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Attachment to Buddhism
When we first start practising we do ultimately attach ourselves to Buddhism, then as we go along we understand it is what it is a practise that guides us to end all of our sufferings.
Having this coversation with a friend of mine the other day, he said there is a time we do need to have attachment again to Buddhism, when we move from a Samsara state of mind into a Nirvana state of mind, and that can be dangerous, in that we open ouselves up to attachment again.
Would anyone like to pass on there own wisdom and findings on this final attachment?
Having this coversation with a friend of mine the other day, he said there is a time we do need to have attachment again to Buddhism, when we move from a Samsara state of mind into a Nirvana state of mind, and that can be dangerous, in that we open ouselves up to attachment again.
Would anyone like to pass on there own wisdom and findings on this final attachment?
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Even when we understand what the path is, that it's a practice to end suffering, we're still attached to it for that very purpose. If not then we'd drown back in our suffering and never make it to the other shore.
- Excerpt from The Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra
I have asked him to provide me, the source of where he got this information from. I thought maybe someone else has come across this before...
Where ever and when ever there can be a letting go of attachments & craving, do it. Up to the cessation of suffering, attachments exist. There is no opening up to them for we are already subject to them. There is only letting go of them or not.
Attachment to our concepts or perceptions of what Buddhism or Nirvana is, is probably unskillful. I think in the interim, between now and the deathless, attachment to what is skillful, compassionate and loving is probably not such a bad thing. There must come a time though, when even our wholesome attachments must be let go.
i'd say attachment to buddhism liberates itself when one is sincere in practice. when the time is right the practice unfolds and destroys itself. but until then it isn't smart to unattach to buddhism, especially right view.
many tend to follow this trend of anti intellectualism or anti concepts. this awareness practice is important but it shouldn't negate view and intelligence. As that would be a reaction against our minds.
and some even create a split between mind and heart. if we are overly intellectual we cannot feel and vice versa. i would highly suggest examining why the heart and mind cannot communicate to one another and why we need an illusory split.
The Buddha said that one can indeed have attachments to the dhamma, which can be one of the most dangerous forms of attachment. But he also thought wholesome desire to practice it. So the line may be thin. How I like to reflect on it personally is, when I get stuck in ideas that I have not really realized, that's an attachment. Maybe I know certain sutta quotes or remember the factors of the 8-fold path, but if I have not really understood these things, the knowledge can turn into sort of an attachment. I think you see this happening a lot in discussions or even in Buddhist books. So that's something to look out for, I think.
However, we need some desire to end desire. It's called chanda-something in the suttas. This is a good type of 'attachment', because if you wouldn't have it, why practice? This is a natural desire for everybody who is willing to investigate life. The desire for the ultimate, the end of suffering. We have it, it's not bad.
However, it can also turn itself around, make us restless if we are not mindful enough to catch what is going on. We want that happiness, we want those meditation experiences, we want jhana, want nirvana, etc. If it gets in the way, it's more restlessness right there.
So it's a thin line. But one we have to walk. We'll fall off from time to time. But the more experience we have, the easier it will be to walk on it.
From a more enlightened point of view, attachment to Buddhism sounds silly. Because Buddhism is not a thing to be attached to actually. You can be attached to views and ideas, or a sense of self, but not to 'Buddhism'. In reality there is nothing with a solid essence, so there is nothing to attach to either. Neither is nirvana a state or thing, because if it was, it would be impermanent. I take this opportunity to stipulate that again.
Metta!
Sabre
“I am Buddhist, but there is no attachment to Buddhism, if there is attachment you become biased; you start to become suspicious about other faiths and start to close your mind to other possibilities. It’s very helpful to have the ability to appreciate other faiths as well as your own.”
https://www.seriouswonder.com/curiosities/150-dalai-lama-buddhist-science-
"I know a physicist from Chile who told me that it is not appropriate for a scientist to be biased towards science because of his love and passion for it. I am a Buddhist practitioner and have a lot of faith and respect in the teachings of the Buddha. However, if I mix up my love for and attachment to Buddhism, then my mind shall be biased towards it. A biased mind, which never sees the complete picture, cannot grasp the reality. And any action that results from such a state of mind will not be in tune with reality. As such it causes a lot of problems."
http://www.dalailama.com/messages/religious-harmony
"With the arising of your vision, you might get rid of that desire and attachment to the five groups of grasping, and this might even occur to you: ‘For a long time indeed I have been defrauded, deceived and cheated by this mind (cittena) for, grasping, I grasped after material shape itself ... after feeling itself ... after perception itself ... after the habitual tendencies themselves; grasping, I grasped after consciousness itself. Condition by grasping after this, there was becoming for me; conditioned by becoming, birth; conditioned by birth, old age and dying, grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation and despair came into being. Thus is the origin of this who mass of anguish" (M. i. 511–12).
All attachments that I have been able to meditatively discern in my practise are not just passive constructs but only exist with my participation, no matter how subtle a participation that may feel. Letting go is just seeing how we energise or feed an attachment and just stop doing that. Insight is an acceptable word for it and I would use it if I didn't see so many folks seem to see it as a personal aquisition. Letting go also intimates acting on that insight.
4 noble truths, beginning, middle & end. My understanding is no deeper than this.
I also have defined attachments as good & bad according to whether they pertain to the path or not. I just think that eventually neither that "good" or "bad" attachment needs to be fed. I believe that eventually attachment free understanding alone is sufficient to guide my feet towards suffering's end. That where I've had a sense of identity tied up with this path (good attachment), that a resulting wake has followed. Where I have been able to let go of that identity, my path still continues unabated but with less myopic sight and much less following wake.
We can only train where they are and for many years, perhaps all that kept me on the path was my identity as a path walker, I don't really know.
I do know however, that eventually, much of what we might call "good attachment" is just the next thing needing to be left on the path behind..
Perhaps I'm deluded about this, only the ignorant don't watch for such possibilities but time will tell.
Anyway I did question my friend and yes he got it mixed up, and thru his own readings is wasn't the attachment to Buddhism, it was the attachment to Nivana, recognizing Nirvana, one has to attach too the thought is this nirvana or shamatha, and the dangers of doing this type of attachment.
I have really enjoyed reading the thoughts of everyone who has commented, as Buddha said no path to enlightment will be the same...
I'll close this one. Feel free to open another one about that particular question, if you have any real question about it.