When you dissolve discomfort you also dissolve pleasure (for some definition of pleasure). You’re not crazy about that. What’s left are experiences devoid of judgment, like biting into an apple for the first time, or getting suddenly splashed with water when you’re not expecting it but don’t mind either.
Would your pre-interest-in-buddhism-self have felt cool about this?
Did you previously have something like an order-of-magnitude more suffering than pleasure such that this was worth it to you? Otherwise, I have a hard time imagining why someone would want this; what was your reason? Or was it only something you found out once you got there?
Would your pre-interest-in-buddhism-self have felt cool about this?
Absolutely.
Did you previously have something like an order-of-magnitude more suffering than pleasure such that this was worth it to you? Otherwise, I have a hard time imagining why someone would want this; what was your reason? Or was it only something you found out once you got there?
I’ve always been a happy person, but in a tense way. Now I can be at peace while being sad too. That said, people tend to get into this stuff when they’ve hit rock bottom—and I’m no exception.
In case that answer doesn’t suffice, I’m going to answer your question with metaphor.
I used to have a messy home. On rare occasions I would organize it. Even after organizing it, my home was still unpleasant to look at.
Then I got into extreme minimalism and threw away most of my belongings. Now the messiest my minimalist room can get is has less clutter than the cleanest my belonging-filled room could get.
Pleasure is like the feeling I got after organizing a cluttered room. It’s much better to have a room that cannot get extremely messy in the first place.
Would your pre-interest-in-buddhism-self have felt cool about this?
Did you previously have something like an order-of-magnitude more suffering than pleasure such that this was worth it to you? Otherwise, I have a hard time imagining why someone would want this; what was your reason? Or was it only something you found out once you got there?
Absolutely.
I’ve always been a happy person, but in a tense way. Now I can be at peace while being sad too. That said, people tend to get into this stuff when they’ve hit rock bottom—and I’m no exception.
In case that answer doesn’t suffice, I’m going to answer your question with metaphor.
I used to have a messy home. On rare occasions I would organize it. Even after organizing it, my home was still unpleasant to look at.
Then I got into extreme minimalism and threw away most of my belongings. Now the messiest my minimalist room can get is has less clutter than the cleanest my belonging-filled room could get.
Pleasure is like the feeling I got after organizing a cluttered room. It’s much better to have a room that cannot get extremely messy in the first place.