What is the Middle Way Actually?

[Maisy]

Example Middle Way Question 1:

Can someone have no opinions?

Possible responses to question:

1. Yes
2. No
3. No opinion if the answer is YES or NO

I'd point out answers #1 and #2, Yes or No, are both opinions.

Yes and No responses seem to be opposites, but are in fact the same answer as they both are an assertion of an opinion. The middle way is to not have an answer nor to be interested in one.

Example Middle Way Question 2:

How do I become spiritual?

Possible responses to question:

1. Love, help others, be kind, nice, selfless, giving etc. Meditate, pray etc
(any answer above) do nothing, do everything, do or be xyz......

2. I have no interest in asserting an "I" or it's wants or desires as I have surrendered fully to whatever is and to try to alter or change it is pointless.

Meditating or not meditating seem to be opposites but they are the same as both assert an action of this imagined and created "I." The "middle way" or true opposite or center is to not accept the assumption there is an "I" that one needs to do something with or attempt to change.

Example Middle Way Question 3:

How do I change what I am?

1. (any answer)

2. Sees the question as an assertion to create and use a manufactured "I" so discards it as meaningless.

Answer 1 is the normal way to be or the normal "I am." Any answer and corresponding action or effort results in no fundamental change to the "what I am."

Answer 2 is the middle way between the assertion of opposites. If one drops all concern and attention on the "I" the "I am" has fundamentally changed.

[FallingLeaves]

lol another one of those paradoxes I guess... the very fact of thinking you are there means you are not there? I still think though, there is a difference between deciding to go somewhere just to be able to say you've climbed the mountain, and describing somewhere you have been...

[Gem]

Likes this. Smart.

[lemex]

Originally Posted by Maisy

I'd point out answers #1 and #2, Yes or No, are both opinions.

As is the middle way is an opinion. The middle way still knows once one moves away for it! That is a yes no feeling felt, knowing. In knowing deviation of the middle way can be answered and answers, yes and no. The middle still knows and is not about not knowing, nor does the middle say the yes and no is not real but is real. It is often said that that's your opinion failing to to understand we have opinions about reality. That is the question. So no, one cannot have no opinion. Opinion always is present and even be what we feel about reality. Yes and no does not imply it is not real or false.

[JustBe]

Reading this, rains absolute confusion down on me..

[FallingLeaves]

hi justbe

a lot of the complexities people indulge in are like, growing a seed into a flower, then not being able to get back to the simplicity of the seed.... lol...

a lot of us think way too much... lol...

[JustBe]

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

hi justbe

a lot of the complexities people indulge in are like, growing a seed into a flower, then not being able to get back to the simplicity of the seed.... lol...

a lot of us think way too much... lol...

Yes that’s true.

It’s kind of like expanding, narrowing down and plonking yourself right smack bang in the middle of all that, to see all sides of yourself seeking it out..

[Unseeking Seeker]

In college days, someone said, ‘if grass is green and green is colour, is grass colour?’

Puzzling until we recognise that the units of measure employed are different.

Well, the middle way, I’ve not studied the context, maybe a Buddhism expert can say but it evidently points out to moderation and living in balance. That requires detachment and an equanimous mind, as also a tranquil heart. Eat when hungry, sleep when sleepy, as the well known zen adage goes. No struggle, no strife, which presupposes a contented heart. Heart does not seek, no thoughts arise and we abide in silence. Ego cannot exist in silence, so the ultimate truth reveals itself.

Just kidding ~ analysis is paralysis. But yes, all is enabled, if we be still.