We know that Buddha practiced and taught the Middle Path, the path of moderation, the path which discourages the extremes of indulgence and abstention. Which implies that the ideal lies somewhere in the middle, the fine balance which avoids the pitfalls of the two extremes. Buddha’s realization and subsequent teaching to practice moderation in everything--in food, rest, work--was not new. Centuries earlier, Krishna had taught the same thing, using almost the same language (Gita, 6.16–17).
But then we also read in Buddha’s life about his unswerving resolve when he sat under the Bodhi tree:
इहासने शुष्यतु मे शरीरं त्वगस्थिमांसं प्रलयं च यातु ।
अप्राप्य बोधिं बहुकल्पदुर्लभां नैवासनात्कायमत्श्चलिष्यते ॥
“Let my body wither away on this seat and the skin, bones and flesh return to the elements. Without attaining Knowledge, which is difficult to get, my body will not move from this place.”
This does not sound like the Middle Path at all. Did the Buddha, then, abandon the Middle Path when he made this resolve and attain enlightenment? If he did, then the Middle Path that he advocated earlier looks like a mistake, not a profound teaching. The wisdom of following the Middle Path is indisputable, but so is the need for firm resolve and determination in one’s spiritual striving.
One possible way to harmonize these seemingly contradictory stances is to recognize that a firm resolve is productive only when supported by clear insight and wisdom. History is replete with instances of people whose abundant determination fueled by ambition or greed has produced more harm than good. Only when the power of determination is harnessed by a wise and mature mind does it become an instrument of good, personal or collective. It is the practice of moderation, or the Middle Path, that endow the person with the necessary wisdom to see clearly what is good and what is not. Only after acquiring such wisdom after practicing the Middle Path did the Buddha’s dramatic resolve under the Bodhi tree lead to the highest state of enlightenment.
Does this make sense? Please feel free to share if you know any other way to resolve the seeming contradiction between the Middle Path and Buddha’s resolve under the Bodhi tree.
4 comments:
Swamiji, it does make sense. Could it then be interpreted that following the middle path would eventually lead oneself to the sense that the mind and body are ready to receive enlightenment?
Could it have been that deep within, that day, Buddha knew that he was ready to receive that englightenment and was guided to his resolve as a way to receive that knowledge appropriately?
The Middle Path purifies the mind and endows it with wisdom and clarity, which guides the spiritual seeker in determining the appropriate steps to be taken in one's practice. Buddha's practice of the Middle Path brought him to a stage where he must have known instinctively that the right thing to do was the kind of resolve he made under the Bodhi tree. Seeing the outcome of that resolve, we know that it was the right resolve made at the right time by the right person. ... ST
Perhaps as Sri Ramakrishna said (and demonstrated in his own life), rules, social or self-made fall off after reaching a certain stage of understanding and just "thieving the gold in the next room" becomes important.
Maybe Buddha still chose the middle between pain (actively maintaining his body all while suffering from a lack of "knowledge-food") and pleasure (actively destroying the body (suicide) so that he would no longer feel his ignorance (what "normal people" do by getting drunk))?
Thank you
Rana
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