Discipline

"In terms of discipline, I myself worked very hard for your sake. I got beaten, I got pinched, and I got punished many times. Usually, at least three punishments took place every day from the age of seven until the age of eleven. Every day there were big scenes about how to behave and how to sit. If I was slouching, I would get pinched; if I was mumbling, I would get pinched; if I was making conversation other than functional talking, I would get pinched. But I feel good about my education.

I do not feel resentful about any of it. I would not mind reducing myself to a child and starting all over again. In fact, I would be quite delighted to start all over, and I appreciate the environment that my teacher and my tutors created. It was quite magnificent and remarkable.

We have been trying to shield off life for so long, for centuries, and we have been trying to be so polite. Pain is ugly and gross, and we keep trying to avoid it, which is somewhat of a problem. The interesting thing about real discipline is that you are actually willing to face facts properly, on the spot. You are even willing to face your own gross state of mind. You have to face facts rather than seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses.

Discipline has to become the naked discipline of reality. With true discipline, there is no such thing as getting outside of the dharmic environment, even if you are scrubbing the floor in a factory. No matter what you may be doing, you are not particularly excluded."

-- Chögyam Trungpa, The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness