, dispassion,
cessation, calming, direct knowledge, self-awakening,

Unbinding. That's why they are undeclared by me.

And what is declared by me? 'This is stress,’ is
declared by me. 'This is the origination of stress, ' is
declared by me. 'This is the cessation of stress, ' is
declared by me. 'This is the path of practice leading
to the cessation of stress,' is declared by me. And why
are they declared by me? Because they are connected
with the goal, are fundamental to the holy life.

4 Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.063.than.html

ihe Middle Way tor Modern. Times = Pape. |S

They lead to disenchantment, dispassion,
cessation, calming, direct knowledge, self-awakening,

>

Unbinding. That's why they are declared by me.’

Thus, in light of the Buddha’s clear
philosophy, cherry-picking through certain
elements of the Dhamma, in order to prove it to
be a religion, in the end, is of little use in the

grand scope and purpose of the teachings.

The definitive proof that the Dhamma is not a
religion resides within the scope and meaning of
the Four Noble Truths. For it is within these
teachings that the entire foundation and
philosophy of the Buddha’s Dhamma is evident.
Unlike certain doctrinal pronouncements, such as
the Christian Nicaean Creed'5, nothing within the
Four Noble Truths, even to the smallest degree,

infers the concept or idea of religion.

However, it is through the art of seeing clearly,
and understanding of the purpose of the
Dhamma, that a writer expresses the correct
knowledge and understanding.

Whether or not a Dhamma writer’s “seeing” is
in line with the purpose of the Buddha’s teaching,
becomes evident because the writer has attained
direct experience, having an intimate knowledge
through practice.

Furthermore, it is this very art of seeing that
prevents a writer from isolating any part of the
Dhamma for the purpose of invoking
unanswerable questions, and intellectual debate,
which only serve to confuse, weaken and devalue
the purpose of the Dhamma.

+ st ot aah. Leos TS

15 Nicaean Creed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_Creed

For one with Dhamma eyes to see, it is within
the writing itself that reveals the writer’s true
intent. If not to support the purpose of the Four
Noble Truths, then what, to tear it down? Unlike
such religions as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and
so forth, the purpose of the Dhamma is not
religion. Evidence of this squarely resides within

the purpose of the Four Noble Truths.

Writers who misrepresent the teachings of the
Buddha (Dhamma), ultimately provides evidence
of the nature of their intent within the very
context of their writing. The difference and intent
of a writer, is identifiable by the one who actually
sees the purpose of the Dhamma, and actually has
an intimate knowledge through direct
experience’’. A knower of the Dhamma is capable
of uncovering the writer who perpetuates pride
and ego; whose modus operandi’ is to display their
intellectual prowess, puffing up their pride by
creating debate; the end result of which serves only

to reveal their ignorance.

Thus, in the case of the writer who is true to
the purpose of the teachings of the Buddha, there
is evidence of direct knowing, and direct
understanding of the purpose of the Four Noble
Truths.

Inward vision, insight, intuition, and
introspection are the foundations of vipassana
(insight), which is only attained through direct-
experience of practice. To the Dhamma awakened
person, subject matters of the kind that seeks to
make the Dhamma a religion, are utterly
superfluous, unimportant and inconsequential. It
is from such experience that a writer who is true to
the Dhamma, supports and defends its true

purpose.

16 Direct experience: Pali paccakkha UtIQR def “Evident ; realized ; perceptible to the senses; having seen or found out for himself,

knowing personally.” https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/pali_query.py °qs=paccakkha&searchhws=yes

17 Modus Operandi: Latin def “A method of procedure.”

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A writer, who is true to the purpose of the
Dhamma, will always maintain a Right View,
Right Intention, Right Effort, and Right
Mindfulness of the Middle Way and the Four
Noble Truths.

Such a Dhamma writer never tears down nor
casts aspersions on any aspect of the Buddha’s
teachings, nor do they cleverly attempt to
intellectualize the foundations of the Dhamma
into something that it is not or was ever intended

to be.

Modern Middle Way Obstacles:
Be Mindful of What you Read

Of late, I have read many articles that critique
a subject of “Buddhism,” objectifying Buddha’s

concepts in an attempt to fit his teachings into the
general World-view of religion.

The subjective manner of approach that many
so-called Dhamma writers use, issues from a
strong intellectual position, but is however devoid
of the “true seeing,” which becomes evident when
the intent of the writer is merely an effort to
advance their own personal pet theories; proposing
and advancing either their own ideas or someone
else’s, which is replete with ego-centric concepts.

A glaring clue to the intellectual approach is a
nearly palatable presence of ego, in that the
writing didactically highlights a position of
“standing their intellectual ground.” This is not
“true seeing” in the sense that the Buddha
taught’. Another clue is the use of “snarky,” rude,
clipped, and sarcastic language that does not show
respect for the Four Noble Truths or the intended
purpose of the Dhamma.

Contained in the Alagadduupama Sutta", is
clear evidence that the Buddha was aware of such
persons during his own time. Buddha was not
reticent about referring to such persons as
“worthless men.”

"Monks, there is the case where some worthless
men study the Dhamma: dialogues, narratives of
mixed prose and verse, explanations, verses,
spontaneous exclamations, quotations, birth stories,
amazing events, question ee answer sessions. Having
studied the Dhamma, they don't ascertain the
meaning (or: the purpose) of those Dhammas with
their discernment. Not having ascertained the
meaning of those Dhammas with their discernment,
they don't come to an agreement through pondering.
They study the Dhamma both for attacking others
and for defending themselves in debate. They don't
reach the goal for which [people] study the Dhamma.
Their wrong grasp of those Dhammas will lead to
their long-term harm & suffering. Why is that?
Because of the wrong-graspedness of the Dhammas.”

20

Being able to see the Dhamma, clearly serves as
a protection from those who use the concept of
“Buddhism” as a springboard or soapbox for the
purpose of intellectual sparring, which is loaded
heavily with the desire for ego-satisfaction.

18 Seeing Pali: WAHT passamana def “seeing ; finding ; understanding” passata: (To recognize in all details.)

19 Alagadduupama Sutta: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ati/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel048.html

20 “Seeing with The Eye of Dhamma: The Comprehensive Teaching of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu” : https://www.amazon.com.au/Seeing-Eye-

Dhamma-Comprehensive-Buddhadasa/dp/1611807662

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 10

This situation is more prevalent today than at
any other time because of the ability to “become”
a voice of a type of pseudo-authority through the
convenience of the Internet. Albeit merely an
intellectual voice; obvious particularly due to the
noticeable lack of clear evidence of knowledge and
understanding, which is gained by direct
experience resulting from practicing the qualities

outlined in the Eightfold Noble Path.

Writers lacking the experience of practice,
cause doubt, damaging the teachings of the
Buddha, and this for the sake of intellectual
debate. The teachings are taken out of context in
slyly presented arguments, cleverly wrangling the
concept of “Buddhism” into their personal

viewpoint.

Nyanoponika
Thera2!, a most wise and
learned Theravada
monk, addressed the
importance of
recognizing such
argumentative efforts to

discredit the Buddha’s

teachings in an essay he

wrote about the Alagaddupama Sutta:

“The harm done is to the individual's character
and his progress on the Path; and the danger is the
likelihood of his falling into lower forms of existence,
or at the least a rebirth unfavorable to the
understanding and practicing of the Dhamma.

That such results may follow, can be easily
understood in the case of Arittha’s views? which are
an outright reversal and corruption of the Teaching.
It may, however, at first sight be surprising to the
reader that the misuse of the Teaching for the verbal
wrangles of disputation is likewise regarded as a
dangerously wrong grasp of the Dhamma.

Here the danger and harm have more subtle, but
no less real roots. The danger in contentiousness is
chiefly twofold. It provides one of the many
evasions by which the mind shirks from devoting
itself earnestly to the actual practice of the
Dhamma. Secondly, under the respectable guise of
the advocacy of the Dhamma, the attachment to "I"
and "Mine" finds an easy outlet. In disputations the
ego gets the chance to indulge in self-assertion,
superiority feeling, self-righteousness and

opinionatedness.

Furthermore, the ego may attach itself to the
Dhamma in an attitude of possessiveness which
sometimes may even resemble the behavior of a dog,
jealously and angrily defending a morsel of food
without having himself the inclination to eat it. We
see here the danger that an excessive concern with an
argumentative advocacy of the Dhamma may
strengthen subconsciously the deeply engrained
egotistic impulses. It may even become one of the

rounds (rSrtng point) fr fuse ius” a
describe by the Buddha.”

In his teaching to the Kalama peoples, Buddha
himself addressed the circumstances by which

something should be believed or not believed.

21 Nyanoponika Thera: Bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyanaponika_Thera | Articles & Essays

https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/index.html

2 Arittha's wrong views: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn54/sn54.006.than.html

23 Nyanoponika Thera: Commentary https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel048.html

4 Kalama Sutta: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.065.than.html

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 11

However, detractors and intellectual Dhamma
writers who have little or no practical experience,
often use the following teaching as carte blanche
for following one's own opinions, concepts and
ideas. But, this platform actually says something
much more rigorous than this. Rather, as
Nyanoponika Thera said: “Under the respectable
guise of the advocacy of the Dhamma, the attachment
to "I" and "Mine" finds an easy outlet. In
disputations the ego gets the chance to indulge in self-
assertion, superiority feeling, self-righteousness and

opinionatedness.”

