Pali text below English translation Thus have I heard: Once when the Blessed One was staying in the deer sanctuary at Isipatana, near Benares, he spoke to the group of five bhikkhus: “These two extremes, bhikkhus, should not be followed by one who has gone forth: sensual indulgence, which is low, coarse, vulgar, ignoble, and unprofitable; and self torture, which is painful, ignoble, and unprofitable. Bhikkhus, by avoiding these two extremes, the Tathāgata has realized the Middle Way, which gives…
