Search results for: "Attachment"
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- Unhindered at Death… As long as you’re attached to thoughts of sensuality, you’ll fear that you could go to some place where those pleasures no longer exist. This is one of the reasons why, when the Buddha is giving Mahanama some instructions on how to counsel somebody who is dying, after making sure that the person is not worried about his family, not worried about …
- The Identity Crutch… Sometimes you’re warned about not getting attached to concentration, but you’ve got to be attached to concentration if you’re going to do it well. You have to see the pleasure of concentration as something you really like, something you really are interested in. That way, you put in the energy you need in order to master the concentration. So don’t …
- Look in the Mirror… But if you’re alert to the fact, “Okay, there’s still something fabricated here, even though it seems very, very solid and very secure,” then you can take apart your attachment to that, too. After all, as the Buddha said, concentration has its allure and its drawbacks. Discernment has its allure and its drawbacks as well. It’s interesting how he talks about …
- Trading Up… But raisins and tea are sensual pleasures, and renunciation is about giving up your attachment to sensuality. Not so much the pleasures, but more deeply: your fascination with thinking out and making plans for beautiful sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations—the things you’d like to have or experience. You can spend long hours engrossed in different fantasies about what you’d like …
- Guiding Truths… Ultimately, all you have left is the attachment to the path itself, attachment to the pleasure that comes from right concentration, and you work on letting go of that. That’s what frees you. And this total freedom was how the Buddha proved to himself that his approach was right: It is possible to put an end to suffering. So these four truths are …
- Negotiating with Death… If a series of thoughts comes up in the mind that are really compelling, try to take them apart, say, “Okay what in here is an attachment to a sight, and what in here is attachment to a sound, and what is an attachment to a taste, or a smell, or feeling in the body or to a thought you’ve had?” Take it …
- Circumspection… You can develop some strong attachments around your insights, which will spoil them. Take for instance the teaching on not-self. Ajaan Lee has a really interesting way of approaching it. He says you take what’s inconstant and turn it into something constant. You take what’s stressful and turn it into something easeful. You take what’s not-self and you get …
- Body Contemplation… At the same time, if you’re attached to how you look, there’s always the question: Do you still look good? That question makes you an easy mark for other people. You want to look good in their eyes, and they’ll be happy to tell you what you want to hear because they have designs on you. Think of the case of …
- Perfect Breathing Isn’t the Goal… If you don’t track that down, there’s no way you can contemplate the drawbacks effectively enough to get rid of your attachment. If you haven’t figured out exactly what is the appeal, you can think of things being inconstant, stressful, and not-self, and all the other things that the Buddha recommends as perceptions for dealing with attachments, and you’ll …
- Mindfulness the Gatekeeper… So when the Buddha says to comprehend suffering, he wants us to see the connection between our attachment to the fur coat and the teeth of the animal, realizing that it’s not worth it. Now, the duty with regard to the second noble truth, which is the cause of suffering, is to abandon it. The reason we’re holding on to the animal …
- A Seeker’s Habits… When the mind finally begins to settle down, gets more and more solid in its concentration, the fact that it feels good, part of you will want to get attached to it. That’s okay in the beginning, but after a while you begin to realize: “Okay, there’s a use for this. It’s not just a nice place to hang out. The …
- Preparing to Die Well… Even though eventually we try to let go of all states of becoming, we do that first by developing a skillful state of becoming—right concentration of the mind—which gives a standpoint from which we can gain practice in letting go of grosser pleasures, grosser attachments. The main attachments you let go when you’re developing concentration are the hindrances, beginning with sensual …
- Samvega First… We gain some happiness, then we get attached to it. It’s almost like the cosmos is playing a trick on us. We gain rewards for doing things skillfully, but then if we get attached to the rewards they pull us down. If you think about this and just stop there, it gets pretty depressing. But then you remind yourself that the Buddha found …
- The Knife of Discernment… To ferret out the difference between the physical pain — the pains of the khandhas, the pains of the aggregates — as opposed to the pain of attachment, craving, and clinging: That’s a distinction you see in the doing. You catch yourself in the doing; you see how the doing affects things. This is something you can’t figure out in advance. But when the …
- Against the Grain… This goes against your old ways of eating and your old ways of thinking around the eating—and your old ways of justifying, making excuses for the way you feed and your attachment to the way you feed. So when the Buddha says to indulge in the pleasure of concentration, he really means it. Learn to take that as your source of food, your …
- A Stranger to Your Thoughts… But if you’re not attached to the trees or the mountains, then their inconstancy doesn’t really mean anything. It’s not the issue. It’s where you’re trying to find your pleasure, where you’re attached: That’s what you want to analyze in these terms. Because again, those ways of analysis make you a stranger to your thoughts, which is …
- The Path Requires Effort… I don’t want to be attached to it.” You’ve got to be attached. You’ve got to have a desire for the concentration. You’ve got to respect for concentration if you really want to get results out of your path. So when so the mind wanders off, you bring it right back. Wanders off again, bring it back again. If it …
- Fabrication… And then, of course, you’re getting attached to the new level you reach, but it’s a good attachment. Otherwise, you’d go floating off to other worlds. This attachment here, at least, keeps you in the present moment where things can begin to open up. And instead of elaborating on it, you keep applying the teachings of the four noble truths and …
- Rooted in Desire… The Buddha said the main reason we’re so attached to it is that we don’t see any other escape from pain. When pain comes along, we rush for something to relieve the pain, and sensual pleasure seems to be just the thing. What we need is another alternative. That’s what right concentration is for, learning to develop a sense of ease …
- What Is One… To be a being, you have to be clinging to something, attached to something. But arahants have no attachments, no clinging, so they’re not even defined as beings. When they pass away, you can’t even define them as existing, non-existing, both, or neither. But as for us, we’re still feeding because we’re still beings. We’re beings on the …
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