Written for the AQA syllabus by Upeksacitta (Robert Ellis), member of the Western Buddhist Order and a former Head of RS.
The Middle Way & ethics
The Middle Way provides a more basic guide to the whole Buddhist path, or to ethics 'in the broad sense' than do the Five Precepts. As such it is an alternative way of understanding the whole Path, alongside the Noble Eightfold Path and the Threefold Path. It must always be remembered that these are not different paths, but different ways of conceptualising the same path.
The Middle Way of views and of behaviour
The Middle Way can be seen as a guide to right view, avoiding the extremes of belief in eternalism and nihilism, and it can also be seen as a guide to moral behaviour. The extremes to be avoided in the ethical Middle Way are those of asceticism (denying yourself and subjecting yourself to hardship) and self-indulgence. Traditionally it is believed that eternalist beliefs (believing in an eternal soul or self) tend to lead to asceticism and nihilist beliefs (denying an eternal soul or self) led to self-indulgence the idea here is that if you believe you will exist eternally, you will believe in an afterlife and thus have a motive to deny yourself in this life so as to gain merit for future lives. On the other side, denying an eternal soul meant that you denied the afterlife, and thus had no motive to do anything but enjoy yourself in the present. 'Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die' as the saying has it .
The Middle Way in morality
The Middle Way in morality, between denying your desires and indulging them, immediately sounds just like moderation. However, there’s a bit more to it than this. The Buddha’s claim is that the extremes of eternalism/asceticism on the one hand and nihilism/self-indulgence on the other will be more likely to trap you in greed, hatred and ignorance, the three forces which turn the Wheel of Life. Both asceticism and self-indulgence are based on greed of one type or another: either greed for a future pleasant experience or greed for a present one. In Buddhism it makes no difference whether your greed is for pleasure now or in heaven, it is just as much greed. Both are also likely to involve hatred of anything that stands in your way from getting that pleasure. Also, both asceticism and self-indulgence are based on ignorance, since in reality both the belief that we continue after death and are rewarded for our merits, and the belief that we are not, are just massive assumptions.
The Middle Way involves trying to avoid these assumptions and examine our experience with an open mind. We can look at our experience of ourselves, trying not to be attached to a fixed idea of who we are. On the other hand we can look at others and the world around us and maintain an open mind about what they are like, not being too attached to fixed ideas of people and things which lead us either to desire or hate them. If you want something very much, you probably have a fixed idea about what it is like and what it would be like to have it, and when you finally get it, for that reason you are likely to be disappointed because the thing is not exactly how you thought it would be. Buddhism suggests not just that you shouldn’t indulge or deny yourself too much, but that you examine the ideas about things that lead you to want to do so. You are more likely to be able to do so if you’re not too involved in constantly grasping things or pushing them away.
Practical application of the Middle Way
Practically speaking, then, applying the Middle Way to ethics means avoiding the extremes of indulging your desires and of totally denying them, in order to overcome the illusions you have and find a middle position of calm and content between two types of greed. Since moral issues are usually about how far we should follow our desires or deny them, the Middle Way can often be applied to moral issues in this way. For example, if the issue is whether it’s right to tell someone an uncomfortable or painful truth, you might examine how far your desire not to do so is due to the discomfort that you will feel yourself in telling it, or whether you’re really concerned about how the other person feels. The Middle Way might suggest that you should tell them the truth in as considerate a way as possible, overcoming your reluctance to do so but also not just blurting it out inconsiderately.
This means that the Middle Way may be especially useful in Buddhism in helping to interpret the Five Precepts or to judge conflicts between them. On moral issues like abortion, war or the exploitation of the environment there are often two opposed camps, one in favour of the indulgence of a desire (to have an abortion, to wage war, to exploit the environment) and the other against it. There will also be hatred of the other side. Each will have a case which probably has elements of truth in it. Even if a Precept seems to give you a definite moral line on one of these issues, the practice of the Middle Way will mean not leaping in on one side or the other too readily, and neither indulging not denying that desire. Rather a calm mental state will be cultivated in which the truth of the matter can be more easily investigated. On the basis of this a commitment to a position (on either side or in-between) might then be reached, but on the basis of which position is least subject to distorting assumptions rather than which is absolutely correct.
Summary
- Extreme views are expressions of greed and hatred.
- Extreme views do not reflect the truth very well because the truth is obscured by that greed and hatred.
- Following the Middle Way thus means trying to avoid getting caught up in that greed and hatred, but examining the truth of the matter carefully.
- Usually (but not always) a calm examination of the issues without any prior assumptions will find truth and falsity on both sides, and the truth lying somewhere in between.
- The Middle Way is thus not necessarily an in-between position, but this is often the outcome.
Exercise
Identify the extreme positions on these issues, and the desires or hatreds that might interfere with an understanding of the truth of the matter from a Buddhist point of view.
1. The right of firemen to strike
2. Fox-hunting
3. Islamic fundamentalist terrorism
4. Vegetarianism
5. Equality of employment opportunities for women
6. The superiority of classical music over popular music
7. Car use
8. Dumping of nuclear waste
A quick checklist giving an easy way to apply Buddhism to a moral issue
1. Check whether any of the five precepts can be applied to the issue. Remember that there may be a variety of interpretations.
2. Check whether there are any other Buddhist teachings which have an impact on the issue (e.g. Right Livelihood on arms dealing, rebirth on abortion)
3. Where there are a variety of interpretations, or a conflict between different priorities, think about the assumptions made by each side and whether the Middle Way can be applied to give an answer lying between them.