Episode 113 – Comfort Isn’t Everything

The teachings of the Buddha are often divided into three components: intelligence or discriminating awareness; discipline; and meditation  •  there can be so much emphasis on sitting practice that there is less discussion of the importance of cultivating knowledge and discipline — what it actually takes to put the teachings into action in our everyday life  •  being able to observe what is going on with some precision and insight is extremely important; this includes ordinary knowledge, self-knowledge, and psychological knowledge  •  Trungpa Rinpoche pointed out the difference between discriminating awareness and comfort-seeking mind  •  he talked about the earthy quality of discriminating awareness, in contrast to the dreamy quality of trying to escape and go somewhere else  •  we have all sorts of ways to try to make ourself cozy and comfortable, but they are missing the point; comfort-seeking mind is not about enhancing the clarity and precision of our awareness, but about blanketing it in a kind of cozy cocoon.