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My own personal thoughts on attachment.
Zayl
Veteran
Now if any of you know me at all, you know that I appreciate things of beauty and things of entertainment. I know many say that it is best to avoid these things. Whether they be music, intoxicants, art, or what have you. But this is just what I think. I feel that it is alright to enjoy them, so long as you do not let them control you. I can get by without any of them (with the exception of my nicotine addiction, I am working on that.) So I feel I am not attached to them per se. But they exist, and they are things we humans find pleasurable or otherwise enjoyable. If I never saw any of them ever again... I am sure I could get by just fine, as if I had never indulged in them in the first place.
Do you feel this is proper practice? I am not a monk of course, and I feel no need to be any more since I feel I would not make a very good monk. I wanted to be one, but it was for all of the wrong reasons, so I let that thought go. So now I sit here, a tad drunk but not too much. All I feel is peace, despite what I go through in life. I approach everything I do with my critical thinking skills. So I recognize everything I enjoy in life as technically insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Yet I do them anyway, because why not? If you can keep yourself from suffering in their absence. Then is that not good enough?
Do you feel this is proper practice? I am not a monk of course, and I feel no need to be any more since I feel I would not make a very good monk. I wanted to be one, but it was for all of the wrong reasons, so I let that thought go. So now I sit here, a tad drunk but not too much. All I feel is peace, despite what I go through in life. I approach everything I do with my critical thinking skills. So I recognize everything I enjoy in life as technically insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Yet I do them anyway, because why not? If you can keep yourself from suffering in their absence. Then is that not good enough?
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Comments
So if a monk's life is designed to adhere to the 8-fold path and eliminate anything that blocks enlightenment, then all that beauty and entertainment must be bad for anyone. Yet, all this is an important part of our human experience. How can a normal life be somehow bad for us? Does this mean if we're serious about becoming a Buddha we have to throw away our television and radios?
If it all could be a conscious choice for everyone, weather to create attachments or not, the world would be a peaceful place.
But it isn't. The body create these attachments all by itself, our subconscious mind trying to do its job and help us out by remembering things, reactions to our environment.
Someone who has developed his mind can actually see the very subtle automatic reactions, in the form of their physical sensations in the body.
Which is not available to most people, who could have a nice giant collection of tiny little attachments, which all together have a tremendous limiting effect on ones life, without ever suspecting it...
Perhaps you fit the first description, I have no idea what kind of practice you have been doing in your life.
But something that seem very consistent for people who have realized a few things through spiritual practice is that they usually, naturally lose alot of their interests in the kind of attachments that you speak of.
Without the craving, all of a sudden alot of this stuff lose it's appeal.
Have you tried a retreat, perhaps even a 10 days or couple weeks retreat?
If you did, never mind but if you never, perhaps this could be a good test for you.
Nothing better than to be miles away from our usual stuff to realize attachments we had no idea we ever had.
(ie its easy to say Im not hooked on whatever, just enjoying it because its available, i'd be fine without it; it might be an interesting experiment to test our self and see weather it is true or not.)
I know I tend to have this side to my personality which is kind of self destructive and likes to do some things to the extreme, I need to try and keep guard but it is hard. I dare not imagine what I would be like if I was living in the UK still, I would be easily exposed to so many intoxicants that I use to indulge and drown myself in. If I were to take some ecstasy it would not be 1 or 2 pills, it would be 8 or 10, if I wanted to take acid I would take 6 drops and so forth. I seemed to take things to the extreme.
So I think personally this whole discussion about attachment and lay life boils down to the individual. Unless you happen to be sat here now in robes, it is your decision on what you see, listen to, eat etc, if there is no attachment involved then that is a good starting point. However, there are other negative aspects to such things as being intoxicated than just attachment. Being intoxicated can obscure a right view and result in bad decision making.