Source: Samyutta Nikaya LVI.11 (Buddhist)
Bhikkhus, these two
extremes ought not to be cultivated by one gone forth from the
house-life. What are the two? There is devotion to indulgence of pleasure
in the objects of sensual desire, which is inferior, low, vulgar,
ignoble, and leads to no good; and there is devotion to self-torment,
which is painful, ignoble and leads to no good.
The middle way discovered
by a Perfect One avoids both these extremes; it gives vision, it gives knowledge, and it leads to peace, to direct acquaintance,
to discovery, to nibbana.
And what is that middle
way? It is simply the noble eightfold path, that is to say, right
view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right
effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. That is the middle way
discovered by a Perfect One, which gives vision, which gives knowledge, and which
leads to peace, to direct acquaintance, to discovery, to nibbana.
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