Traditions are not to be followed simply
because they are traditions. Reports (such as
historical accounts or news) are not to be followed
simply because the source seems reliable. One's
own preferences are not to be followed simply
because they seem logical or resonate with one's
feelings. Instead, any view or belief must be tested
by the results it yields when put into practice.
And, to guard against the possibility of any bias or
limitations in one's understanding of those results,
they must further be checked against the

experience of people who are wise.

How one determines what things to consider is
called appropriate attention’s. Also, choosing wise
people as mentors is called having admirable
friends’. These are, respectively, the most
important internal and external factors when

initially approaching practice of the Dhamma.”

In the Kalama Sutta, Buddha summed up the
guidelines for determining which things should or
should not be trusted.

“Don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by
scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by
analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by
probability, or by the thought, "This contemplative is
our teacher." When you know for yourselves that,

"These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are
blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the
wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out,
lead to harm & to suffering" — then you should
abandon them.' Thus, was it said. And in reference
to this was tt said.

Now, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by

traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by
inference, by analogies, by agreement through
pondering views, by probability, or by the thought,
'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know
for yourselves that, 'These qualities are skillful; these
qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by
the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out,
lead to welfare & to happiness' — then you should

enter and remain in them.”

So, the note of caution is: Be mindful. Make
certain that the information you ingest is the
genuine teaching of the Buddha. Practice of
genuine teachings results in the attainment of
wisdom and living skills, which become personally
evident.

25 Appropriate attention: kappiyo nisanti: Pali (appropriate) paar (attention) Td : « Right , proper , suitable ,

appropriate, careful attention or observation.”

26 Admirable friends: pasamsiya (admirable) Pali Tafa: samacca or kalyana (friends) Pali WH & cUlU “Should be

praised; should be commended; friendship with the good and virtuous, association with the virtuous; such friendship is of

immense help for the attainment of the Path; together with the teachers or friends.”

27 'Thanissaro Bhikkhu 1994 Translator’s Note https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.065.than. html

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The Middle Way: A
Connectedness to Reality

Os course, Buddha’s teachings are not just
about being able to see a subject or object clearly.
All of his teachings focused on clear seeing, and
clear comprehension, in the sense of obtaining a

connection to reality.

Happiness, according to the Buddha, can be,
and is, learned. But, this is not merely a matter of
recognizing and removing the things that cause
unhappiness. Happiness is also conditioned, and

so has dependent elements.

Through the body’s direct encounters with the
World, our senses register various experiences.
Our perceptions of the World, experienced
through our senses, is also subject to many
dependencies. Perceptions are dependent on such
things as our culture, environment, beliefs,
opinions, and preferences. An ability to ‘see’
ourselves as we really are, is part of the “Middle

Way practice.

Buddha teaches that we need not be attached
or enslaved to our perceptions, our experiences or
to the World. We can learn to live freely; free
from fear and suffering. We can learn how to
reject forms of subjugation and submission and
feel at home in our body, becoming free from the
influences of external authority that causes

unhappiness. This does not mean that the

Dhamma (teachings of the Buddha) is like a magic

wand we simply wave and all unwanted

experiences disappear.

However, it does teach us that we can learn to
see reality as it is, and have complete control over

our own wellbeing, while tolerating those around

Perception

Reality

us with the clear knowledge that happiness is
something we can only achieve for ourselves. Of
course, the caution is that the Dhamma is only a
means, like a device, that points us in the right
direction. Practical application of the Dhamma in
our lives broadens our perspective and reveals our

own personal potential.

But, this is only true for the individual who
really wants to succeed—really wants happiness.
Human life is complex. In many respects, the
Buddha taught that happiness was simple, but
only when one possesses the keys to clearly seeing

these complexities, and how we relate to them.

Sila and Saddha

At the root of being able to learn and

understand happiness, is the necessity of creating
autonomous self-regulation. The two elements
supporting self-regulation, as the Buddha taught,
are sila?® and saddha”.

28 Sila: Pali UI def “1. nature, character, habit, behaviour; usually as -° in adj. function "being of such a nature," like, having

the character of e. g. adana*” https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/pali_query.py ?¢qs=sila&matchtype=default

29 Saddha: Pali Uc& def “felt to be; believing faithful, as opposed to as(s)addha unbelieving.” https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-

bin/app/pali_query.py ?¢qs=saddha&searchhws=yes

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 13

Bhikkhu Bodhi, an
American Theravada
monk, provides the
following meaning of the
“| Pali word sila.

~~,
—

“The Pah word sila
originally meant simply conduct.
But in the context of the Buddhist spiritual training the
term is used to signify only a specific Rind of conduct, 2.¢.,
good conduct, and by an extension of meaning, the type of
character for which such conduct stands, 1.e., good character.
Hence, sila means both moral conduct; a body of habits
governed by moral principles, and moral virtue, the interior
guality the regular observance of these principles 1s intended
to produce.” 3°

Sila is maintaining a particular behavior; ethical
habits; specifically, a code of principles that
promote well-being, kindness, compassion and a
balanced sense of one’s thinking. This is a learned
state of being that is centered on one’s virtue.
Virtue refers to behavior that shows high moral
standards: doing what is right and avoiding what is
wrong.

Sila or moral conduct, is one of the
cornerstones upon which the Fourth Noble Truth
is built. As defined in certain tenets of the Fourth
Noble Truth, known as the Eightfold Path, virtue
and morality are based on one’s Right Speech,
Right Action, and Right Views.

No one who begins the journey of the Middle
Way is able to simply switch off behaviors that
have been a part of one’s life for many years.
Having a good idea of what the Middle Way
entails begins with learning to recognize our
behavior and habits that we don’t realize are
harmful.

Now, along the way you will begin to build
confidence in the teachings of the Middle Way.
This type of confidence is known as saddha,
which simply means that you are able to develop a
confidence in the Buddha’s teachings. Confidence
builds because you are able to see the positive
results from practice. Many translators use the

English word “faith” to translate the Pali word
saddha. However, within the extended contextual
usage of the Pali texts, saddha is best translated as
“confidence.”

Through one’s own autonomous self-
reoulation of practicing the Dhamma, one gains
confidence in the teachings. Therefore, the results
of successful practice support a belief that the
teachings of the Buddha are true. But, saddha 1s
having serene trust that the practice of the
Buddha's teaching will have beneficial results.

Therefore, this is more analogous to having
confidence rather than a blind faith. Blind faith is
merely an acceptance based on some imagined or
compelling necessity in order for the Dhamma to
be beneficial. Saddha (confidence) is not adopted
but, is developed through practice.

The Search for Happiness: The Root of
All Human Endeavor

EVERYBODY SEEKS
HAPPINESS! NOT

ME, THOUGH! THATS |
THE DIFFERENCE 4p

BETWEEN ME AND fp -
THE REST OF we ff

HAPPINESS ISNT GOOD
ENOUGH FOR ME! I
DEMAND EUPHORIA /

Nothing that human beings seek is as
pervasive and prevalent as the striving for
happiness. Buddha clearly realized this to be true
for all human beings. But, he also knew that in
otder to learn happiness, that a shift, a transition
of understanding, needs to take place. Therefore,
one’s basic understanding of the sources of
happiness needs to be altered for any change to
blossom.

-. —# c.e 7F —,_ £34 TS

30 Bhikkhu Bodhi: sila & saddha: “Nourishing the Roots” https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel259.html

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 14

Buddha’s compassion dictated that his
teachings could not be forced upon people. For
even good things, which when imposed through
pressure, causes a kind of violence to human
senses, the result being nonproductive.

Therefore, the Buddha’s teachings reveal that
for any transformation to take place, there could
be no sense of sacrifice or imposition to the
individual. Rather, one that is drawn to the
Dhamma does so through their own decision and
abilities to “‘see”’ what is true and what is not.

The Human Breath

Buddha’s teachings are designed to cause a
positive effect to arise in mature persons who
willingly take competent action. Where better to
initiate such action but through the rhythm of a
person’s own breathing? The Buddha knew that
when one is attuned to this rhythm, an experience
of being centered allows a person to become
conscious of the subtlest variations in mood. A
fertile field for clear seeing if ever there was one.

To understand happiness requires this co-
mingling of the silence of our brain-thinking with
the rhythm of the breath. With this, space is
created; a very real space, where the journey of
awakening begins.

At the start, our thinking is replete with all of
our negative thoughts. We are no less prisoners of
our own habitual thought-worlds. But, seeing this
means that we are creating an internal space to
work. So, in essence, the Dhamma is rather like a
psychology of experience. At present, before
learning how to be happy, we must wrestle with
our habitual emotional reactions, our thought
constructs, our mental visions e.g. fantasies, which
are very real in effect and actuality.

Dhamma Counteracts
Negativity

Ih many respects, as was just mentioned, one

could say that the Dhamma 1s actually no less than
a psychology of experience...your own direct
experience. Seeing the negativity that we have
become accustomed to living with, is revealed
through one’s practice of the Dhamma. How does
this work? Dhamma creates self-knowledge,
connecting us, like a bridge, between our reactions
to the World around us, and why our own
reactions are the cause of our own suffering.

At this very moment, the things that you
actually know, you know directly from your
experiences and relationships to things and events,
which you participate ‘with,’ through a kind of
agreement you have with your senses.

