A tenant of Buddhism is to not flee pain. You're free from suffering (or, perhaps, there no possible way to suffer) if you accept what is. It's wanting things to be different than they are that creates the suffering. [[Pain and Suffering are Two Arrows]]. One is unavoidable, the other is not. A particular Buddhist, in training to be a monk, was subject to submission into icy baths. He found that "trying to think about something else" exacerbated his pain. Instead, when he really sat with it and focused his mind on the pain, he ceased to suffer from it. Paradoxically leaning into the pain provided the most relief. This example comes by way of [[Cold Exposure]], but can be applied to any pain. Enlightenment comes when you can observe the pain for what it is, without the overwhelming urge to run from it. **** # More ## Source - [[4000 Weeks]] ## Related - [[Criticism and Buddha]] - [[All Motivation is the Desire to Escape Discomfort]] - [[Embrace Boredom]]