Wasat (Islamic term) Middle way. The Central Path, Middle Way or Middle Path (Pali: majjhimā paṭipadā; Sanskrit: madhyamā-pratipad[1][a]; Tibetan: དབུ་མའི་ལམ། Umaylam;Chinese: 中道 zhōngdào; Japanese: 中道 chūdō; Vietnamese: Trung đạo; Thai language:มัชฌิมา mátchímaa) is the term that Siddhartha Gautama used to describe the character of the path he discovered that leads to liberation.
In Mahayana Buddhism, the Middle Way refers to the insight into emptiness that transcends opposite statements about existence.[2][b] Theravada[edit] In the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism, the expression Middle Way is used by the Buddha in his first discourse (the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta) to describe the Noble Eightfold Path as the noble path to achieve Nirvana, instead of taking extremes of austerities and sensual indulgence. Golden mean (philosophy) To the Greek mentality, it was an attribute of beauty.
Both ancients and moderns believed that there is a close association in mathematics between beauty and truth. The poet John Keats, in his Ode on a Grecian Urn, put it this way: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," -- that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. The Greeks believed there to be three "ingredients" to beauty: symmetry, proportion, and harmony. Via media. Originating from early Ancient Greek philosophy, where Aristotle (384–322 BCE) taught moderation, urging his students to follow the middle road between extremes, the via media was the dominant philosophical precept by which Ancient Roman civilisation and society was organised.
Anglicanism[edit] The term via media is frequently applied to the Anglican churches, though not without debate, as a term of apologetics frequently applied to the Church of England.