<Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Middle Way or Middle Path (Pali: Majjhimāpaṭipadā; Sanskrit: Madhyamāpratipad; Tibetan: དབུ ་ མའི ་ ལམ །, THL: Umélam; Chinese: 中 道; Vietnamese: Trung đạo; Thai: มัชฌิมาปฏิปทา) is the term that Gautama Buddha used to describe the character of the Noble Eightfold Path he discovered that leads to liberation . </P> <P> In the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism, the term "Middle Way" was used in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which the Buddhist tradition regards to be the first teaching that the Buddha delivered after his awakening . In this sutta, the Buddha describes the Noble Eightfold Path as the middle way of moderation, between the extremes of sensual indulgence and self - mortification: </P> <P> Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life . (What are the two?) There is addiction to indulgence of sense - pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self - mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable . </P>

Eightfold path of buddhism is known as the middle path because