Participation ‘with’ the world around you ts
determined by a very basic formula; an adoption
of ideas of the things you like and don’t like. We
rely on our learned perception, which 1s narrow,
because what we perceive is filtered through our
preferences of like and dislike. Thus, we create our
illusory-centered realities through our dependent-

laden perceptions.

However, since
perception is rarely a
measure of reality, the
Dhamma acts both as a
filter and a magnifier,
sifting through what
we perceive to be real,
thus leaving in its wake a clear seeing of actual
reality. But, this process is more than mere
intellectual thinking.

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 15

Through the teachings of the Buddha and
practice of the Dhamma, we begin to understand;
to see, how we create our own negativity and

stress through a kind of alienation from the
World.

Because we are constantly trying to manipulate
the World, this alienation 1s real, and persistent,
which in turn creates suffering, stress, frustration
and aversion. What if you simply stopped
wrestling with the things that create distress,
dissatisfaction and anguish? What if you stopped
trying to manipulate the World in your attempts to
find comfort?

Impartiality toward the World is gained
through practice of the Middle Way, which
bridges the gap between seeing and not seeing,
allowing for more space in order to understand
how it is that happiness is learned.

This impartiality does not mean one adopts an
attitude of apathy. Rather, this Dhamma-rooted
impartiality provides a sense of curiosity that
desires to see the World as it is. Rather, this
impartiality anchors you in reality, and is a
counterbalance against things that cause
overattachment to emotionally charged events in
an unbiased manner.

We attain, and maintain, this Dhamma-rooted
impartiality through a sense of equanimity?! that
does not hold an opinion one way or another.
There is no effort to deny anything or repress
anything, but that we impartially see things for
what they are, whether or not something is of a
personal concern. In other words, we learn to
maintain an impartial relationship with external
realities, whether those realities are things or

people.

We are less inclined to identify with things the
way we used to. Rather, we strive to stay
connected, “with,” what is happening, and not
connected, “to,” what is happening. The goal is to
stay connected without allowing yourself to
identify with things, concepts, traditions, culture

ot social consensus, but not allowing yourself to
become alienated from these things either.

In simpler terms, this state of awareness is the
same as an observer who watches something
taking place, but is not directly involved. Try this
little exercise: The next time you find yourself
sitting in a public place, for example, a park, a
restaurant or a shopping mall, take some time to
simply observe the things happening around you.

Whatever activities you notice, you ate not
directly involved. And, because you are not
directly involved, you are not attached “to”
anything that is happening. You merely observe.
As soon as you become directly involved, you
experience a moment of “becoming.” You are
becoming “TI,” “me” or “mine.” Therefore, you
are no longer an observer who has no
attachments.

Conversely, through the Middle Way, you

become the ultimate observer of your experiences.
So, an obvious question might be: “Who then, is
doing the observing?”” The Buddha never said
that there is no “self.” Rather, he taught the
wisdom behind understanding that questions
about whether a “‘self’ existed or not, were
unimportant. A mere consideration that a “self”
does exist, is the root cause of all of the suffering
humankind experiences.

It is from attachment to the concepts of a
“my-self’ that arises clinging, and involves an
element of self-identification, thus creating
clinging, suffering and stress. To hold either that
there is a self or that there is no self, is to fall into
extreme forms of wrong views, making the path
of practice impossible.

31 Equanimity: SUT ; upekha ; neutrality ; composure; calmness ; indifference.

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 16

Becoming

“Within every moment of becoming is the
infant of being, and with every moment of
being is the seed of becoming.”

The Pali word bhava (HId), has a double

meaning, first as a state of body or mind, and a
disposition or character, but it equally means
becoming, being, existing, and occurring;
indicating one’s identification with these things.
Becoming therefore, is the habitual or emotional
tendencies which leads to the arising of the sense
of self, as a mental phenomenon.

Becoming (bhava), with regard to the Buddha’s
teachings, means “...having a sense of identity in
a particular world of experience: your sense of
what you are, focused on a particular desire, in
your personal sense of the world as related to that
desire. In other words, it is both a psychological
and a cosmological concept.” 33

Let’s step back a moment. You are sitting and
merely observing. Right? But, are your? You may
think you are merely observing, but through eye
and ear consciousness, your brain is busy making
evaluations, judgements or opinions of the things
going on around you. You never left the state of
mind-being, “I,” “me” or “mine” or “my-self.”

32 Depabhasadhamma

33 Becoming (bhava) Thanissaro Bhikkhu “Bhava Sutta: Becoming” Note 1.

https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.076.than.html

Indifferent-Impartial-Neutral: Majjhatta
(majjhattha) »

Negativity is created because one is not

indifferent, impartial or neutral. Being flexible
means that you take the stance of being merely an
observer without “becoming” attached to your
own beliefs, concepts, ideas, opinions or popular
consensus. Doing so means that you are attaching
yout idea of “me,” “mine” or “I.” You are
attaching your concept of what you believe you
are. This is ego, and your habitual mental
references to what “me” or “my-self’ is, does not
support the non-negative space of indifference,
impartiality or neutrality.

In order to “see” one’s own habitual
attachment to negativity, it is important to
understand the difference between being
indifferent, impartial and neutral.

Indifference is about a quality or state of not
making a difference. Meaning that the mental state
is one lacking sufficient importance to constitute a
difference; an absence of significance. Impartiality
means a state of mind that is free from bias or
favoritism and a sense of being disinterested.

TO BE FREE FROMSUFFERING.
FREE YOURSELF FROM
ATTACHMENTS.

> BLIDDHA -

Maintaining the space of neutrality means that
there is no engagement one way or another. This
is a mental space that does not evaluate whether
anything is good nor bad; undecided or
pronounced.

34 Majjhatta/majjhattha: Pali Hog] / Hoa : def “Neutral ; impartial ; indifferent.” In the Pali text, the words the Buddha employed in

reference to one’s state of mind that is impartial, neutral and indifferent are majjhatta (mah-jah-tah) and majjhattha (mah-jah-tha).

https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/pali_query.py ?qs=majjhatta&searchhws=yes

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 17

Equanimity (upekkha)

il ©) NUNES

Sualcige
jak aais
pce! aeSseay

The mental space that is created through
maintaining an indifferent, impartial and neutral
state of mind, leads directly to a conscious
realization; a way of experience, known as
equanimity (upekkha>). The roots of equanimity
are impartiality, neutrality and indifference. Thus,
equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of
mind, rooted in insight.

In his essay titled, “Toward a Threshold of
Understanding,” Bhikkhu Bodhi writes:

“The Pah word “...interpreted as "indifference" is
presumably upekkha. The real meaning of this word
is equanimity, not indifference in the sense of unconcern
for others. As a spiritual virtue, upekkha means
equanimity in the face of the fluctuations of worldly
fortune. It ts evenness of mind, unshakeable freedom of
mind, a state of inner equipoise” that cannot be upset
by gain and loss, honor and dishonor, praise and
blame, pleasure and pain.

Upekkha is freedom from all points of self-
reference, it 1s indifference only to the demands of the
ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not
to the well-being of one's fellow human beings. True
equanimity 1s the pinnacle of the four social attitudes
that the Pali texts call the "divine abodes" (sublime
states of attitude): boundless loving-kindness,
compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity. The last
does not override and negate the preceding three, but
perfects, and consummates them.” 37

Dispelling negativity means that equanimity is
required, and needs to be based on an attentive
presence of mind, not on indifferent dullness.
Indifference does not mean dullness, apathy or an
uncaring attitude.

Equanimity must be the result of determined,
deliberate habits, not the chance outcome of a
passing mood. The balance of equanimity would
not be real or actual if it had to be produced by
exertion over and over again.

If one needs to forcefully employ the idea of
equanimity, this is evidence that the actuality of it
is merely conceptual, and not real. Practice of
actual equanimity is not defeated by the
fluctuations of life. True equanimity meets all
tests, no matter how severe, and regenerates its
strength from habitual practice. However,
equanimity derives its power of resistance and
regeneration only if it is rooted in insight.

Mastering an attitude that is rooted in
equanimity, indifference, impartiality and
neutrality, dispels all negativity. The effects of
equanimity create a guard against over-indulging
and being attached to the ideas and concepts of
what you believe is “my-self.’

35 Upekkha: Pali SURAT def “neutrality or indifference, zero point between joy & sorrow; disinterestedness, neutral feeling, equanimity.

Sometimes equivalent to adukkham -- asukha -- vedana "feeling which is neither pain nor pleasure. Indifference to pain and pleasure,

equanimity, resignation, neutrality.” https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-

bin/app/pali_query.py ¢qs=upekkh%C4%81%20&%20upekh%C4%8 1 &searchhws=yes
3° Equipoise: def “Equality in distribution, relationship, or emotional forces; mental equilibrium.
37 “Toward a Threshold of Understanding” Bhikkhu Bodhi - https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/bps-essay_30.html

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 18

Your entire insight becomes based on
equanimity. This supports the Buddha’s teaching

of “‘no-self’ or anatta3’, which shows that actions

are not performed by any self nor do the results of
actions affect any self. If there is no self, we
cannot speak of "my own" or “my-self.” It is the
delusion that such an entity as a self exists that
creates suffering and ultimately hinders and
weakens equanimity.

