Do not choose, keep in the middle

What the Method Is

The core instruction for this meditation method is: “Unminding mind, keep in the middle – until”. This sutra emphasizes a state of choicelessness and balance in all aspects of life, with the ultimate aim of transcending the mind. It forms the foundation of what is widely known as Buddha’s middle path or majjhim nikai. The term “until” indicates a process that continues until a profound transformation occurs, leading to an “explosion” or the dissolution of the mind itself, resulting in a state of no-mind.

How It Is Done

To practice this method, you should:

  • Identify your type: If you feel confused about whether you are an intellectual or emotional type, you are likely an intellectual type, as confusion is characteristic of the intellect. Emotional types are generally not confused. This technique is applicable to both, but the underlying approach differs.
  • Remain in the middle in everything: This is a continuous practice for your entire life, not just for specific meditation times. It requires you to consciously avoid going to extremes in any situation.
  • Cultivate an “unminding mind”: The mind inherently seeks and chooses extremes, constantly moving between polarities. To “unmind” the mind means to become aware of this tendency and to deliberately refrain from making choices or judgments. Your intellect may grasp the concept, but the mind will naturally try to gravitate towards extremes.
  • Practice choicelessness: Instead of actively choosing between opposites, cultivate a state of non-choosing. This means allowing things to be as they are, without being for or against them.
  • Embrace total acceptance: Tantra emphasizes total acceptance of everything as it is. Denying any aspect of yourself or life (e.g., sex, anger, pain) pushes you to an extreme. By accepting whatsoever is, you are automatically thrown towards the middle. This involves letting go and surrendering to the natural flow of life, rather than imposing your will or fixed goals.
  • Witness polarities: When experiencing polar opposites like pleasure and pain, happiness and unhappiness, or honor and dishonor, do not try to escape or cling to them. Instead, remain a detached witness. For instance, if you have a headache, remain with it, meditating on the pain without trying to escape. If you are happy, accept the fact without clinging to it. This act of witnessing automatically places your consciousness in the middle. Similarly, when someone insults or praises you, just listen without reacting, observing from your inner center.
Commentaries and Insights
  • Buddha’s Core Teaching: This sutra embodies the essence of Buddha’s middle path, which advocates finding harmony and balance, likened to tuning a musical instrument string that is neither too loose nor too tight. For Buddha, sannyas (renunciation) is not about moving to an extreme, but about living in the middle, free from attachment or repulsion to life and death.
  • Mind as a Barrier: The mind is a process of thought and division, constantly creating dilemmas and problems where none exist in reality. It is inherently dualistic, operating by choosing between two poles, thus creating tension and internal conflict. The practice of keeping in the middle aims to transcend this divisive nature of the mind.
  • Choicelessness and Freedom: Choosing implies effort, ego, and resistance against the universal flow. When you stop choosing, your ego dissolves, and you enter a state of surrender. This choicelessness allows you to be “at ease” in existence, where nothing can disturb you or make you suffer.
  • Transformation, Not Suppression: Tantra’s approach, unlike other traditions that might advocate suppression (e.g., suppressing sex to achieve celibacy), encourages total acceptance. By accepting everything (including desires, anger, or pain) without judgment, you are thrown to your inner center, and the internal divisions disappear, leading to wholeness. This is a transformation through understanding, not through forced change or renunciation.
  • Beyond Duality: This method helps to realize that seemingly opposite phenomena (like life and death, love and hate, pleasure and pain, good and bad) are not truly separate entities but two aspects or degrees of the same phenomenon. Once this is deeply felt, the mind’s ability to create conflict based on these divisions diminishes.
  • The “Until” of Explosion: The phrase “until” in the sutra implies that consistently remaining in the middle will eventually lead to a profound inner explosion where the mind ceases to be, and a state of no-mind is attained. This is the ultimate goal, where one is no longer bound by mental processes or dualities.
  • Centering and Balance: The technique is fundamentally about centering oneself. A truly centered person remains rooted regardless of external activity, using different parts of the body (head, heart) as instruments without becoming identified with them. This sustained centering leads to deep balance, avoiding extremes in all aspects of life. While the navel is the ultimate existential center, the heart or head can serve as initial points of centering that eventually lead back to the navel.
  • Dangers of Fixedness: Becoming fixed at any extreme leads to being “old and dead”. This practice encourages dynamic movement and flexibility between polarities, fostering aliveness and preventing stagnation.
  • Authentic Experience: The mind often dismisses simple techniques, preferring difficult challenges that boost the ego. However, this simple method, when practiced authentically, can bring immediate and profound transformation by directly addressing the fundamental nature of existence and consciousness.