An Attachment Discussion To Play With Your Mind

comicallyinsane

I was in the bathroom thinking last night. I had this idea pop into my head. Attachment!!!!

We all talk about non attachment and the fact that attachment is not good for the path. It causes suffering. Elohim has in his sig "nothing whatsoever should be clung to". Now here is what I am thinking.


It seems to me that we, in general, are very attached to non attachment.

Now, how do we NOT be attached to non attachment?

Jason

Very perceptive Comic. How indeed.

Let me point out that at the beginning "attachment" to the Path is a necessity. If you were not attached to the Path you would not follow it. You must want to practice. In meditation it is ok to beome attached to the breathing, the calm, and the concentration...up to a point. Once you are there you certainly must "let go" so that you can move on to insight. When you are to the point in your practice where deep, subtle insights arise they will automatically show you how to become "non-attached" to things, ideas, methods, self, etc. Step by step you will find ways to "let go" of these mental "attachments".

We do not have to worry about that yet. The only thing we are asked to do is make our attachments skillful ones. That is the important words here: skillful. Examples:
Attachment to heroin--not skillful
Attachment to murder--not skillful
Attachment to gambling--not skillful
Attachment to family (healthy attachment, not stalking or anything )--skillful
Attachment to meditation--skillful
Attachment to helping the needy--skillful
Etc, etc.

Even the bathroom is a place where wisdom can arise!

comicallyinsane

Elohim wrote:

Even the bathroom is a place where wisdom can arise!

Thanks. I get my best thoughts in there. LOL

River

Attachment does seem to be a tricky one. My definition of attachment is anything that if it were gone or I couldnt do it anymore would cause suffering. I do feel that we do need an attachment to the path and that it will be the last attachment we get rid of.

LittleBenBuddha

My wife and I just adopted a baby girl from Korea, and the adoption counsellor stresses the importance of attachment - i.e. the child must bond to us. For older children this is obviously important, but for our 1-year old, well, there's no need for us to worry about it. She loves us...she gives me great welcomes when I get home from work, and is sad when I leave. Se loves bedtime, but hates it when I leave her alone.

But it sure got me thinking about attachment. We are born with it. We could not survive without it. So how do we free ourselves from it, when our very existence depends on it? Is not our fortunate human birth - a chance for enlightment - the product of attachment?

This is one of the puzzles that vexes me most.

Jason

Here are some related suttas from the Pali Tipitaka on the subject of various "attachments". Remember that the Buddha gave us tools and not necessarily absolutes. What he taught was only meant to free us from dukkha (stress). What we discover on the way will clear up the confusions and misconceptions we will naturally have about these things.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/samyutta/sn04-008.html (SN IV.8)

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/samyutta/sn42-011.html (SN XLII.11)

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/anguttara/an05-030.html#love (AN V.30)

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/anguttara/an05-030.html#love (Ud VIII.8)

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/khuddaka/suttanipata/snp4-02.html (Sn IV.2)

comicallyinsane

River wrote:

Attachment does seem to be a tricky one. My definition of attachment is anything that if it were gone or I couldnt do it anymore would cause suffering. I do feel that we do need an attachment to the path and that it will be the last attachment we get rid of.

So you are saying it will pass?

River

I believe so. If one is enlightened there is no path to follow in my view.

comicallyinsane

Maybe there is another path but they don't tell us? Mabe it's something they cannot describe?

YogaMama

comicallyinsane wrote:

Thanks. I get my best thoughts in there. LOL

That's more information than I ever needed to know. What is it with guys doing their thinking and reading in the bathroom? I will never understand that.

River

Maybe so but at that point I wouldnt automatically have an attachment to it.

Jason

The bathroom is a place of relaxation and comfort. We are free to be ourselves as well as lock the door so nobody can disturb us.

Most people tend to leave you alone while you are occupying the "rest room".