American Theravada
monk, Thanissaro
Bhikkhu, who belongs
to the Thai Forest
Tradition, relates that
““...the anatta teaching
+) is not a doctrine of no-
= self, but a not-self
al strategy for shedding
suffering by letting go
of its cause, leading to the highest, undying
happiness. At that point, questions of self, no-self,
and not-self fall aside. Once there's the experience
of such total freedom, where would there be any
concern about what's experiencing it, or whether
or not it's a self?” 4°

If we blame our “‘self’ one “becomes” the “TI,”
which states that "I am to blame," weakening
equanimity. If you do not succeed at something,
then one “becomes” “me” or “my; "My efforts
have failed," weakening equanimity. If one loses
something; wealth or loved ones, then one
“becomes” “mine;” "What was mine is gone,"
weakening.

Even when a beginner attempts to learn
meditation, all they hear is “I,” “me,” and “mine.”
My thoughts, my itch, my bum, my back, my legs
hurt. Consider, those thoughts; they aren’t your
thoughts, they are the thoughts of the brain that
happens to be in your body. Your brain and its
thoughts are not you. You are only consciousness.

Self-Investigation via The
Middle Way

tied above the temple entrance of the

ancient Greek Oracle of Delphi, are the words
‘know thyself (yv@0t oeavtov, transliterated from:
onothi seauton*! (know-thee soe-tawn).

This pithy aphorism has become the darling of
spiritual teachers for millennia. ‘To know oneself,
apart from all of the things that our characters and
personalities are dependent on, is exactly what the
‘Middle Way’ addresses. Standing in the way of
recognizing ourselves, are the habitual behaviors,
beliefs, and opinions that we cling to and protect.

A serious and responsible examination of the
elements of our character and personality is
necessary in order to clear the field, making way
for a particular kind of understanding. With the
Middle Way, we are given the path to the methods
that teach us how to become happy. This is
exactly the same journey that Siddhartha Gautama
took.

After six years of contemplating the various
life philosophies being taught during his time, the
then Siddhartha Gautama, was not satisfied that
any of them provided a clear understanding of
why human beings suffer, get old, and die.

dh I RSS OO —_

38 Anatta-lakkhana Sutta: (Nyanoponika Thera) https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.059.nymo.html

39 Theravada Thai Forest Tradition: https://forestdhamma.org/about/thai-forest-tradition/
40 Thanissaro Bhikkhu: “No Self or Not Self” https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/notself2.html

41 Know Thyself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_thyself

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 19

Formulating the Middle Way

With the same behavior that older boys have
done for centuries, in his sixteenth year Siddhartha

began exploring his environment. However, at this
time, he experienced four separate events that
would change the World forever.

According to the events recorded in the Pali
texts, neither the Buddha’s awakening nor his
formulation of the Four Noble Truths, were
instant, but were a result of a long process
beginning at sixteen years of age.

For the first time, while traveling, he saw a
very old man, hunched over, supporting himself
with a stick. Through this event he learned the
inevitability of aging. Next, he encountered
disease and death, disturbing his otherwise
complacent attitude toward his own life; realizing
that these conditions also awaited him. His forth
experience was meeting a wanderer, known as a
Paribbayayitar.

All of these experiences sewed seeds of
contemplation, causing him to question whether
or not there existed an alternative truth, rather
than the mere passivity of acceptance. His
eventual response was to cut his hair and his
beard, put on the robes of a beggar, for the
purpose of discovering the truth about, and
liberation from, the things he had experienced.

Siddhartha’s first teacher, Alara Kalama, taught
him a particular form of meditation called
Akificafifi-ayatana (ah-keen-ye-cahnyee-ay-aht-ah-
nah).‘3 One could say that this form of meditation
results in an understanding of emptiness, but
more correctly it is a state of mind or a sphere of
perception of no-thingness; the absence of having
possessions.

Since every human being holds the same
concerns, experiencing suffering, sickness and
death, the Buddha contemplated the idea that an
alternative explanation must exist. How could he
ask the questions of why human beings suffer and
die, if some part of him did not already know the
answer? Therefore, abandoning all other
teachings, he set out alone, intending to discover
the answers to these seemingly relentless, and
common problems of human life.

In the same way as the Buddha, once we set
out to discover the truth for ourselves, we must
take possession of, and own the practice. Just like
the Buddha, persons who take on learning the
Dhamma, are alone in their endeavor.

Initially, Siddhartha Gautama, not yet a
Buddha, contemplated the futility of rebirth; the
constant cycle of birth, aging and death, that he
called samsara. Despite one’s best efforts to
obtain happiness, and live a fulfilling life, he
realized that attainment of these things are all only
temporary. He comprehended that none of this
mattered, unless one was able to see how one’s
own thinking might be directly involved.

This contemplation led him to understand that
one’s thinking is attached to, and influenced by,
the idea of a self; that this conceptual illusion of a
self is directly related to the human senses.

* Paribbajayitar: Pali Ulead defi “One who indulges in the practice of a wanderer; a mendicant, fig. one who leads a virtuous ascetic

life.” https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/pali_query.py ¢qs=paribb%C4%8 1jayitar&searchhws=yes

43 Akificafifi-ayatana: A Pali compound consisting of the words akificafifia and ayatana. 1. (akificafifia) Pali Sl [ch Wo] def “State of

having nothing, absence of (any) possessions; nothingness. https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-

bin/app/pali_query.py ?qs=%C4%81ki%C3%B1ca%C3%B1%C3%Bla&searchhws=yes 2. Ayatana Pali HIUda def “Sphere of perception

or sense in general, object of thought, sense organ & object." https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-

bin/app/pali_query.py ?¢qs=%C4%8 lyatana&searchhws=yes

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 20

He understood that the solution to suffering
was rooted in the problem of suffering itself, but
because of our own senses, human thinking is
conditioned by perception. This realization led
him to discover that the cause of human suffering
was rooted in ignorance of the truth about the
nature of reality. This further led him to
understand that if a human were able to detach or
unbind themselves from the conditioned causes of
suffering, then, logically, there was a way to
understand experiences without being conditioned
and influenced by the senses.

By necessity, he then had to uncover his own
conditional thinking, thus understanding how this
was at the root of all sufferings, and that this was
true for all human beings. Therefore, if he could
see and understand the things that caused his own
conditioned thinking, there necessarily had to be a
way of thinking that was not dependent on the
senses or perceptions influenced by outside
beliefs, traditions, customs or opinions.

Most importantly, Siddhartha discovered the
weighty role that ignorance played in the
conditioning of human thinking. Through a strong
determined effort, thinking and re-thinking, he
experienced a falling away of ignorance, which
was replaced by clear understanding and
knowledge. Of course, the ignorance did not
disappear, rather he was able to see and
understand the middle ground between
understanding and ignorance. In other words, he
challenged his own set of values.

The only way in which the Buddha differs
from most other human beings, is that from the
beginning, when he first set out, six years earlier,
his primary focus was on learning the answers
to why it was that humans suffer sttess and
dissatisfaction.

His activities, during the preliminary six years
of his life, reveals that he did not have any other
hopes and aspirations, but to discover the answers
to his questions. His quest, if you will, was single
minded in this regard.

It is not a stretch to say that what Siddhartha
was doing was forcing an alteration of his
thinking, thus shifting his consciousness from
reliance on conditioned ignorant perception, to
identification of singular subjects. His methods
revealed unwavering determination and a firm
focus on the origination and dependency of all
things. This is exactly the same process every
person seeking answers through the Dhamma
experiences. However, he realized the scope of
effort that would be necessary for the average
person to eradicate ignorance.

Ignorance, in most
cases, does not mean
stupidity. In order for
ignorance to stem from
stupidity a person
would have to reject

If ISNOFance
IS BLISS,

WhY af6n’T

MOré PEOPLE ,
happyo what is true, becoming

selectively ignorant for

whatever the reason.

Dhamma teachers today are very well aware
that people cannot understand what they do not
know. This is ignorance. A true Dhamma teacher
understands the meaning of the Buddha’s sense of
compassion. It is because of their own direct
experience of practice, that monks, nuns, and
experienced lay persons, are able to teach from
natural compassion.

Deconditioning

Here's Why You Need To Think

About Deconditioning
“Ly

Deconditioning is a term used to describe a

method for lessening and eradicating the
conditioned responses and behavior patterns that
we assume over time. While this term is used to
describe a particular element of Neuro Linguistic
Programing, the Middle Way is exactly the same
thing, without all of the psychological jargon.

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 21

Human understanding of truth is limited by
out experiences, which in turn causes ignorance.
We can never fully understand reality because we
can only know about the things we have
experienced. Deconditioning our thinking means
we must first develop habitual thinking pattern
awareness.

Everyone develops behaviors and strategies
that are based on our upbringing, past
experiences, and what society deems appropriate.
For the untrained, these patterns are unconscious,
meaning, we do many of them without even
thinking about it. When we know nothing else, we
don’t realize we are stuck in a behavior pattern, a
reaction loop, which is unhealthy.

We keep doing, saying, and believing, the same
things over and over, but can’t seem to figure out
why it is that we are unhappy or dissatisfied with
out lives. This is particularly true because we
know that our intentions are not bad or wrong.

Using more modern language to describe the
Buddha’s process of awakening, he basically
interrupted his pre-existing way of thinking. So,
this means, by a natural process, he set aside the
ignorance of his own beliefs, which were actually
the beliefs of others, but that he believed were his
own. When he realized that many of the things he
thought he knew, were a mere dependency on the
adoption of things other people believed, he
deconditioned his own thinking. He understood
that this dependency was as a result of wrong
views.

