Search results for: "Attachment"
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- A Pure Happiness… So we use these teachings on stress and inconstancy and not-self as ways of watching and judging our actions, and peeling away our attachments to things that get in the way of nibbana. And it’s usually not horrible things that get in the way. It’s our satisfaction with lesser forms of happiness. Those are the big obstacles. Now there are some …
- Neither Here nor There… This seems to be his approach when people are still attached to sensuality. The classic example, of course, is the Buddha’s brother, Ven. Nanda, who, after he was ordained, pined for a woman who, as he was leaving home, said, “Come back.” That’s all he could think about: the way that she gazed at him. So the Buddha takes Nanda up to …
- Samvega vs. Dispassion… The people who have reached that point would never ever want to go back to their old attachments. There’s no nostalgia at all. Resignation has nostalgia, but this doesn’t. So you can take heart in the fact that this path really leads to a good place. It may be difficult and there may be times when it goes directly against the grain …
- Ugly Body, Happy Mind… He talks about what he calls renunciation gladness, when you see that all the things in the senses—sight, sounds, smells, taste, and tactile sensations—are inconstant and not worthy of attachment. The fact that you’re able to lift your mind above those things can make you glad. So when you find that the meditation is down and you’re feeling discouraged, think …
- The Noble Search Makes Us Human… In the monastery they taught detachment, whereas being human, of course, is all about being attached, entangled. Now that view places a very limited, very domestic view on what it means to be a human being. Our desire for true happiness is what makes us human – with an emphasis on the true. We’ve looked for pleasures in all kinds of things. And as …
- Success by Approximation… But don’t get waylaid by the type of thinking that criticizes you for being awfully passionate about your practice, or awfully attached to concentration, or awfully negative about a person you don’t want to associate with. Well, if you realize that associating with that kind of person is going to take you off the path, you’ve got to be careful. Heedfulness …
- Swept Downstream… So what’s the obstacle? This is a question each of us has to ask ourselves, because what you are—this “being” that you are, which you’ve taken on as your identity—is made out of a lot of clingings and attachments to things, like the grass on the side of the river bank. The Buddha lists five kinds of grass corresponding to …
- Preparing for Death… This helps overcome your attachment to the body. You realize that it is possible to be aware and blissful and not to have to think about body at all. This ability to separate these things out is the skill you’re going to need as death comes. In Ajaan Maha Boowa’s teachings to the woman who was dying of cancer, this was a …
- Training like an Adult… If you’re looking at it for the sake of attachment, for the sake feeding your anger, exactly how you are feeding? What nourishment do you get out of looking at it that way? And what are the drawbacks? The same way with how you listen, and a lot of this applies to how you think. What thoughts does the mind like to feed …
- Worlds… You dwell independent, not attached to anything in the world. That’s the direction you want to go, where you’re not attached to any world at all. So, whether it’s simply the level of withstanding the worlds that seem to be totally beyond your control, or you’re getting more and more sovereign and independent: Whatever level you’re at, do your …
- Awe… To think in these ways really helps us to let go of the attachments that are causing us suffering, that weigh the mind down. So here we are in the midst of a storm. But there’s something deep inside that doesn’t have to suffer from the storm, doesn’t have to be threatened by the storm. Even though we may reflect on …
- Deep Time… It’s good to adopt this perspective because it makes it a lot easier to live in the world without a lot of nostalgia, without a lot of attachment. Most of the issues that seem so big when you take the view of just one lifetime become very small when you think about eons and eons of lifetimes. Think about the Buddha as he …
- The Role of the Observer… We’re the ones who are attached to the food. If there’s a plate of rice and we don’t eat it, the rice doesn’t cry. We’re the ones who cry when there’s nothing to eat. So there’s an internal battle, and that’s not won simply by watching, although watching may be one of the steps. After all …
- Issues… You know how beings are defined—they’re defined by their attachments. And they have to feed. This applies to other beings; this applies to us—as long as we take on the identity of a being. Which means that there are going to be conflicts. And there are a lot of conflicts that, the more you get involved with them, the more they …
- The Middle Way… Otherwise, when you come down hard on your attachment to sensual pleasures but you don’t have anything better to offer yourself, then either it’s a grudging abandoning of the pleasure, which means you don’t abandon it for long, or it’s just an act of self-punishment, which is not only not lasting, but also not especially healthy. So it’s …
- Doing, Maintaining, Using… This is how the mind begins to gain insight into its attachments. Because it sees the component factors, it’s learned how to use them in a way that it’s really on familiar terms with them, and it’s changed its relationship to them. They now become tools rather than things that you would identify with or things that you are constantly chewing …
- Right Resolve… Some of them involve being attached to sensual desires—because, as the Buddha once said, even if it rained gold coins, we wouldn’t have enough for our sensual desires. If that’s where we’re looking for happiness, there’s no end to it. And how many showers of gold coins have you seen? And how many showers would we need to satisfy …
- Selfing & Not-selfing… The Buddha doesn’t have a term for that, but he does talk about noticing how you’re attached to sensuality and how many unskillful things you can do based on that attachment. You can replace the pleasure of sensuality with the pleasure that comes from concentration. The fifth healthy ego function is humor. We don’t think of the Pali Canon as a …
- Serenity… It’s normal that, as you’re working on this and you find that you are getting results, there will be a certain amount of attachment, there will be a certain amount of clinging. That’s all part of developing the skill. It’s what keeps you interested in this, working at it, allowing it to capture your imagination. As with so many other …
- Sensitivity Through Generosity… So even though it may seem like we’re attached to our things because we take care of them so carefully, it’s actually an application of the Dhamma principle of being unburdensome, one of the principles in the list that the Buddha taught to Gotami. There are other protocols for how to help other people: how to look after people who are sick …
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