On the path of Tibetan Buddhism, we teach the practice of “one taste,” which consists in experiencing pleasure and pain, comfort and discomfort, harmonious or discordant sounds, good or bad-tasting food with the same equanimity. It has nothing to do with apathy or indifference, nor are the five senses in any way dulled. It is rather a matter of allowing physical sensations to manifest in the vast space of awareness and not in the narrow space of a selective, anxious mind torn between what it likes and does not like, what it desires or rejects on the basis of hope or apprehension. When one is sufficiently trained in this practice, external perceptions and internal sensations are felt with equal clarity, but our mind is not disproportionately disturbed by attraction or aversion.
From Notebooks of a Wandering Monk by Matthieu Ricard. © 2023 by Matthieu Ricard. Reprinted in arrangement with MIT Publications, Inc.