This resulted in his determining the difference
between knowledge gained through direct
experience, which its an organic knowledge, from
knowledge that was not gained through direct
experience. He understood the difference between
direct personal knowledge and erroneous
knowledge adopted from others. Thus, the
Buddha used deconditioning to discover the
answers he sought.

Running the Dhamma Program

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When learning the Dhamma, in order for
such things as the Middle Way to be of any use,

we need to be cognizant of the perception of what
we believe to be “my-self.”’. Siddhartha integrated
his thought-consciousness with the way in which
the human senses influence our thinking. ‘This
creates a space and allows one to determine
complex, condition-ridden, problem-prone,
mental programming that senselessly binds us to a
preoccupation with the illusion of a self as a single
object.

In order to ensure that his thinking was based
in reality, Buddha realized that there had to be a
truth that answered all of the questions about
birth, aging, sickness and death, which did not
depend on the consensus of others’ beliefs. In
essence he gained access to an organic knowledge
that was not tainted by erroneous, unproven
information.

The answers had to be directly related to the
questions. But, his program had to examine the
nature of rejected data, comparing rejected data to
the questions. If the data he considered could not
answer the question, then it must be rejected. In
other words, the data that correctly answered the
questions, must increase the potential for
happiness. For, is it not the purpose of human life
to process the highest potentials for happiness?

Therefore, we examine the programs that we
are running, comparing them to the Dhamma
program in order to learn the difference. The
difference is discovered as a result of running the
Dhamma program. In between the extremes of
complete ignorance and wrong thinking is the
Middle Way. There, among our own ignorance, is
the ability to see the truth.

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 22

In terms of the process of running the
Dhamma program, ignorance should not be
ignored. Switching one thing off and another
thing on, is not the process of Dhamma practice.
Rather, the well-executed Dhamma program
compates existing data with newly obtained data.

If the Dhamma program is followed correctly,
old existing data that may be rife with
inconsistencies and ignorance, are automatically
replaced with data that increases the potential for
happiness, a happiness that is based in reality. In
essence, new data is inserted into an old program
to determine which data is correct.

We test what we think we know to be true
with ideas and concepts, which may not initially
make sense, but we allow the program to play out
to see the results. And, based on those results a
determination of which data has the best potential
of happiness is separated from data that has the
least potential of happiness, and thus can be

discarded.

What it was that the Buddha achieved was an
ability to clearly understand the things that are
responsible for messing up an otherwise perfect
program for happiness. His Middle Way program
is like a sub-program of the Dhamma, which
creates a fluidity; a great open expanse where any
human being who determines to run the program,
will gradually develop one’s own path toward
awakening.

Running the Dhamma program establishes a
clear “seeing” of the differences between thought-
consciousness, body-consciousness, and emotion-
consciousness, and the shifts from one to the
other. This Dhamma program causes a fluidity
with one’s internal life, integrating clear insight
and understanding as to the reasons why we
suffer.

Just like a long book, a long movie or a
particularly intricate MMORPG game (video
game), it takes time to learn the plot and
understand the purpose.

Dhamma is not Cheap Optimism

O_o aaNG ls

MOVEMENT

Despite the testimony of millions of people

for some 2,500 years, every person who makes the
decision to learn the Buddha’s teachings, must
affirm the effectiveness, the value, and the truth
about the Dhamma for themselves. Once the
Dhamma is practiced, one realizes that it is
experiential, and it is because of this that the
experiences are free from all theory or theorizing,
due to the fact that the results are based on one’s
own clear, and direct experience.

Proper application of the Dhamma program
insures the development of right views that are
devoid of doubt. This experiential process
transforms one’s subjective responses and
reactions to external objects and the situations
encountered in daily life.

WNM

THE WHAT NOW

MOVEMENT

Unlike the many peddlers of the so-called New
Age philosophy, such as the “Now Movement,”
the Dhamma does not dabble in dangerous one-
sided ideologies that distorts perception. While
having some benefit, the New Age philosophies
often times peddle a kind of cheap optimism
insofar as the philosophy tends to support
ignoring the bad things in favor of good things.
Covering the ugly with rainbows might work for a
while, but the ugly still exists.

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 23

Optimism that is not rooted in reality
increasingly alienates one from the reality, causing
an incapacity to not only perceive problems, but
an inability to deal with them.“

It is true that the optimistic, self-
encouragement New Age gurus, have provided
some useful suggestions. However, can true
optimism exist if it is not rooted to a foundation
of problems or difficulties? How then could true
optimism be experienced or acquired? Optimism
can only be realized from a comparison of what ts
not optimism. Thus, the infant lotus bud makes its
pathway; ascending through the thick muck and
mud, bursting into a sublime flower of immense

beauty above the water.

Dhamma is the beautiful lotus bud that pushes
itself through the muck and mud of suffering. If
the conditions are correct, the lotus bud bursts
forth with a trueness of beauty, a beauty that
cannot be denied, theorized away nor can it be
defined. Only the one with a direct-experience of
the blossom knows from where the root has
come.

Whether one adopts the New Age philosophy
ot learns the Dhamma, the difference between the
two soon becomes apparent. Completely opposite
of the Dhamma, New Age philosophy, in many
respects, merely offers food for thought.

New Age philosophy offers adoption and
adaptation of concepts and words, without any
real-life foundation or fertilizer, if you will, to
inculcate a desire to develop greater competence
in the way that life is ltved; increasing the potential
of one’s happiness. It is from the knowledge and
insight of our own muck (suffering) where the
Dhamma reveals the truth of oneself and the
world. Unlike the Dhamma, New Age philosophy
and doctrine tends to be a mere hodgepodge of
borrowed ideas that have conceptual similarities.

And, it is unfortunate that many of the
peddlers of New Age dogma have borrowed
much from the teachings of the Buddha and other
Eastern philosophies. This borrowing disconnects
the actual contextual meaning of certain of the
Buddha’s teachings, which has the effect of
confusing the real Dhamma with made-up
concepts for the purpose of advancing unrelated
New Age concepts.

There exists a plethora of so-called Dhamma
ot Dharma organizations that purport to follow
and disseminate the teachings of the Buddha, but
many of these, particularly in the West, borrow
from the Buddha’s teachings and present them as
the basis for a self-proclaimed form of a sangha.

Some truth is nowhere near all of the truth. In
many instances’ interaction with such so-called
sanghas soon reveal an intention for gathering
money. The purpose of many so-called Buddhist
oroups, some of which are quite large, seems to be
for mere spiritual entertainment. The Dhamma
should never be used for mere entertainment nor
for a reason to obtain money.

It is with this understanding that the serious
person, who is committed to learning happiness,
realizes, through the practice of the actual
Dhamma, that the Dhamma is, as described in the
Pali texts, a true jewel among jewels.

44 Note: Although this may seem like a detraction from the topic but, I am strongly inclined to wonder whether or not

the whole New Age movement isn’t linked to the seemingly unbridled use of mind/emotion altering substances, such as
marijuana. I probably touched a raw nerve among those whose undying belief it is that such substances are actually
psychologically beneficial. Call me old-fashioned, but I do believe there is a reason these substances are called “Dope.”

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 24

An authentic true jewel has great value and is
by no means mistaken for a mere look-alike gem.
To obtain this true gem, one must work; must DO
something, in order for awakening to take place.
But, for those who fritter away their mental
capacity on spiritual entertainment, mere word-
games ot look-alike Dhamma (Dharma) are not
likely to find true awakening.

Buddha’s teachings are the real jewel. One
must realize that the teachings do not require
elaborate ceremonies, cultural or traditional music,
spiritual rituals or an intermediary in order to
benefit from the Dhamma.

Pragmatism

“Atteee KRE TWO WAKYS 10 BE
E00LED. ONE Is TO BeElvlleve WttreT
ISN'T TevEe: 7tteE O7ttEe Is 70

Reéuse 70 Belleve WHAT Is
TRVE.”
— SOREN KIERKEGKAE

Learning and practicing the Dhamma, in

many respects, challenges modern-day
materialistic pragmatism. This materialistic
pragmatism is revealed not only by the amount of
time that is reserved for the acquisition and
maintenance of material “things,” but the levels of
intense emotions that this pragmatism ushers into
out lives.

Many people think that being pragmatic is
essential when it comes to the material world.
Being pragmatic describes a philosophy of "doing
what works best." The word has historically
described persons who are more concerned with
real-world application of ideas than with abstract
notions. A pragmatic person is thought to be
sensible, grounded, and practical. However, there
is another aspect of what I call “hardheaded
pragmatism.”

The beneficial aspects of pragmatism have
become tainted and corrupted with a hardheaded,
narrow minded focus on the illusion that, with
enough effort, one can control the World around
them. This, despite the truth that such a viewpoint
causes a lot of suffering, is exactly what most
people believe.

THANKS BUT I'M

STICKING WITH
CONSENSUS...

wlTS A HERD
MENTALITY

Yet, despite the frustration, worry and effort
put into maintaining a materialistic pragmatic,
hardheaded view of life, human beings march on
to the tune of consensus. This tune sings the song
that one must accept this way of life in order to
stay on trac with progress and maintain
acceptance with the rest of the people in their
socio-economic group. Where does this behavior
come from? Where does adoption and adaptation
of this materialistic pragmatism originate?

