According to Buddhist ideas, the comparing mind is when the mind falls into a state of negative comparison between the self and another person or state. It is considered a block toward enlightenment. Harris notices he enters into this state when thinking about work colleagues like David Muir and Bill Weir.

This word refers to Buddhist teaching and practice in general. It is also used to describe everything that was taught by the Buddha after he became the awakened one.

A term that many have translated to mean life’s “suffering,” which is tied to pain, pleasure turning to pain, or a person’s knowledge that life is impermanent. However, many of Harris’s teachers translate this term to refer to life’s “stressful” or “unsatisfying” nature (142). Increased meditative practice can lessen dukkha.