The Only Reality

The Middle Way is much misunderstood in the West.

People think it means the easy and convenient way of practice. But that idea of the path is merely the way of the kilesas; the way of mental defilements like laziness and complacency. Effort is difficult because it goes directly against the pull of the kilesas. There is an innate desire to just relax or to go into some pursuit that you feel comfortable with, some habitual activity that is second nature to you and is, therefore, easy and undemanding. Because of habit, the mind finds it very easy to think about such matters. No real effort is involved.

But training the mind to go in new directions is much more demanding, and difficult. Going against habitual tendencies, going against the grain, requires a purposeful effort of mind that must be intentionally brought up and applied.

For instance, if a person investigates himself and finds he has a lot of greed for food, he might deliberately take food that’s unsavory in order to halt the momentum of greed and bring his mental state back into balance. If attachment to the taste of food is a problem, he may eat only rough, unappetizing food, considering only what is necessary for nutrition. Because the greed for good, tasty food is pulling his mind in the wrong direction, he needs to find a suitable practice to pull it back to the middle again.

In a similar way, when we find any state of mind disturbing our meditation practice, we must search for the correct antidote. That is the Middle Way.

The Middle Way consists of practices that arouse energy aimed at correcting habitual imbalances that the kilesas produce. If the kilesas are biasing the mind in one direction, we must place a counterweight on the other side to bring the mind back to the middle. Only by keeping our mindfulness in the present moment will we be able to see clearly where those imbalances lie.

The present moment is the balance point for the mind. The mind rests on just this moment, here and now. Past and future are concepts that the kilesas use to deceive us. They are shadows that we grasp and become attached to, only to suffer the consequences. The past is fiction—it has no reality. And the future is speculation—it also has no reality.

The only reality is Dhamma, at this very moment.

This reflection by Ajaan Paññāvaḍḍho is from the book, Uncommon Wisdom, (pdf) pp. 147-148.