This contaminated pragmatism, bordering on
stubbornness, starts very early in life. Consider
this simile: Imagine, if you will, a child whose daily
life is relegated to a kind of aloneness because
both parents are chasing the tenets of material
pragmatism. He sits alone either with video games
or television as his companion.

He receives little direction from his parents
because they do not have the time necessary to
attend to the content or quality of the child’s
information. His education about the world comes
from these two aforementioned sources, which is
merely a random consumption of bits and pieces
of human interaction. Switching between TV
programs or games that are of interest, are where
the child obtains some enjoyment.

The Middle Way for Modern Times

Out of these tidbits moving on a screen, he
ekes out some semblance of a view of the world.
No matter how well programmed or safe a
television show or video game may be, whatever
the child views is a conditioned perspective and 1s
not conducive for developing a first-hand
experience of the world, even if it is only the
world of his parents.

Children constantly seek to entertain their
brains by hastily switching channels or video
games: Is it any wonder why so many children
seem to behave on the borderline of psychosis?
Perhaps this state of affairs is also responsible for
children’s development of a deterministic
worldview. Thus, what ideas and concepts do you
suppose this child brings with it into their adult
life?

It is this kind of early training that generations
of children are raised with. Coming from parents,
television, video games, and the Internet, a child ts
indoctrinated with a fragmented world-view. The
messages children are presented with, particularly
in Western countries, is that money is the
lifeblood of human existence. Suspect is the fact
that children are no longer brought up with a
concept of self-sufficiency and self-reliance
without money. For generations of children,
materialistic pragmatism “is” the only way of life.

People are aware of the effects of this
attachment to material pragmatism, but aren’t able
to name it or understand how it effects their lives.
So, in an attempt to buffer and soften this reality,
people are drawn to pretty much anything that
sounds or appears to bring comfort and solace,
even though the source of such is based on
nothing mote than pithy aphorisms, e.g. food for
thought.

Page. |25

This state of life is an enormous detriment to
not only realizing happiness, but even if one
embarks on the path involving the Middle Way,
people experience frustration, and risk developing
a sense of melancholy, sadness or failure. The
reason for this is that, although wanting to achieve
a sense of well-being and happiness, and being
drawn to the message of the Buddha, is usually a
last resort.

In our modern age, frustration is caused by a
narrow threshold of anticipation, 1.e. wanting
results now. The Middle Way, no matter how it ts
approached, is not magic, and will not fulfill the
desire for happiness immediately. Rather than
accepting the state of their lives at any given
moment, people are relegated to living in a
perceptual vision of their future.

Buddha intended to understand the difference
between living in some vision of the future, and
living with “what is.” Throughout the Pali texts is
evidence that Buddha rejected pragmatic views
that ignored and distorted the truth and
subjugated reality.

Our modern-day pragmatism (hardheadedness)
is not isolated to merely the material. Our
concepts and ideas, our opinions and beliefs are
also subject to a rigid pragmatism, and the
Dhamma challenges rigid pragmatism.

It is this rigid pragmatism that serves as a
platform by which inexperienced Dhamma writers
build their cases for such things as wrenching the
Buddha’s teachings into the same mold as the
world-view of religion.

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 26

Each person who consents to learning and
practicing the Dhamma will encounter their own
form of corrupted pragmatism. Depending on
how tightly attached one clings to their beliefs and
opinions, is the determining factor of how
difficult it will be to obtain a clear understanding,
meaning and purpose of the Buddha’s teachings.
Suffice-it-to-say, hardheaded pragmatism has no
place in the Dhamma.

Pragmatic thinking, and living pragmatically,
were the very things that the ascetics clung to
during the Buddha’s lifetime. Asceticism, as the
Buddha discovered, represents an extreme side of
seeking awakening. But, you may think, “No one
practices ascetism, that I know of, particularly in
the West.” But, is this entirely truer

In some respects, most people, unknowingly,
live a sort of ascetic idealism. Asceticism, aside
from the religious connotations, is a lifestyle
characterized by extreme behaviors. Let’s review
some modern behaviors that are extreme. For
one, there is work. Particularly in the West, people
work, and work, and work, and when they get
home from their jobs they go to the gym or run
and work some more.

Due to the frenzy of modern life, which
creates an insatiable sense of haste, many adapt
their daily behavior to coincide with the extremes
of desire and “becoming.” We want to “become”
in control; we want to “become” relaxed and
calm, and we want to “become” happy, but we
don’t know how. We believe that all of these
things are attainable by successfully controlling the
world around us. In the end, all the things we
desire to “become,” fail. Oh, we may have success
here and there, but eventually we hear ourselves
complaining that “it just never ends;” “when do I
get a break;” “there has to be mote to life than
this.”

Alas, we heartbreakinely accept that our
successes are only temporary. But, whether you
know it or not; believe it or not; application of the
Middle Way is a permanent solution. Problem 1s,
once you begin learning about the Middle Way, as
Pema Chodron says:

“We don't want to 20 through the detox. Y et the
Middle Way encourages us to do just that.”

-Pema Chodron

But, boy oh boy, when we get to the point of
understanding what the Middle Way means for
our lives, we want guarantees before we let go of
our dearly held beliefs and opinions. We may get
that the Middle Way encourages us to “go through
detox,” but we feel such a pulling and tugging that
we begin to have doubts that following the Middle
Way is even worth it.

But, it’s not about the Middle Way, it’s all
about the happiness you so desire, but cannot
seem to grab hold of, and detoxifying yourself
from all of the aforementioned obstacles will meet
with resistance. For a moment, let’s drop the word
happiness and replace it with simple satisfaction.

Bittersweet Satisfation

You might be releatively satisfied with your
life. To some degree, you have enough money to
maintain the necessities with perhaps a bit left
over for the occassional splurge, but not very
often. You have relegated yourself to the fact that,
at least for now, any prospects of improving your
life isn’t in the near future.

You live with the underlying thought that if
any demands were made on your income, you
know that your life will be effected dramatically.
So, you move on, day-after-day, accepting a kind
of pseudo-satisfaction whilst keeping at bay the
money demon that lurks in the shadows.

So, rather than living in what is happening
right now, you have placed your hopes in some
vision of the future. A part of your may even
know that this is a dangerous thing to do, but
what else is there? And, is having the money to
maintain this quasi-satisfaction, enough to cause

you to be truly happyr

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 27

Middle Way Strategies — The
Real Matrix (Majjhimapatipada)

Be ieee the 1980s movie the Matrix. If

not, the premise of the story is that everyone lives
in a matrix of illusion. If you swallow a blue pill
you will stay in the matrix of illusion and believe
whatever you are fed. However, if you swallow the
red pill, watch out, the realization that you have
been living in an illusion is revealed to you. All of
yout illusions rush in on you when you ate not
ready to deal with them.

The Middle Way IS the Red Pill

Many people live in a kind of comfortable
illusory state of mind. They know that something
is not right, but they can’t figure out what it is or
quite put their finger on it. Exactly what the
Buddha taught was that there is a way of taking
the red pill that didn’t involve shock, terror or fear
of losing something.

Do you think that there are a lot of people, just
like you, who acquiesce to a form of happiness
that is, in reality, just accepting a position of the
lesser of two evils. In other words, it’s not real
happiness. True happiness does not come and go,
like moments of joy do. Differences between joy
and happiness have become blurred in the last
hundred years or so. Joy is a momentary reaction,
whereas happiness is a state of being.

At the same time, illusions gently fall away,
gaining you invaluable information about the
reality of the things that cause suffering, like
frustration, fear, emotional upset, unrelenting
desire, sadness, depression, and a whole host of
other things.

Specifically, the Middle Way is a map, a guide,
and a framework of instruction that employs the
elements of the Four Noble Truths and the
Eightfold Noble Path.

Two Matrixes (matrices)

When beginning to uncover out illusions, we
encounter two opposing matrices. One is the
matrix of illusion. The other is the matrix of the
Middle Way, which opens a gateway to reality. The
vehicle by which we go through that gateway is
meditation. Each matrix is a condition.

The matrix of illusion is a particular condition
where most people today, live and feel
comfortable. This matrix is made of all the beliefs
and opinions that keep the illusions alive, but not
necessarily useful. The matrix of the Middle Way
consists of all the things that are guaranteed to
counteract the matrix of illusion.

The Main [fusion

All human beings experience pain and
pleasure. No matter where you are born, who your
parents are; no matter your race; male or female,
and so on, everyone experiences physical and
mental pain, which is the opposite state of
pleasure. The most common experiences resulting
from pain is dissatisfaction, unpleasantness,
suffering, and discontent.

The Dhamma explains a manner, a way, a
method, a course (patipada), that reverses these
things. Awakening oneself to the truth about the
nature of reality is the purpose of the Dhamma.

The obvious effects of a person who lives
without Dhamma ts merely following basic
instincts; moving without awareness of
consequence from one situation and set of
circumstances to another. There is no
understanding of what it is that is causing them to
suffer. Why is this? What is the primary reason for
this? Persons living without Dhamma live
according to a belief in an illusionary entity called
“my-self.”

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 28

From the conceptual beliefs of what “myself”
means, arises ipnorance about the truth of one’s
actual internal state of affairs. Arising from this
belief in “‘my-self comes selfishness. From this
selfishness arises all the protection mechanisms of
anger, jealousy, greed, hate, and so forth.
Therefore, the actual cause of suffering is really
this concept of “my-self,” which in the Pali
lancuage is known as appana-mana, meaning one’s
thoughts are fixed on the object of self and the
inability to see reality.

