Buddhist Belief — Are You Attached to Anything?
“The wise ones, ever meditative and steadfastly persevering, alone experience Nirvana, the incomparable freedom from bondage.”~~~ Buddha
Ahh, yes, the Third Noble Truth — the end of suffering! A few days ago I wrote about how in Buddhist Belief you can have an end to your dissatisfactions in life just by ceasing to give in to your clinging, craving and attachments. I wrote that Nirvana is just a moment away from every one of us. I wrote that this word, Nirvana, merely means the extinction or annihilation of suffering. To me, it also means beautiful inner peace. All we need to do to find this great inner peace is to let go of our neediness, our clinging, our craving, our attachments, our delusions, and our greed. It’s a matter of choice, isn’t it? We can choose to give up on all the reasons why we are so dissatisfied, or we can chose not to do it. The choice is always ours — and it’s a choice we make every moment of every day.
It’s interesting that I wrote about giving up on greed at a time when my country is undergoing the extreme suffering brought about by greed. If this financial crisis isn’t major proof for what Buddha taught about how greed would make us suffer, I don’t know what is. (To see my explanation on how this all came about go to one of my other blogs where I talk about this sort of thing. I don’t want to spend time here in Buddhist Belief discussing this political mess, so here’s a link to my article on how greed has brought an entire country — and potentially the world — to the ultimate in suffering.)
One of the things we have to relinquish in our lives in order to find the ultimate inner peace is our attachment to things. There were a couple of questions emailed to me about attachment. The questioners were equating detachment (the opposite of attachment) with indifference. The younger you are the more likely you’ll feel detachment and renunciation are pretty scary concepts. Perhaps exploring this a little more may help.
Detachment doesn’t imply giving up anything or not caring about something. It does mean letting go of your attachment to something or your expectation from it.
An example would be your family. Buddha doesn’t expect you to give up your family. I know, the Life Story of Buddha films I showed in some of the previous articles here, told how he did give up his family, but I don’t believe he is saying you should do the same. It isn’t the family members themselves making us less than satisfied at times, it’s our attachment or our expectations of our loved ones that gets under our skin. Think about this for a minute. Perhaps you have children who are no longer living with you and you may not feel they visit you enough. The Third Noble Truth isn’t telling you to give up your children. Not at all. It is saying to rethink your expectations about how often they should visit you. It’s your expectation making you unhappy, isn’t it?
What about all the ways we’re involved in our day-to-day lives? Our work is a good example. What happens when we take a couple of weeks off. Perhaps the first day or so we’re still attached to what’s happening back at the office. We’re worried whether people are meeting our expectations. Then, after a couple of days of sleeping later — hanging out at the beach or wherever — keeping a leisurely pace — sight seeing — enjoying casual dining — spending some time with a good book — you get a chance to look at what being away from all the pressure of work can mean to you. You’ll notice how much more you feel relaxed and content. You may even notice new and creative ideas coming into your mind. Physically and mentally you are suffering less — you’re more satisfied. Your expectations — your attachments to all the things related to your work have been put on the back burner for a while. As a result, your level of stress and suffering are greatly diminished. The often overlooked secret here is not to become too attached to this more relaxed life, but to merely accept the enjoyment it brings you. If you happen to allow yourself to become attached to your vacation life, you’ll feel more disappointment when it’s time to return to work. Just accept and enjoy what is in every moment. Do this, and dissatisfaction will cease.
The attachment aspect of craving and clinging is difficult to wrap our minds around, I know. If we’re to be spiritually detached it means we are to have an unconditional openness to everything.
Let me try to explain it another way. We don’t want pain — however, we also don’t want to give up pleasure. Whichever side of this coin is facing up, it’s still desire. You desire to give up pain — but you also desire to hang on to pleasure. It’s a real problem for all of us — we want what we want, but we also don’t want what we don’t want. Either way, it’s still wanting — it’s still craving — it’s still desire — and ultimately, it still brings us dissatisfaction, either way. Most of us are constantly on the, “I want it — I don’t want it”, merry-go-round. (As I write this and think about how it affects my own life, the truth of it makes me tired.)
