The middle path of the Buddha
Not too high, not too low
Neither grieving, nor ecstatic
Not too warm, not too cold

What does this mean
What does this teach
Beyond the usual rhetoric
And what is preached

For Buddha meant something
More than those mere tasks
More than what is contained
In the noble eight fold path

Equidistance from extremes
Was the message at its core
Packaged in sermons
And repeated encore

Success or failure
Conquest or defeat
Nothing is permanent
In the lives that we lead

The middle path signifies
A detachment supreme
Where the mind is unaffected
And remains pristine

Subir Chakraborty / 13th June 2018