(USASIEILIE

Being that a conceptual “my-self’” is a
commonly held belief by most people, is it any
wonder why there is so much stress in the world?
Without knowing it nor admitting it, most people
automatically focus on this concept of a “my-self,”
which is what orients their behavior to the
protection and well-being of “I.” I do, I want, I
see, I feel, I hear, and I think. All of these
components cannot constitute, by any stretch of
the imagination, a “my-self.” Why? Because each
of our senses has its own consciousness. There is
eye-consciousness, eat consciousness, brain
consciousness, and so on. Each sense operates on
its own and ts registered by the brain.

So, can this “my-self,” ever be completely
satisfied, without worry, frustration, sadness, fear,
anger, and so on? This focusing on one’s own
well-being, of course, is the root of selfishness
(labhamacchartya), which motivates us to take for
outselves that which cannot be taken by others.

“Now, you hold on just one minute there. I happen to
like the ‘my-self I have created.’ In fact, | am rather
attached to this ‘my-self.’ I've worked hard to be a good
my-self,’ a Rind ‘my-self,’ and a caring ‘my-self.’”

Well, of course, to do otherwise would be a
perversion of natural law. The Middle Way does
not require one to be morose, gloomy or
miserable. However, it is this very attachment to
the concept of “my-self,” that triggers emotions
whenever we do something that, so-to-speak,
‘ooes against our grain.’ It is our attachment to
this concept of a “my-self” that causes emotions
such as regret, guilt, sadness, shame and so on.
And, these emotions are the cause for the
development (the arising) of the desire to protect
one’s concept of a “my-self.”

Selfishness, e.g. concerns for a “my-self,” is the
seat of what ts called, in the Pali text, kilesa‘s (kee-
lay-sah) (Sanskrit klesha: klay-shah), which refers
to mental contamination of the ego-instinct. It is
our attachment to everything associated with this
concept of a “my-self,” that is the root cause of all
of our dukkha (suffering, dissatisfaction, stress
and unhappiness.) Kilesa arises with ego. When
we take steps to tame our ego-centered beliefs in a
“my-self,” then the kilesa begins to fall away; the
kilesas no longer arise.

This ego-perceitved sense of a “my-self,”
becomes most active with the survival instinct,
thus fighting happens when the “my-self’’ is
threatened. If the “my-self’ cannot fight, then we
experience fear; and in that case, we try to get
away from the thing that is threatening our sense
of “my-self,” often times creating more kilesas.

45 Kilesa: Pali fee def “Defilement - lobha (passion), dosa (aversion), and moha (delusion) in their various forms,

including such things as greed, malevolence, anger, rancor, hypocrisy, arrogance, envy, miserliness, dishonesty,
boastfulness, obstinacy, violence, pride, conceit, intoxication, and complacency. Mental impurity. Poverty of spirit.
Mental pollution, troubles. There are ten kilesas: 1) False views (sakayaditthi) 2. Doubt (vicikiccha) 3. Belief in the
effectiveness of rituals 4. Sensuous pleasure (raga) 5. Aversion (dosa) 6. Passion towards rupa jhanas (pertaining to the
sphere of forms) 7. Passion towards arupa jhanas (pertaining to the formless sphere) 8. Self-pride (mana) 9. Restlessness
and worries (uddhacca) 10. Ignorance (avijja). https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kilesa |
https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/pali_query.pyrqs=kilesa&searchhws=yes

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 29

All human beings are born with a basic instinct
for survival, and that is pretty much all. A tiny
infant possesses only this single instinct. It is only
when the infant begins to age that its exposure to
the world; a coming into contact with the world,
begins to widen. Gradually, over time, the young
child begins to form other instincts, which are
directly related to the formation of the idea of a
“my-self.”

Instincts

Once the young
child begins to
develop the
formation of its
own concept of a
“my-self,” things

such as selfishness
and selfish behavior begin to arise. This then
supports the arising of the concepts of “like” and
“dislike.” It is quite evident when a child wants to
protect something they want or don’t want.

There is now a propensity of the young child
to desire what is liked, while also developing an
aversion to what it dislikes. However, the young
child begins experiencing suffering, because it gets
what it does not want, and does not get what it
wants.

Eventually, as this child grows older, it learns
to avoid certain people and things it dislikes,
perhaps because the child now understands that it
cannot get what it wants from certain people.

These instincts can get out of control, and this
is the root cause of wars, killing, hate, distrust,
racism, conflicts, the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing,
and religious divisions that are at the foundation
for all of the suffering and unhappiness or
humankind throughout history.

Eventually, children become adults, and their
distorted, out of control instincts, cause these
adults to hoard wealth, create competition and
rivalries. This is ground-zero, where divisions of
rich and poor are born, which lead to violence in
one form or another. In our modern age, these
things are visible on a global, national, community,
and personal level. These things not only disturb
society, but the minds of individuals. And, all of
these things mark our inability to control our
instincts.

Although the focus here is on instinct, there is
an underlying reason why our instincts get out of
cntrol. Human instincts are natural and normal.
Instincts help us to determine when it is time to
eat and warn us when there is a potential for
harm. Human instincts are however, affected also
by our preferences that are determined by our
likes and dislikes, which of course, ate largely
dependent on the concepts of a “my-self.”

Our ations are predicated on the framework of
our perception of “my-self.”” How is it then that
our instincts, which are a natural part of the
human psyche, become corrupted or distorted?

Throughout our lifetime, all human beings
make determinations of what is good or bad, liked
and disliked. These determinations influence the
natural senses by adding variables to our basic
instincts. For example, as it has been for
thousands of years, we instincutally know that
clothing is essential. However, it is doubtful that
an Iron Age female would reject an animal pelt
because it was not in fashion.

It is through application of the Middle Way
format where we begin to repair the instinct,
returning it to normal functioning. It could
cottectly be said that the Middle Way transcends
the instinctual through insight.

In essences, our natural instincts become
corrupted or colored, by the various elements of
the “my-self” that we hold so dear. And becaue of
this, whenever someone embarks on practice of
the Middle Way, there is an overtone of threat that
the ego encounters. Why? Because we are
beginning to question our concpts of a “my-self.”

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 30

Setting the Wheel of Dhamma
in Motion — Putting it All
Together

Dhammacakkappavattana
Sutta

7
, re (ir
; y : _ >
1) 3
r +
a

’ PY ni
ae

J
rn

of!

or |

Setting the Wheel of Dhamma
Tami ifeliteys

If the prospects of lessening worry, anxiety

and stress in your life is important, and you decide
to put your toe into the water to test the claims of
what the Buddha taught, then you will begin to set
into motion the Wheel of Dhamma for yourself.

Whose Dhamma Is 1t?

The answer to this question is particularly
important because, anyone desiring to integrate
the Buddha’s teachings into their lives will be
concerned with the Dhamma they are learning.
Not all Dhamma’s are equal, meaning that not all
presentations of the Buddha’s teachings are
authentic. There is only one authentic source of
the Dhamma and this is in the Pali texts known as
the Tipitaka 4°.

For one embarking on the path recommended
by the Middle Way, attention to what the Buddha
actually taught and why, are critically related to
one’s success. Fully engaged practice does not
mean just meditation or just mindfulness or mere
observance of simple vows. Engaged practice

means understanding that all of these elements are
interwoven for a purpose.

It’s important to understand that the
“Dhamma” is not merely a label describing the
teachings of the Buddha nor does it merely
encapsulate all the doctrine of “Buddhism.”

Dhamma is the foundational truth of
existence, whereby it is the Dhamma that supports
the practice of those who are in harmony with
truth. Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote that "Dhamma,
on the external level, refers to the path of practice
the Buddha taught to his followers. This Dhamma
has three levels of meaning: the words of the
Buddha, the practice of his teaching, and the
attainment of enlightenment. So, Dhamma is not
just doctrines--it is teaching plus practice plus
enlightenment.” 4

According to the late Buddhadasa Bhikkhu*
the word dhamma has a fourfold meaning. It
incorporates the phenomenal world as it 1s; the
laws of nature; the duties to be performed in
accordance with the laws of nature; and the results

of fulfilling such duties.

Buddhadasa also taught that dhamma has six
attributes. First, it was taught comprehensively by
the Buddha. Second, all of us can realize Dhamma
through our own efforts. Third, it is timeless and
present in every immediate moment. Fourth, it is
open to verification and does not have to be
accepted on faith. Fifth, it allows us to enter an
awakened state. And sixth, the results of following
the Dhamma can be known only through
personal, intuitive insight.

Confidence in the Buddha’s teachings may
progress to the point whereby a person may wish
to make a formal commitment to practice. So, a
person who has a better than cursory
understanding of the purpose of the Buddha’s
teachings, may decide to formalize their
commitment to the path.

46 'Tipitaka: A complete listing of all of the Suttas of the Tipitaka. https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka /
47 'Thanissaro Bhikkhu: Dhamma https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/refuge.html
48 Life of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu: https://youtu.be/Y7FpBNDt)nE?rt=75

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 31

All that is necessary to gain a basic
understanding of what the Buddha taught is to
familiarize yourself with the
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which is located
in the Samyutta Nikaya 56.11 (dha-mah-kah-kah-
pah-vaht-tahn-nah). 4°

It is within this sutta, where the Buddha’s first
teaching of the Middle Way is found. It is also
within this sutta that one discovers the results of
the Buddha’s efforts to become awakened. Here
he testifies to the fact that in order to accomplish
any level of awakening, including complete
awakening (nibbana), one must avoid extremes.

