The Middle Way as taught here by Śākyamuni Buddha is the Middle Way between self-indulgence and self-denial, both of which perpetuate the self-absorption that generates craving for worldly and otherworldly gain and is reinforced by deluded views. The Middle Way is in fact none other than the eightfold path that is the fourth of the four noble truths that the Buddha then proceeds to expound. Here is the first of the four:

“Now this, monks, 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.”

The first noble truth of suffering means that conditioned phenomena are incapable of providing real lasting happiness. This does not mean that there is no happiness at all, but it does mean that even when we do get what we hoped for the happiness never lasts. In terms of the six lower realms, the worlds of the hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts, animals, and fighting demons are full of pain, ceaseless torment, and strife. Human life is naturally subject to old age, sickness, and death as well as the other sufferings enumerated. Even those who make wholesome causes and find themselves in heavenly circumstances will find that eventually the causes and conditions that put them there will change and they will find themselves forced to take birth into a new situation. In the six lower realms happiness is rare and fleeting whereas painful circumstances are abundant and insecurity is pervasive.