Summary of the Middle Way (The Path of Purification)

as I understand Sayadaw U Ottamasara's teaching.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is The Middle way?

The Middle way is abandoning the two extremes; one extreme of hatred and other extreme of craving.

The Middle way is Neither Rejecting Nor Attaching the Created truths. It is free from Disliking (desire to reject) and Liking (desire to attach), thinking the created truths as reality or real existence.

The Middle way is “seeing-only”, “hearing-only”, “smelling-only”, “tasting-only”, touching-only” and "thinking-only". That means to use-only, to know-only, to be mindful-only, to experience-only of the Created truths.

What is Created truths?

Created Truth is something, everything, someone, everyone, individual, ideas, mind and body that we currently know. Created Truths are concepts, dualistic nature – hotness/coldness, softness/tightness, hardness/softness, rising/falling, pain/pleasure, like/dislike, yin/yang, male/female, sick/healthy, young/old, life/death, near/far, long/short, black/white, places, time and space etc. . Thus impermanence of something such as hotness, coldness, breathing, sensation, feeling, thoughts, emotion are just created truth as well.

Created Truth is conventional truth, or relative truth. Created Truths are limited, not perfect, not constant and not permanent . They are just temporary. They will change after some period. They are not true for constant moment.

Created Truths are not true but they seem to be real only because of ignorance of the Original Reality, the Original Truth (Ever-new Impermanent nature).

What is necessary in order to follow the middle way?

In order to follow the middle way, it is necessary to neither reject nor attach the created truths, thinking them as reality or real importance. In order to neither reject nor attach the created truths, there are 2 factors to be developed at every moment about the created truth.

First factor is to be mindful the created truth, whatever happening in our mind & body which is most prominent at the present moment. It means to develop mindfulness.

Second factor is to develop right understanding .

What is right understanding?

Right understanding is realizing the truth. It realizes both what is not real and what is real.

It is also two role of realizing the truth. One is realizing the created truths as created truths which are fake(not real).

That realizing is right understanding of what is not real as what is not real.

Moreover it is necessary to have right understanding which can understand what is real as what is real.

Created truths are not real but they appear to be real because of misunderstanding (ignorance) of the Original Truth.

Created truth are changing time after time but at every moment of created truths seeming to happen, misunderstanding them as reality is constantly happening. Although created truth are changing one time after another.

Misunderstanding them as reality is constantly happening. Constant happening of misunderstanding is Second Noble Truth the Buddha taught (Samudaya Sacca).

Right understanding is realizing the misunderstanding the created truths as reality. Misunderstanding is one of the original truth which is constantly happening until enlightenment or right understanding. It is within the nature of ever-new impermanent nature (Sankhara).

Understanding the misunderstanding as misunderstanding is right understanding.

Realizing the misunderstanding as misunderstanding is right realizing.

For example, if pain arise, be mindful of the pain. Then, realize it is just created truth but it seems to be real for some period. Moreover, contemplate at the moment of pain happening (seeming to be happening) misunderstanding it as reality for some period is constantly happening. After it, pleasure or thought or feeling or hotness -etc, will arise.

While arising, be mindful to it and so do realize it .

By paying attention (being mindful) to right understanding mentioned above, Abandoning the central attention to created truths with the idea of self or reality, is the middle way.

(Presented by Soe Win Htut ~ ThaBarWa Centre)