This time is open for any number of activities that can include, but not limited to: thinking, reading, sleeping (at work mostly), mastur...reading, um thinking, well you get the idea.

YogaMama

Relaxation? In a bathroom you have just stunk up? NO THANKS! If you have a two year old daughter, even the bathroom is not a private place!

Jason

A. I have no sense of smell.
B. We're not always "stinking it up".
C. I do not have any children.

Hm, I can solve this easily enough using mathmatics, let's see:

(A+B+C)xBathroom=(Elohim+Relaxation)
Bathroom=Relaxed Elohim


LOL. I'm such a nerd!

comicallyinsane

I have always wondered why people get so uncomfortable about talking about pooping. I mean it's something everyone does. My Kung Fu student came over the other day and I told her I wasn't feeling well because I had one of those days wher eI went into the bathroom and nothing wanted to come out. She replied that that was too much information. I asked her if she talks about what she ate with people. She said yes. I told her it is something that everyone has to deal with and everyone does. It is the perception that it is gross that gets in the way of people's thoughts. She said that that made sense.


Remember Dirt doesn't taste bad, it tastes like dirt.

Jason

Excellent point. Pleasant vs. unpleasant.

Once again the mathmatical solution:

Skhandas = (form (rupam) + perception through the senses (vedana) + thought (samjna) + conformation (samskara) + consciousness (vijnana))

Person = Skhandas

Perceptions = (Person + ditthi *views*)

Sunnata = (Person - perceptions)

Sunnata = Person

YogaMama

comicallyinsane wrote:

I have always wondered why people get so uncomfortable about talking about pooping. I mean it's something everyone does. My Kung Fu student came over the other day and I told her I wasn't feeling well because I had one of those days wher eI went into the bathroom and nothing wanted to come out. She replied that that was too much information. I asked her if she talks about what she ate with people. She said yes. I told her it is something that everyone has to deal with and everyone does. It is the perception that it is gross that gets in the way of people's thoughts. She said that that made sense.


Remember Dirt doesn't taste bad, it tastes like dirt.

Talking about pooping doesn't make me uncomfortable. My husband and I often talk about what shows up in our daughter's diaper! LOL. However, sitting in a room where I (or someone else has just pooped) to "relax" is just not what I call relaxation.

Is this one of those threads that has turned into somehting completely different than what it started out as???

wolfscalissi

comicallyinsane wrote:

I was in the bathroom thinking last night. I had this idea pop into my head. Attachment!!!!

We all talk about non attachment and the fact that attachment is not good for the path. It causes suffering. Elohim has in his sig "nothing whatsoever should be clung to". Now here is what I am thinking.


It seems to me that we, in general, are very attached to non attachment.

Now, how do we NOT be attached to non attachment?

well said comic.
As soon as we are aware of the attachment and attempt to let it go we are attached to this too. The good news is then when we are aware of this attachment we step back into the center, this moment. Meditation is just the practice for these moments. After all what else do we have? Dig deeper into this and see it from an autonomous view and mu will be revealed

^gassho^

DharmaKitten

I don't think all attachment is avoidable or even wrong if you use the word in a general sense. Attachment does lead to suffering since things change, get broken, get lost, leave, etc. However, there is some good to attachment, or at least some types of it. For instance, a child bonding with its parents or a husband's attachment to his wife. Of course both would suffer if their parents or spouse was gone, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't love. I do think, though, that we must be conscious about what we are attached to and how much. For instance, we should be more attached to a spouse than a purse. It's all about priorities .... and moderation. Even in the case of a spouse, one shouldn't be so attached that one literally can not live without them. That's not healthy and can lead to relationship problems that actually result in the feared split.

thebatman

Ah, the riddle of attachment. The Great Truth (according to me at this particular moment and subject to change) is that being attcahed to nonattachment is dukkha. The faster and harder we run toward buddhist thought the farther away we become. This must surely be the greatest hurdle to an empty mind.