He specifically outlined two extremes that
should be avoided. The first was to avoid
extremes in sensual pleasure, meaning the over
indulgence in pleasures derived from the senses,
some of which stem from habitual behaviors that
are vulgar, base, common and ignoble (shameful),
and that prove to be of no benefit to the
achievement of awakening.

The second was to avoid the unprofitable
behavior causing self-affliction. This would
include things as self-deprecation by anything that
causes physical harm to oneself, alcoholism, drug
addiction, overeating, to name only a few.

Avoiding such extremes is practicing the
Middle Way, and the person who does so realizes
clear vision that produces direct knowledge, which
leads to a calmness (equanimity), self-awakening
and an unbinding from suffering and the things
that cause suffering.

Buddha encapsulated, within the Middle Way,
a formula of practice that causes realization of the
path, which is known as the Eightfold Noble
Path. It is within this formula that one begins to
set the Wheel of Dhamma in motion.

————— —, - a oe, yy s = =
1S OA OOO —

Precisely this noble eightfold path: right view, right
resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right
effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

This is the middle way reahzed by the Tathagata
that, producing vision, producing knowledge, leads to
stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to
unbinding.”

You may notice in the aforementioned
quotation that the Buddha refers to himself as a
tathagata rather than saying me, I or myself. His
use of this Pali word emphasizes that his teachings
come from one who has surpassed or transcended
the human condition. In other words, an
individual who is beyond the otherwise endless
cycle of rebirth and death, i.e. beyond suffering
(dukkha).

Then Buddha went on to name the core
experiences that cause stress (dukkha). First on the
list is that the very nature of birth itself is stressful,
which is followed by the stresses of aging, death,
sorrow, weeping, pain, despair, association with
those who don’t like you, separation from those
whom you love, not getting what you want, and
finally getting what one does not want. In essence,
the senses cause us to experience stress.

But then, he went on to further break down
the origination of human stress. First, he cites how
craving to become ‘something,’ which is
accompanied by passions, and enjoyment,
savoring moments and desired things right now,
today, and in the future. He taught that this
craving to satisfy the senses includes the craving
for becoming, and the craving for non-becoming.

With regard to the meaning of ‘becoming,’
which comes from the Pali word bhava, basically
means any sense of identity in line with a
particular world of experience. It is becoming in
the sense of becoming what you want to be; a
sense of who you hope to be, distinct from the
sense of what you are. This means being focused
on a particular desire, in your personal sense of
the world as it is related to that desire.

49 Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta - https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN56_11.html

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 32

What the Buddha teaches is that first, with an
understanding of dukkha (suffering/stress), then
through the application of the Eightfold Noble
Path, one no longer as strongly subjected to the
desire to ‘be” something or ‘become’ something.
A full discussion of the meaning of ‘becoming’

(bhava) would add many mote pages to this essay.

However, Thanissaro Bhikkhu authored a
wonderful book, titled: “Ise Paradox of Becoming,”
which is freely available to read or download on
the Internet. *°

Balancing Your Effort

I know, because it happened to me: When I
first discovered the teachings of the Buddha, I
could hardly contain my excitement. I felt joy at
the fact that I appeared to have found a way to
understand the meaning and purpose of life. I
gorged on all things Dhamma-related.

It is not a stretch to say that, in the beginning,
I was very unbalanced. I allowed my excitement
and joy to get the better of me. Every day, all day
some days, all I could do was read about the
Buddha and his teachings. However, I am happy
to say that after many years now, through
understanding based on practice and my own
direct-experience with the Dhamma, there ts
definitely more balance and equanimity.

When initially beginning to meditate and learn
the Dhamma, there is a propensity to become
unbalanced, particularly with regard to one’s
determination to study and practice. It is fine to
experience enthusiasm, joy or excitement, but
when these feelings are maintained for the long-
haul, they are much more useful and productive.

If you know that the teachings of the Buddha
are what you want, and you have a modicum of
confidence in those teachings, you may want to

50 “The Paradox of Becoming: Thanissaro Bhikkhu:

look into taking the vows of a lay follower, which
are known as the Five Precepts*'.

For the lay person (non-monastic), the Five
Precepts are basic vows. To make it perfectly
clear, taking the Five Precepts is not some sort of
promise to the church, to the Buddha or to
anyone or anything else other than you. Taking
the Five Precepts, means making a promise to
practice the path for the purposes of your own
awakening. Therefore, it is a commitment to
yourself and nothing or no one else.

In order to become fully prepared to stick to
the set of Five Precepts that a lay person takes,
there must be, at the very least, an understanding
of the basic concept of the Middle Way, which
includes the Four Noble Truths.

These precepts should be taken only by
someone who has the desire to begin a path
toward awakening. And, in order to develop such
a desire, one must have a clear understanding of
the reasons one seeks to take the Five Precepts.
The reasons to take the Five Precepts is to solidify
yout intentions for awakening.

This “awakening,” doesn’t specifically refer to
the whole “enlightenment,” nibbana, thing. No
matter how smart, intellectual or educated you
may be, the fact is that awakening comes
oradually, step-by-step. However, you take enough
steps and you willexperience full nibbana
(enlightenment).

Having a clear intention to seek awakening,
means that you understand that change is
necessary. The Five Precepts help you to be
mindful of why you are studying the Dhamma;
why you are meditating, and why you are making
changes to yout life.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/paradoxofbecoming.pdf
51 Five Precepts: Panca sila: 1) Panca: Pah UST def “five” Sila: Pah def “nature ; habit ; moral practice ; code of morality”

Pancasila: Pa/i VaR def “the ftve moral precepts” “The pafica-sila or 5 items of good behavior are Nos. 1-4 of dasa-

sila, and (5) abstaining from any state of indolence arising from intoxicants, viz. sura-meraya-majjapamada-tthana

veramani. sources https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sila/pancasila.html | https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-

bin/app/pali_query.pyPqs=panca-sila&matchtype=default

The Middle Way for Modern Times - Page | 33

A complete and full explanation of the
meaning and purpose of the Five Precepts is given
in a wonderful description by Bhikkhu Bodhi,
which can be viewed at the following Web
address:
https:/ /accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors /bodhi/w

heel282.html#prec2

The Five Precepts:

1. I undertake the precept to refrain from
destroying living creatures.

2. I undertake the precept to refrain from
taking that which is not given.

3. Iundertake the precept to refrain from
sexual misconduct.

4. I undertake the precept to refrain from
incorrect and false speech.

5. I undertake the precept to refrain from
intoxicating drinks and drugs which
lead to carelessness.

The Middle Way is a path, a way of acting, and
way of thinking, that directly causes a release from
the ignorance about the workings of one’s own
life. From learning the Four Noble Truths, which
is at the heart of the Middle Way, one gains insight
into the causes of stress, dissatisfaction, worry,
and a whole host of other things that cause you to
suffer. This insight allows one to understand the
ways in which we cling to ideas, beliefs, opinions,
manner of behavior, and the concepts that bind us
to ignorance.

Following the path of the Middle Way
broadens one’s understanding of the world in
general. But, not only this, it opens a window of
understanding into the reasons why suffering is
related to death. But, probably the most
advantageous of all the positive things that living
the Middle Way delivers, is a sense of wholeness,
and a sense of peace of mind that you gain.

Gone will be the state of confusion about life;
what it means, and what the purpose of it is. Gone
will be the sense of dread of the future. Gone will
be the cloud of anxiety that rests in your bones
because of a lack of understanding.

Now, this does not mean that we won’t create
a new form of anxiety for ourselves. If we allow
our exuberance for learning these things to

ovetwhelm us, we can create a different sense of
anxiety. This experience is a sure-fire way to tell
that you are overdoing it. You want to try and
maintain a sense of overall calmness, which is
called equanimity.

This is a constant state of enduring the effects
of this new-found knowledge in a balanced and
calm manner. Maintaining a sense of balance and
calm is quite empowering, providing you with a
sense of control. This does not mean that you are
now in a position to be able to control everything.
Control here means that you have a firm
knowledge of what it is that you are doing;
knowledge and understanding of the goal that you
have set for yourself.

The world around us, that we have been
wrangling to control our entire lives, is
impermanent. There is nothing that is permanent.
Coming to terms with this reality is directly
connected to your ability to maintain a calm
demeanor...equanimity. Truly, the only thing that
any of us can ever completely control is our own
behavior; our own reaction to the events that take
place each and every day.

This is not a rah-rah pep-talk. This is the truth
of the Dhamma; the truth of the Middle Way.
And, now that you have slogged through all 34
pages of this essay, you have gained a better
understanding of the teachings of the Buddha, and
what he intended those teachings to be, which 1s
nothing more and nothing less than a way to find
and directly experience your own awakening. You
have also learned about the outside hindrances
that cause confusion about the Buddha’s
teachings.

Considering the great number of people who
are caught in the ever-present cycle of haste,
blindly following the dictates of income and
finance, cultural and political traditions, social
consensus, and misinformation, is it any wonder
why we feel as though we are trying to brush back
the ocean with a toothbrush? We wonder whether
there is any relief in sight. Therefore, if for no
other reason than understanding why things are
the way they are, considering the teachings of the
Buddha might just be worth a shot.