This week we continue our exploration of the Six Paramitas (or Transcendent Actions)—the Buddhist teachings on how to go beyond suffering and confusion into wakefulness, compassion, and liberation. I talked about the first paramita, Generosity, in a previous episode. Now we look at the second: Discipline.

This isn’t the harsh, rigid discipline of making yourself do things you don’t want to do. Here, discipline is a joyful, courageous return to presence—a practice of continuously coming back to your intentions, your inner world, your experience, and your humanity.

Highlights:

• Why discipline must be paired with generosity to avoid self-aggression.
• The Buddhist definition of discipline as “coming back” over and over, especially in meditation.
• How thinking for yourself and not outsourcing wisdom is a powerful form of discipline.
• The three forms of discipline:
  • Binding Yourself – Committing to opening up, even when it's uncomfortable.
  • Gathering Virtuous Dharmas – Continuing to deepen your understanding through study, reflection, and practice.
  • Benefiting Sentient Beings – Shifting focus from self alone to bringing care for others into your experience
• The three-step method of learning in Buddhist tradition: Hearing, Contemplating, and Meditating. (We usually stop at hearing, regurgitating, and then forgetting.)
• How including others in your awareness brings joy, strength, and clarity, even in chaotic times.

“Discipline is synonymous with joy. Not yippy joy—but the joy of not hiding from your life.”

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Music by: Derek O'Brien

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