Story of how Buddha Came up with the Lam Rim or "Middle Path"

Many people are extremists in their religious studies and practices around the world. Buddha was no exception to this. But, while he was meditating on day leaning against a Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya he heard a conversation between a music teacher and his student as they went by him in a ghat (boat) on the Falgu River flowing past past him there on the shore ( I was there in 1985 in December with my family for the Kalachakra Tantra with 500,000 for that initiation with the Dalai Lama. There were about 10,000 westerners from the U.S. Canada, North and South America, Europe, Japan and elsewhere.)

So, at this time Buddha was an ascetic and ate only a few grains of rice a month so you could see his skeleton from fasting. He overheard the conversation between the Music Teacher and I believe he was teaching someone to play a sitar (a multistringed instrument that Ravi Shankar made famous in the U.S. I believe it was).

So, the teacher said to the student. "If the strings are tightened to tight they will break which isn't good but if the strings are too loose they cannot play at all. So, each string has to be tightened just right to play the best music for everyone."

Buddha being a Prince before he reknownced his throne to become enlightened realized this was true for mankind also and through this came up with the Lam Rim path from this one conversation he overheard.

It is similar if you think about it to "Moderation in all things" of the ancient Greeks which is also about living a balanced life. Or too much of a good thing might make you crazy or kill you.

So, like the ancient Greeks he realized balance in all things was the true path to enlightenment for everyone on earth. So, in realizing this all the ascetics who ate almost nothing and suffered with him put him down for being a laggard and rejected him. But, he went to Sarnath and taught Brahmin monks who became his first followers because they were balanced enough already to see the wisdom of his Lam Rim or Path of Balance in all things (similar to the Greek "Moderation in all things". So, through this path of Lam Rim began Buddhist Teachings that have traveled the whole world since 2500 BC when Gautama Buddha actually lived to around 80 plus years old teaching his path to thousands of people along the way.

By this merit may we become like all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions and the three times.

Note: The 10 directions are for navigation in outer space, especially while soul traveling. The three times are the past, present and future.

Buddha speaks of visiting billions of people on some planets he visited while soul traveling the whole universe, especially throughout our Milky Way Galaxy.

end note:

Since I had become a soul traveler in my early 20s by the Grace of God,  I found I  could relate to the way he thinks and does things in his teachings. Ever since the Angels appeared to me to save me from Whooping cough that I was dying from at the time I had wanted to soul travel like they did. God Gave me this gift through his angels by about 20 and 21 when I became proficient at this after a complete paradigm shift in preparation for this.

I found that since I was born a Christian Mystic and Christian forgiveness and Brotherhood began with Buddhist Compassion and Brotherhood 500 years before Jesus. So, in this sense Buddha's teachings enlightened Jesus who then gave us Forgiveness and Grace to bless our lives today over 2500 years later now.