Application of Buddhist Middle Path for Mass Communication Process: A Phenomenological Approach

Abstract

The Middle Path (majjhimā paṭipadā) is the precious way to apply in solving every problem, including mass communication. According to the teaching of Lord Buddha, the Middle Path (majjhimā paṭipadā) is not a condition between two extremes like the Daoist yin and yang opposites or complements. It also different from the Aristotelian “The Golden Mean” and the “Confucian doctrine of the Mean”. The Middle Path is transcending both axes of extremes. The Buddhist middle path means the most effective way leading to the cessation of dukkha (un -satisfactoriness) that lies between the extremes of searching for happiness through the pleasures of the senses, and the other extreme searching for the same through self-mortification in different forms of asceticism. The West claims the credit for ‘inventing’ the social sciences, including communication, as disciplines (Gunaratne, 2015). Most of the research in communication studies show an Anglo- American bias. In this regards, this field needs revision with complementary research incorporating the Eastern phenomenological perspective (Gunaratne, 2015, Senarath, 2015, 2016). The time is ripe for the emergence of [a new] genre [of communication studies] based primarily on Buddhist principles (Gunaratne, 2015). Buddhist phenomenological approach could be one of the best way to uncover the universal problems which western based scientific method alone cannot explore (Gunaratne, 2015, Senarath, 2015, 2016).