Samsara and nirvana are two fundamental concepts that run throughout the Buddhist tradition  •  Trungpa Rinpoche said it is by discovering the truth of samsara that we discover nirvana  •  samsara refers to an endless round of confusion, a compulsive, deadly serious approach to life  •  it is marked by a sense of unease, fear, and discontent, and also by things becoming frozen and solid  •  the way out of samsara, the way out of suffering and discontent, is by going right into it, by looking at it directly and understanding it  •  nirvana means the cessation of the patterns that entrap us; it is the peace that comes when we let go of fixating, when we don’t struggle so hard against the nature of things  •  nirvana isn’t something you construct out of effort and struggle to get out of pain; it is the relief that comes when you don’t have to try so hard