thinking in the middle pathway theory

[Aakash]

It seems that to where other people black is black and white is white , all people actually walk in the light of black is grey and white is grey in reality, however it seems to get even more complex than that when sprituality is bought into the equation as white is black, black is black, black is grey, white is white, white is black and white is grey, grey is grey, grey is white and grey is black. to add further less distinction, to people that think black is black and white is white, they have thinking mechanism where the ratio of understanding is black:white and therefore 100:0 percentwise or anything ranging in a ratio percentage that equals 100%.

in sprituality everything is equal, therefore white:black:grey =x , its always equal perspective to the input you put in , and then theres the ultimate truth which is always 100% = god, so is this the reason for not poliarising yourself to extreme perspectives of white and black, thinking in more nuanced ways and actually taking the middle pathway in all aspects of life, simply as the best possible option one can take in their life, in any regards. 

given the middle pathway is yet only another perspective that would be shedded if you got enlightened because you get rid of the you clinging to the perspetive. NOne the less, the persepective itself is kind of the best answer you could have picked, given everything is nothingness? 

[purerogue]

Is it perspective, or way of life, if you know that it is just perspective , is it still perspective? 

[Aakash]

i guess it wouldn't count as a perspective no, but a way of life as you said. So does this in itself justify using the middle pathway, 

also whats the difference then between the middle pathway and choosing a route of complete enlightenment and spirituality 

i ask this because my understanding of spirituality has changed in a way, i've noticed that everything you do in your life is for your spritiulity, meaning you can't seperate any task from your spirituality. i.e wiping your butt, is for your spritiuality of cleanliness and happines

[Aakash]

Madhyamaka[edit]

In Mahayana Buddhism, the Madhyamaka ("Middle Way") school portrays a "middle way" position between metaphysical claims that things ultimately either exist or do not exist.[9] Nagarjuna's influential Mūlamadhyamakakārikā deconstructs the usage of terms describing reality, leading to the insight into śūnyatā "emptiness". It contains only one reference to a sutta, the Kaccāyanagotta Sutta from the Samyutta Nikaya:

"Everything exists": That is one extreme.
"Everything doesn't exist": That is a second extreme.
Avoiding these two extremes,
The Tathagata teaches the Dhamma via the middle.[10] 

 

This is what i struggle with, can anyone purpose , how i deal with this problem 

[who chit]

The middle path is as the name suggests. It is living between the two extremes of the world of duality. In duality the two extremes only appear different,but in actuality one carries the other in it,and are dependent on one another for their existence. Also the world of duality is transitory. Nothing is permanent. Take for example pleasure and pain.The very act of seeking pleasure means you're in pain. In the absence of pain there would be no seeking of pleasure. Pleasure itself carries with it the inevitable pain of losing it,due to the transitory,impermanent nature of the world. So pleasure inevitably contains pain.Due to desire and attachment to pleasure, one will seek to experience it for a longer and longer period of time. Thus, one will also be in pain longer and longer when it is lost. This is why the Buddha stated "the world is only suffering." In pain there is suffering,and even in pleasure there is suffering. Nirvana is cessation of suffering. Cessation is inner equanimity,peace,joy. It is (sat-chit-ananda) existence-consciousness-bliss. There is no seeking of pleasure or avoidance of pain and no attachment to whatever comes and go's. To fully see and realize the impermanent and transitory nature of this world will naturally lead one to see the ignorance of attachment to anything. It is also due to seeing this impermanence that one will seek and abide in that which is permanent,unchanging and can never be lost.


 

Edited May 12, 2019 by who chit

[Aakash]

@who chit That applies to ultimate liberation and suffering, it makes sense, between pain and pleasure, the fundamentals of the middle path but how do you actually apply it in life, its always between pleasure and self mortification (self created pain) that the two extremeties lie, so for example 

food - extreme pleasure and reoccuring over eating due to excessive pleasure vs extreme malnurishment and unfunctioning of body, what would you consider to be the middle path of this? 

[who chit]

32 minutes ago, Aakash said:

@who chit That applies to ultimate liberation and suffering, it makes sense, between pain and pleasure, the fundamentals of the middle path but how do you actually apply it in life, its always between pleasure and self mortification (self created pain) that the two extremeties lie, so for example 

food - extreme pleasure and reoccuring over eating due to excessive pleasure vs extreme malnurishment and unfunctioning of body, what would you consider to be the middle path of this? 

It's why mindfulness was taught. To live more consciously. As one becomes more conscious of their habits,patterns,like,dislikes, and basically how they cause their own suffering, they will start changing their behaviors and inner condition that will lead to a life of "walking the middle path" which would be the path to less self induced suffering. If one is indulging in extremes,he is obviously living compulsively and/or impulsively and causing great degrees of suffering to himself, and others, that he is not even aware of. Obviously,even if in a deep state of ignorance,one would not unnecessarily starve oneself to death. The survival instinct of the body would eventually force him to eat. If it is mental impairment or illness that's a different story.

Edited May 12, 2019 by who chit

[Aakash]

yeah okay this makes sense, is this coming from your own experience or are you just showcasing knowledge. if the former, then how do you deal with complex thinking and deciding an answer for yourself on how to walk the middle path. 

[who chit]

1 hour ago, Aakash said:

yeah okay this makes sense, is this coming from your own experience or are you just showcasing knowledge. if the former, then how do you deal with complex thinking and deciding an answer for yourself on how to walk the middle path. 

It's experiential knowledge through realization and insight,not collected knowledge. I'm not buddhist or follow it's tradition or any tradition. If one is honestly living the path of truth this knowledge will naturally manifest. If you ask me about the religion,rituals or philosophy of buddhism,I wouldn't be able to answer. The middle path came through realization and insight for the Buddha,and the same realization and/or insights can be had by anyone if they're committed to the spiritual path. One can come to these realizations having never read anything,because they are not philosophies,rules,dogma's. They were turned into philosophies,dogma's etc.,
 

As far as complex thinking and deciding how to walk the middle path. It's a natural condition that happens on it's own as one's inner condition matures.
As I stated above,if one see's and realizes through their own experience,how the world of duality works, their inner condition will naturally begin to change to embody that realization. 

Edited May 12, 2019 by who chit

[Aakash]

i see, yeah that completely makes sense, but lets say were talking about the pain pleasure duality and enlightenment isn't an option at the point, how does your complex thinking lead you to make a decision that i should do this when it can't be filtered through this is painful/ this is pleasurable for me. 

its like that only leaves the option of just doing something for no coherant reason 

 

[who chit]

It;s not a complex,thinking decision. As you become more consciously aware of how the self serving,self indulgent ,'egoic" delusion causes all your suffering,the choice or decision to go in a direction that doesn't serve that automatically arises. I haven't sat down and mapped out how this works,it just does. Again,it comes about as the inner condition matures through the spiritual path. Something else, that doesn't require a complex thinking process makes the decisions and you just go in that direction. And it hasn't seemed to fail yet.