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Free from Attachment

KnightofBuddhaKnightofBuddha
edited October 2007 in Buddhism Today
What exactly does it mean? Is it possible to be completely free from attachment and still participate in society?

Comments

  • JasonJason God Emperor Arrakis Moderator
    edited August 2005
    Freedom from attatchment means that tahna (craving) is completely removed. There is no longer a desire to grasp at what you have nor what you lack. You are content in all situations. You do not even cling to your life. If the body falls apart and 'dies' you do not lament or grieve over losing it. You realize things as they are, as well as the nature all conditioned things must suffer. What has arisen must cease, what has a cause must have an effect.

    Yes, a person can live in society without 'attachments'. They can still function. The main difference is that they will not be affected by the emotions and stress that normally accompany us humans because they lack greed, hatred, and delusion.

    http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/khuddaka/dhp/tb0/dhp-07-tb0.html Dhammapada VII
  • comicallyinsanecomicallyinsane Veteran
    edited August 2005
    So do they lack ambition? Sounds like they just sit around and do nothing. Sounds almost as boring as Nibbana.
  • ajani_mgoajani_mgo Veteran
    edited August 2005
    Nah~ The correct term is non-attachment... You can do things sure. To you a very crude and gross analogy, sorry if it's offensive, you can mate with your spouse if you have one ten times a day if you want... But the thing is that don't get mad about it... It feels good but it doesn't mean you will die without it... Get the point... It's something to be understood, the theory i something like this though...
  • JasonJason God Emperor Arrakis Moderator
    edited August 2005
    It may sound boring :hohum: , but the Buddha didn't teach for entertainment purposes. He only taught about the freedom from suffering. To follow the Buddha's teachings you must be looking for peace. If not you will be severly disappointed---> :bawling:

    "I teach the truth of suffering, I teach the truth of the arising of suffering, I teach the truth of the cessation of suffering and I teach the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering."

    ~ Anguttara Nikaya 1.3.62
  • comicallyinsanecomicallyinsane Veteran
    edited August 2005
    I am looking for peace but not enlightenment. Enlightenment is just a word I know nothing about. I am not looking to be suprised. I am content with just having a better life because of my practice. I have no goal of enlightenment. I am happy with the what I learn everyday and with the fact that I know it will get better down the road. :smilec:


    I know I will always suffer on some level and I am ok with that.
  • ajani_mgoajani_mgo Veteran
    edited August 2005
    I used to want enlightenment~ But all I want now is peace and comfort for this life an the next and the next and the next... Because I believe I was born to help people with their ordeals...
  • zasetsu57zasetsu57
    edited October 2007
    All around the world teachers and revered persons devoted to the dharma will adamantly tell their students to become better at folding towels or fetching water and don't worry so much about enlightenment sickness. All enlightenment means is eyes open at last and not stumbing quite so much at all!
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited October 2007
    I AM enlightened already.
    It's just that I haven't woken up to the fact yet..... ;)
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited October 2007
    federica wrote: »
    I AM enlightened already.
    It's just that I haven't woken up to the fact yet..... ;)


    When you are asleep, are you awake? or are you only potentially awake?
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited October 2007
    Ah, greatsplitterofhairs....

    not much gets past you, does it....? :D

    I guess I'm potentially awake....but sleeping is so comfortable in my nice, warm illusory bed.... ok...the matress is a bit old, and a couple of the springs are poking through, but if I lie....just so... and try not to move too much, they don't scratch.... a lot.... not really.... well...ok, just a bit.....:lol:
  • carbonunitcarbonunit
    edited October 2007
    I am sure that it is more difficult for us today than in the time of the Buddha. If I were to go out into homelessness it would be tough to find a tree to sit under that is not on private property or state land, and I would be in breach of a few municipal by-laws the minute I wanted to relieve myself. I could walk all day around our suburb with my begging bowl and would probably be relieved of that by the local toughs.

    Perhaps a lay person cannot contemplate enlightenment in this day and age? I suppose that aspect has remained unchanged. Can one really expect to became unattached to any degree and still participate in society. One can become very chilled over the weekend, attend teachings or Puja and really feel the path for a few hours. Come Monday that all goes out of the window and around you go. Do not pass start, do not become enlightened.

    One can do all the other things, compassion - make all the effort, work on mindfulness, but in this modern world I do not think that you can really let it go and still be in it.

    The Tibetan monk that was taken to time square, looked around at all the billboards and said - it is stealing my mind!
  • ajani_mgoajani_mgo Veteran
    edited October 2007
    Simonthepilgrim wrote: »


    When you are asleep, are you awake? or are you only potentially awake?

    Sounds like quantum physics to me... :)
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited October 2007
    carbonunit wrote: »
    I am sure that it is more difficult for us today than in the time of the Buddha. If I were to go out into homelessness it would be tough to find a tree to sit under that is not on private property or state land, and I would be in breach of a few municipal by-laws the minute I wanted to relieve myself. I could walk all day around our suburb with my begging bowl and would probably be relieved of that by the local toughs.

    Perhaps a lay person cannot contemplate enlightenment in this day and age? I suppose that aspect has remained unchanged. Can one really expect to became unattached to any degree and still participate in society. One can become very chilled over the weekend, attend teachings or Puja and really feel the path for a few hours. Come Monday that all goes out of the window and around you go. Do not pass start, do not become enlightened.

    One can do all the other things, compassion - make all the effort, work on mindfulness, but in this modern world I do not think that you can really let it go and still be in it.

    The Tibetan monk that was taken to time square, looked around at all the billboards and said - it is stealing my mind!


    You point, indeed, to a reality that many want to ignore: our world and culture may not be better, in real terms, than what has gone before. We may have sold our birthright for a mess of pottage. We have so much 'stuff', including invisibles like better medicine or communications, that we have failed to notice that our true freedom was the coin with which we bought it.
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited October 2007
    Ummm, pottage! Me wan pottage! 'Specially pottage cheese!

    oh, sorry...didn't see you at the window...

    Palzang
  • carbonunitcarbonunit
    edited October 2007
    Simonthepilgrim wrote: »
    You point, indeed, to a reality that many want to ignore: our world and culture may not be better, in real terms, than what has gone before. We may have sold our birthright for a mess of pottage. We have so much 'stuff', including invisibles like better medicine or communications, that we have failed to notice that our true freedom was the coin with which we bought it.

    "a mess of pottage" is not a term that I was familiar with so had to Google it, and find it very apt in this instance.

    One can become completely unattached only if the conditions are right and it appears to contradict our sense of survival. A squirrel cannot give up its attachment to collecting nuts all summer long only to starve during winter. It is trapped in the collecting nuts version of samsara.
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited October 2007
    carbonunit wrote: »
    "a mess of pottage" is not a term that I was familiar with so had to Google it, and find it very apt in this instance.

    ..................


    It is one of the penalties of advancing age that expressions common in one's youth have ceased to be common coinage.

    Of course, the whole Esau/Jacob story of trickery, double-dealing and downright dishonesty still has something to teach us about the Israel/Palestine confrontation.
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited October 2007
    You ain't just whistlin' Dixie, bro!

    Palzang
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