The Buddha claimed that the practices he advocated in the quest for enlightenment avoided the extremes of sensual self-indulgence on the one hand and self-mortification on the other.

“And what, monks, is the Middle Way realized by the Thus-Come-One, which gives vision and understanding, which leads to calm, penetration, enlightenment, to Nirvana?

It is just this Noble Eightfold Path, namely: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.” – The Buddha, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

The Middle Way is a central element to all forms of Buddhism.  Buddha, or the “Thus-Come-One,” delivered the above quote in his very first sermon over two and a half thousand years ago in North India.

The Buddha gave his Noble Eightfold Path the alternative name of the Middle Way. (Majjhima patipada)

Later, when the Buddha witnessed a group of temple dancers singing to a stringed instrument, he realized if the strings were too loose, they would not play and if they were too tight, they would break.  It was this realization that the Buddha would use to elucidate the wisdom of the Middle Way as an enlightened way of life that avoids extremes in favor of moderation.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama writes,

“Moderation should be applied even to our daily meals:  our stomach would be glad if we adopted moderation, because too much food makes it ill, and too little damages it.  We should never fall into excess in either direction:  to be too conservative is not good, and to be too radical isn’t either.  The Buddhist philosophy of “the middle way” is to find the happy medium.”  -H H Dalai Lama The Little Book of Inner Peace, 2009