Before he was a teacher, the Buddha tried the path of extreme effort （苦行）. For years he ate almost nothing and pushed his body to the edge. He grew so thin and weak that he could barely think — yet he was no closer to peace.
在成為老師之前，佛陀曾經嘗試極端苦行（extreme effort）的道路。好幾年裡他幾乎不吃東西，把身體逼到極限。他變得又瘦又虛弱，連思考都很困難——但他離平靜卻一點也沒有更近。
One day he heard a music teacher on a boat speaking to a student about a lute （一種弦琴）. “If the string is too tight, it will snap. If the string is too loose, it will not play. Tune it just right, and it makes beautiful music.”
有一天，他聽到一位音樂老師在船上對學生說起一把琴（lute，一種弦琴）。「如果弦繃得太緊（too tight），它會斷掉。如果弦太鬆（too loose），它彈不出聲音。把它調得剛剛好（just right），它就能奏出美妙的音樂。」
The Buddha understood at once. A life of harsh extremes is like a broken string; a lazy life is like a string too loose to sing. The wisest way is the Middle Path — not too tight, not too loose. From that balance grows Right Action: choosing what is wholesome and avoiding what causes harm. The best choice is rarely the most extreme one; it is the most balanced one.
佛陀立刻明白了。嚴苛的極端生活就像斷掉的弦；懶散的生活就像太鬆而唱不出聲的弦。最有智慧的方式就是中道（Middle Path）——不太緊，也不太鬆。從這份平衡中長出正業（Right Action）：選擇善的、避開會造成傷害的。最好的選擇很少是最極端的那個，而是最平衡（balanced）的那個。