“Bhikkhus, these two extremes should not be followed by one who has gone-forth into homelessness.
What two? The pursuit of sensual happiness in sensual pleasures, which is low, vulgar, the way of worldlings, ignoble, unbeneficial; and the pursuit of self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, beneficial.
Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Tathagata has awakened to the middle way, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. “And what, bhikkhus, is that middle way awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives rise to vision … which leads to Nibbana?
“Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.
[pdf]http://www.dhammikaweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/setting_the_wheel_-of_the_shamma_in_motion.pdf[/pdf]
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