Middle Path (majjhimā paṭipadā)
Skillful qualities / Middle Path
Part of tag cluster Eightfold Path in key topic The Noble Eightfold Path
Alternative translations: Middle Way
26 excerpts, 1:55:09 total duration

Events (1) All excerpts (27) Most relevant (17) Questions about (13) Answers involving (12) Quotes (2) Texts (1)

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“The Middle Way – It is not 50% becoming and 50% annihilation, right? What is it the middle of?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Middle Path ] // [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering]

2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 6, Excerpt 7


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“Could you offer a bit of advice on how to deal with the apparent dichotomy between seeing people (including myself) as real & solid (for example when sending them metta), and the doctrine of no-self whereby there is no such imagined solidity at all – just an ever-changing combination of the khandas?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Not-self ] [Aggregates] // [Middle Path ] [Pāli] [Impermanence] [Proliferation] [Relinquishment] [Liberation]

2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 3, Excerpt 7


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“Please explain more how did the Buddha cross the flood, by neither going forward nor standing still. What does this mean?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Becoming] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Middle Path ] [Saṃsāra]

Sutta: SN 1.1

2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 5, Excerpt 1


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 8 – Apr. 28, 2001

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[Session] Reading: “Meditation” from Living Dhamma by Ajahn Chah, pp. 50-53. Read by Ajahn Jitindriyā. [Meditation]

“Cultivate the tree right from the seed.” [Similes] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma]

“To practice in a way that’s peaceful means to place the mind neither too high or too low, but at the point of balance.” [Middle Path] [Ajahn Chah]

“So many teachers, so many teachings.” [Teachers] [Doubt] [Meditation/Techniques]

“Where there is knowing, there is no need to think.” [Knowing itself] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Tranquility] [Mindfulness] [Discernment] [Proliferation]

“Resolve that right now is the time for training the mind and nothing else.” [Ardency] [Determination] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Body scanning] [Relinquishment] [Sense restraint]

“Sometimes there may be doubt, so you must have sati, to be the one who knows, continually following and examining the agitated mind.” [Continuity of mindfulness] [Restlessness and worry] [Heedfulness] [Concentration] [Feeling]

Simile: Chicken in a coop.


Right Livelihood, Session 2 – Apr. 21, 2013

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5. “What is your take on satisfaction, being in tune, and stagnation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Contentment] [Energy] [Ardency] // [Skillful qualities] [Discernment] [Buddha/Biography] [Spiritual search] [Right Effort]

Sutta: AN 2.5: Effort and noncontentment with wholesome states.

Story: The Thai government made it illegal for monks to teach contentment. [History/Thai Buddhism] [Monastic life] [Teaching Dhamma]

Comment about the simile of the lute. [Middle Path] [Similes]

Sutta: AN 6.55: Soṇa Sutta [Middle Path]


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6. “Regarding the lute simile (AN 6.55), I notice that even properly tuned instruments gradually creep out of tune. Is finding the balance a lifelong effort?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Middle Path] [Right Effort] [Similes] [Long-term practice]

Comment about the need to put work into perspective. [Work] [Culture/West]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 21 – Feb. 3, 2014

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5. “It’s interesting that he equates the extreme of self mortification to aversion, ill-will, and pushing away.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Middle Path] [Aversion] [Ill-will] // [Ajahn Chah] [Desire] [Ajahn Liem] [Relinquishment] [Arahant] [Idealism]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 40 – Mar. 2, 2014

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3. “Do you have any advice for monks taking on additional practices (āditthanas)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Determination] // [Ascetic practices] [Appropriate attention] [Virtue] [Sense restraint] [Unwholesome Roots] [Middle Path]


Thai Forest Tradition, Session 3 – Jun. 14, 2014

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6. Comment: I appreciate Ajahn Liem saying, ‘I didn’t make much of it.’ It’s a contradiction between being very active and not being active at the same time. [Ajahn Liem] [Middle Path] [Thai Forest Tradition]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Relinquishment] [Meditation] [Concentration] [Proliferation] [Nature of mind] [Faith]


Mindfulness of Breathing, Session 2 – Oct. 26, 2014

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8. “How can we balance happiness and ease with the desire to accomplish something using meditation techniques?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Meditation/General advice] [Happiness] [Desire] [Middle Path] // [Recollection/Dhamma] [Hearing the true Dhamma]


Questions and Answers with Dharma Realm Buddhist University – Nov. 18, 2014

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16. “May I ask for your secret? [Why is Abhayagiri monastic training so often successful?]” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sequence of training] [Abhayagiri] [Monastic life] // [Theravāda] [Simplicity] [Vinaya] [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Chah] [Middle Path] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism] [Right Effort] [Compassion]


2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 4 – Nov. 25, 2014

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15. “Although in reasonable condition, I am realizing that fear / anxiety of death / non-becoming is pervasive in the background of my daily life. Does the Buddha speak to that which continues after the body dies? Other than the five recollections and contemplating impermanence, does he offer guidance on how to best prepare to greet ones own death? Thank you so much.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Fear] [Death ] [Rebirth] [Recollection] [Impermanence] // [Naturalness] [Spiritual urgency] [Clear comprehension] [Mindfulness of body] [Dispassion] [Divine Abidings] [Recollection/Devas] [Protective Meditations] [Factors of Awakening]

Quote: “The Dhamma is neither tall nor short, black nor white; it’s just right (por dee)” — Ajahn Kinaree [Ajahn Kinaree] [Dhamma] [Middle Path]


2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 7 – Nov. 28, 2014

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9. “Can one contemplate pain using the four elements or is here a more direct way to penetrate physical pain? Many thanks for your teachings.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pain ] [Elements ] // [Investigation of states] [Mindfulness of body] [Middle Path] [Discernment] [Sickness]

Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno spent many of his early years as a monk contemplating pain. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life]


The Middle Way of Not-Self, Session 1 – May. 27, 2015

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7. “Why go through all the trouble to teach us how to not have a self and then refuse to tell us there is no self?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Teaching Dhamma] [Middle Path] [Not-self] // [Relinquishment] [Suffering] [Questions] [Aggregates] [Sense bases]


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10. “In regard to self and emotions, you acknowledge and embrace it but don’t hold tightly?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Emotion] [Clinging] [Relinquishment] [Middle Path] [Not-self] // [Discernment]


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12. “The Buddha asks us to look at the things we identify with as self and notice they are not who we are. But if there’s nothing else but those things, there is no self, right?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha] [Middle Path] [Not-self] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Learning] [Liberation] [Suffering]

Follow-up: “Isn’t there then an implication that there is something else that could be self?” [Views] [Middle Path]


Jhāna: A Practical Approach, Session 4 – Oct. 10, 2015

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4. “Before the Buddha practiced the ascetic way, he already learned the seventh and eighth levels of jhāna. Why didn’t that lead to his awakening?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha/Biography] [Formless attainments] [Liberation] [Jhāna] // [Right Concentration] [Right View] [Suffering] [Middle Path] [Characteristics of existence]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 3 – Nov. 23, 2015

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7. “Could you offer a bit of advice on how to deal with the apparent dichotomy between seeing people (including myself) as real & solid (for example when sending them metta), and the doctrine of no-self whereby there is no such imagined solidity at all – just an ever-changing combination of the khandas?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Not-self ] [Aggregates] // [Middle Path ] [Pāli] [Impermanence] [Proliferation] [Relinquishment] [Liberation]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 5 – Nov. 25, 2015

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1. “Please explain more how did the Buddha cross the flood, by neither going forward nor standing still. What does this mean?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Becoming] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Middle Path ] [Saṃsāra]

Sutta: SN 1.1


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 6 – Nov. 26, 2015

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7. “The Middle Way – It is not 50% becoming and 50% annihilation, right? What is it the middle of?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Middle Path ] // [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering]


Thanksgiving Retreat 2016, Session 6 – Nov. 24, 2016

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4. “Where is the middle way taught in the suttas? and how might that help some of us who consider extensive sitting practice an ascetic practice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Middle Path] [Sutta]


The Teaching and the Training, Session 1 – Mar. 12, 2018

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1. “The Buddha described his teaching as Dhamma-vinaya. Can you explain why it wasn’t just Dhamma? What does this term mean?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Middle Path] [Monastic life] [Dhamma] [Vinaya ] // [Recollection/Buddha]

Reference: Buddhadhamma by P. A. Payutto (available at buddhadhamma.github.io) p. 1659


The Teaching and the Training, Session 5 – Mar. 21, 2018

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5. “Do you have any reflections on the “Do or die” attitude?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Monastic life/Motivation] [Ardency] [Middle Path] [Monastic life]


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6. “Can you talk about the dangers of misplaced or wrongly directed faith in a teacher?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Faith] [Teaching Dhamma] [Respect for elders] [Monastic life] // [Recollection/Dhamma] [Middle Path]

Quote: “A good teacher encourages people to practice and figure this out rather than telling them exactly what to do.” [Discernment]


The Teaching and the Training, Session 9 – Mar. 27, 2018

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2. “How do we discern the benefit of dhutaṅga practices and how much is too much?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Discernment] [Middle Path] [Monastic life] [Ascetic practices] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Almsround] [History/Early Buddhism] [Gladdening the mind] [Ajahn Chah] [Master Hsuan Hua]

Story: Ajahn Jayasaro determines sitter’s practice until Ajahn Chah dies. [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Respect for elders] [Determination]


The New Ajahn Chah Biography, Session 3 – Apr. 21, 2018

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3. Comment: I’m trying to move away from the concept of formal and informal practice. It’s just how I’m practicing in practice this moment. [Continuity of mindfulness] [Meditation] [Present moment awareness] [Everyday life]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ardency] [Tranquility] [Middle Path] [Eightfold Path]


Living in a Changing Society – Aug. 23, 2020

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12. “What is the difference between emptiness, nothingness, and space? How can I use colors to develop the mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Emptiness] [Kasiṇa] // [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] [Conceit] [Middle Path] [Etymology] [Not-self] [Elements] [Tranquility] [History/Early Buddhism] [Culture/West]


Honoring the Buddha: The Mahāparinibbāna Sutta – Apr. 25, 2021

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10. Comment by Ajahn Pasanno: Throughout the whole teaching (DN 16) there is the sense of the ordinary and the transcendant together all the time. [Conventions] [Unconditioned] [Sutta] [Buddha/Biography] // [Nature of mind] [Ceremony/ritual] [Precepts] [Meditation] [Devotional practice] [Middle Path] [Release]

Sutta: Aniccā vata saṅkhārā... (SN 6.15) [Cessation] [Happiness] [Recollection/Peace]


Abhayagiri Kaṭhina 2021, Session 1 – Nov. 3, 2021

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3. “How do I know what is the Middle Path?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Middle Path] // [Four Noble Truths] [Direct experience]

Quote: “It’s not a concept. It’s like are you on your bike or are you on the ground?” — Ajahn Amaro


Interreligious Retreat-Seminar on Dhamma and Non-duality, Session 1 – Nov. 24, 2023

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8. “Can building a continuous narrative regarding impermanence hinder the perception of beauty?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Impermanence] [Proliferation] [Perception] [Beauty]

Quote: “It’s not about finding a perfect position that you can be in. What you’re doing is finding a place of balance that you’re not shaken by anything.” [Middle Path] [Equanimity]