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Letting GO

Just a little confused on the issue of letting go. Is it something that we "discard totally?" or it is a method of moving back from it - not attached, not get personalized. Looks like it is just a 50/50 thing.

Comments

  • 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

    Letting go means embracing something fully while you have it, but releasing it willingly, when it's time for it to end. That goes for anything.

    mockeymindJeffreyanataman
  • so it is a state of mind where we choose to see things differently. maybe seeing in a larger perspective so non attachment could be achieved?

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    Yes, a state of mind resulting from practice.

    mockeymindlobstermmo
  • misecmisc1misecmisc1 I am a Hindu India Veteran

    letting go refers to letting go of attachment and aversion towards phenomena and seeing things 'just as they are'.

    lobster
  • Me haz plan!

    EarthninjaBuddhadragonmmoanataman
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    I said that once here and got quite a backlash.
  • RodrigoRodrigo São Paulo, Brazil Veteran

    For instance, if this glass were to break, normally you would experience suffering. We know that this glass will be a cause for suffering, so we get rid of the cause. All dhammas arise because of a cause. They must also cease because of a cause. Now if there is suffering on account of this glass here, we should let go of this cause. If we reflect beforehand that this glass is already broken, even when it isn't, the cause ceases. When there is no longer any cause, that suffering is no longer able to exist, it ceases. This is cessation.

    Ajahn Chah

    Earthninjamockeymind
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    I think "letting go" is really a modern take on equanimity ( upekkha )

    http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/a/Buddhism-And-Equanimity.htm

    lobsterDavid
  • EarthninjaEarthninja Wanderer West Australia Veteran
    Alan Watts says you don't have to let go, because there's really nothing to hold onto to.
    Everything is in constant decay, all a process of falling apart. So when we realise this and stop clinging. We get an access of power, and power obtained from letting go, is power through which we can be trusted.
    lobsterShoshinanataman
  • @DhammaDragon Let go or be dragged"
    (Zen Proverb)

    Well said ---

    mmo
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    @Earthninja said:> Alan Watts says you don't have to let go, because there's really nothing to hold onto to.> Everything is in constant decay, all a process of falling apart. So when we realise this and stop clinging. We get an access of power, and power obtained from letting go, is power through which we can be trusted.

    Sure. But the realisation is much easier said than done.

  • 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

    @ourself said:
    I said that once here and got quite a backlash.

    Ah, how times change....! :D Nothing ever stays the same, does it?

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited April 2015

    it means gain and loss are a worldly wind. Can't make the wind go or make hot and cold go.

    Eliz
  • EarthninjaEarthninja Wanderer West Australia Veteran
    @SpinyNorman I think it's a slow process that happens spontaneously like you said. This one is more through inquiry rather than spaciousness.
    When you sit there and feel your heart beat and ponder impermanence. You get less attached to yourself m.
  • I think it improves to notice thoughts as thoughts.

    Earthninja
  • Spaciousness is a quality of mind that is already there. We don't have to notice it for it to be there. In pondering even there is automatically spaciousness, clarity (awareness), and sensitivity.

    lobster
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    @mockeymind Letting go tis the paradox of Buddhist thinking...

    The knack is to see thought as thought and nothing more ( just movement confined to the brain) so when those nasty attachment thoughts of me my mine arise, with Awareness's help the mind can be coated with Teflon so nothing sticks, hence no need to let go.... "It came ...It saw...It was conquered !"

    Meditation is the key to understanding what is meant by letting go and no amount of words of advice are going to do the letting go for you ...

    'Experienced' is where it's all at....

    Moment to moment everything is a constant state of flux...If one clings,(or tries to cling) one will eventually suffer...

    "Sabba dhamma nalam abhinivesaya" "Nothing whatsoever should be clung to!"

    Even the idea of letting go...


    When one let's go of letting go then in its place just being will arise...( Well that's the Dharma text book version of events)

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited April 2015

    @Earthninja said:> SpinyNorman I think it's a slow process that happens spontaneously like you said. This one is more through inquiry rather than spaciousness.
    When you sit there and feel your heart beat and ponder impermanence. You get less attached to yourself.

    Yes, I think this is the difference between prioritising samatha and prioritising vipassana.
    Though with the usual caveat that these are really two sides of the same coin, calm and clarity.

    Earthninja
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