One more thought before we wrap up this post to Buddhist Belief. The Third Noble Truth is telling us to learn to live without all our selfish passions. It’s telling us find ways to simplify our lives. Among the best ways to accomplish this is to be more open, honest and trustworthy. If we live this way we don’t have so many things to worry about — and worry is just another form of suffering. Our thought processes are clear and less cluttered. We don’t have to try and remember what story we told to this person — or what story we told to that person — because we know we’ve told the truth to everyone. Our moral discipline and our character are so important to holding suffering at bay. This also includes being completely honest with ourselves. Many things will come into our lives for us to use. When they’ve served their purpose, we can put them away with no regrets. True detachment is not being stuck with anything — not your things — not your ego — not your mind — or your body. None of it is permanent anyway — just let these things go when you’re done with them. What other choice do you really have, anyway?
Next time I hope to write about anger and how it fits into the Third Noble Truth of Buddhist Belief.
Just below I’m repeating my “commercial” for the Spiritual Cinema Circle that I added on here last time. If you didn’t get a chance to check this out last time, I hope you’ll take a moment to do so today.
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I’ve been a member of the Spiritual Cinema Circle for several years. This membership has been a wonderful pleasure. Each month I get a DVD with a feature film and 3 shorter films. It’s mine to keep. I don’t have to send it back. So I can share it with friends or watch them again whenever the mood strikes.
This coming month it stars Michael Douglas as he digs for love and buried treasure in the feature film, King of California.
Yes, from our friends at Spiritual Cinema Circle, comes King of California, a quirky, fascinating, and original movie starring Academy Award® winning actor Michael Douglas. Douglas plays Charlie, whom we meet as he is released from a mental institution, although it’s not quite clear whether he is “cured.” Waiting for Charlie at home is his teenage daughter, Miranda, played by the gifted young actress, Evan Rachel Wood. Any hopes Miranda has for a return to normalcy, however, are immediately dashed as Charlie enlists her in a hunt for Spanish treasure. The Don Quixote-like quest results in a dig beneath the local Costco. The loving, confrontational, and extremely complex father-daughter relationship between Charlie and Miranda is tested and strengthened throughout the film, culminating in a surprise ending.
Also, we have: Monsoon (Short Film): Beautifully shot in Mumbai, India, this film asks how we can honor and respect our loved ones’ wishes, even if they are contrary to our own.
And …Tocar Y Luchar (Short Film): An incredible story in a time when turning a country around seems almost impossible — here’s proof that it’s not.
Plus … Detour (Short Film): In this intriguing short film, Julia intends to leave the traffic jam of her life behind until she meets a strange character who gives her a new perspective.
Receive King of California and the 3 great short films free (plus nominal shipping fee), by visiting Spiritual Cinema Circle at this link:
Spiritual Cinema Circle Free Trial
– be sure to do this before October10.
Here are some video clips so you can get a glimpse of what’s being offered:
Enjoy the films,
I know I sure do — they’re a bright spot in every month.
“Spiritual Cinema Circle is providing a great service to those who want to evolve and be entertained at the same time.”~~~ Deepak Chopra
Start your Free Trial Today — Click the link below…
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Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”~~~ Buddha
Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”~~~ Buddha
Have a peaceful day!! —
Ron Rink
http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com
Tags: Buddhist Belief, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth, Nirvana, inner peace, peace, attachment, detachment
Tags: attachment, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, detachment, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, inner peace, Nirvana, Peace, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth
September 29th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Hi Ron,
I read this quote, and thought of you “A noble heart never forces itself forward. Its words are as rare gems, seldom displayed and of great value.”
And what a rare gem of wisdom you are
The subject of attachment and neediness is something that few people seem able to express in a way that is easily understood, yet you have written this eliquent and thought provoking post so well!
September 30th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Hi Jon — Thanks so much for the kind words. My hope is that all the posts will be in language everyone can understand. It’s a challenge I truly enjoy and it does my heart good to see comments like yours.
Thank you again.
Be well — Be in Peace ..
Ron