|
 |
The Middle Way is
a Buddhist term with rich connotations. Most simply, it
implies a balanced approach to life and the regulation of
one's impulses and behavior, close to Aristotle's idea of the
"golden mean" whereby "every virtue is a mean
between two extremes, each of which is a vice."
While the word middle denotes balance, however, the Middle
Way should not be confused with passivity or a kind of
middle-of-the-road compromise. To tread the Middle Way rather
implies ongoing effort.
In the broadest sense, the Middle Way refers to the correct
view of life that the Buddha teaches, and to the actions or
attitudes that will create happiness for oneself and others.
Thus, Buddhism itself is sometimes referred to as "the
Middle Way," indicating a transcendence and
reconciliation of the extremes of opposing views.
All these ideas are exemplified by Shakyamuni's own life, as
conveyed to us by legend. Born a prince, Shakyamuni enjoyed
every physical comfort and pleasure. However, dissatisfied
with the pursuit of fleeting pleasures, he set out in search
of a deeper, more enduring truth. He entered a period of
extreme ascetic practice, depriving himself of food and sleep,
bringing himself to the verge of physical collapse. Sensing
the futility of this path, however, he began meditating with
the profound determination to realize the truth of human
existence, which had eluded him as much in a life of
asceticism as in a life of luxury. It was then that Shakyamuni
awakened to the true nature of life--its eternity, its deep
wellspring of unbounded vitality and wisdom.
Later, in order to guide his followers toward this same Middle
Way, he taught the eightfold path: eight principles, such as
right conduct, right speech, etc., by which individuals can
govern their behavior and develop true self-knowledge.
Since then, at various points in the history of Buddhism,
Buddhist scholars have attempted to clarify and define the
true nature of life. Around the third century, Nagarjuna's
theory of the non-substantial nature of the universe (see April
2001 SGI Quarterly) explained that there is no
permanent "thing" behind the constantly changing
phenomena of life, no fixed basis to reality. For Nagarjuna,
this view was the Middle Way, the ultimate perspective on
life.
Nagarjuna's ideas were further developed by T'ien-t'ai (Chi-i)
in sixth-century China. All phenomena, he stated, are the
manifestations of a single entity--life itself. This entity of
life, which T'ien-t'ai called the Middle Way, exhibits two
aspects--a physical aspect and a non-substantial aspect.
Ignoring or emphasizing either gives us a distorted picture of
life. We cannot, for example, realistically conceptualize a
person lacking either a physical or a mental/spiritual aspect.
T'ien-t'ai thus clarified the indivisible interrelationship
between the physical and the spiritual. From this viewpoint
stem the Buddhist principles of the inseparability of the body
and the mind and of the self and the environment.
Nichiren (1222-1282), in turn, gave concrete, practical form
to these often quite abstract arguments. Based on the
teachings of the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren defined the Middle Way
as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and taught that by reciting this phrase
one can harmonize and energize the physical and spiritual
aspects of one's life, and awaken to the deepest truth of
one's existence.
From this perspective, life--the vital energy and wisdom that
permeates the cosmos and manifests as all phenomena--is an
entity that transcends and harmonizes apparent contradictions
between the physical and the mental, even between life and
death. SGI President Daisaku Ikeda takes the same view when he
states that it is life that gives rise to DNA, not the other
way around.
According to Buddhism, individuals and societies as a whole
have a tendency toward either a predominantly material or
spiritual view of life. The negative effects of the
materialism that pervades the modern industrialized world are
apparent at every level of society, from environmental
destruction to spiritual impoverishment. Simply rejecting
materialism out of hand, however, amounts to idealism or
escapism and undermines our ability to respond constructively
to life's challenges.
The historian Eric Hobsbawm titled his volume on the 20th
century "The Age of Extremes." Indeed, the violence
and grotesque imbalances of that era drive home the need to
find new ways of peacefully reconciling apparent opposites.
What is most essential, if humanity is to find a middle way
toward a creative global society in the 21st century, is a new
appreciation and reverence for the inviolable sanctity of
life.
|
