Transcending Eternalism and Nihilism

This is what I heard:

At that time the Buddha was staying in a village of the Kuru people and in this village people were taking care of cattle. Then a Brahmin, a stranger in that place, came to where the Buddha was staying and exchanged words of greeting and courtesies with the Buddha. After that he sat down to one side facing the Buddha. Then he asked the Buddha:

Master Gotama, are the person who acts and the person who reaps the fruit of the action the same person?

The Buddha said to the Brahmin:

This question as to whether the person who acts and the person who reaps the fruit of the action are the same, I do not have to answer. It is a question about a matter that cannot be explained (avyakata).

Master Gotama, does that mean to say that the person who acts and the person who reaps the fruit of the action are two different people?

The Buddha instructed the Brahmin:

To ask whether there is one person who acts and another person who reaps the fruit of the action is also a question I cannot answer because the matter is inexplicable.

The Brahmin said:

When I asked whether the person who acts and the person who reaps the fruit of the action are the same or not, you said that this question concerns a matter that cannot be explained, and when I asked whether there is one person who acts and another person who reaps the fruit of the action, you also said that this question is about a matter that cannot be explained and you did not answer. So what does that mean?

The Buddha instructed the Brahmin:

If you say that the person who acts and the person who reaps the fruit of the action are the same person you have fallen into the eternalistic view. If you say that they are two different people, you have fallen into the nihilistic view. When I give teachings about the meaning and principles of the Dharma, I keep away from these two extreme views and follow the middle path. The middle path means that because this is that is, because this arises, that arises. Dependent on ignorance there are impulses……(and so on until) there is this whole mass of suffering. It also means that when ignorance ceases, impulses cease…… (until) this whole mass of suffering ceases.

When the Brahmin had heard the Buddha speak, he felt happy. He rose and took his leave.

~Samyuktagama 300