Learn Buddhism: Attachment (Upadana) In Buddhism

What are we trying to end in Buddhism? The Three Fires of greed, anger, and ignorance result in karmic actions that trap us in rebirth and dukkha (suffering). But how did we get here in the first place? What "fuels" those three fires? It's Upadana. Literally "fuel", but often translated as "attachment". This is where we cling and attach to sense objects with our sense organs (we see something we like through our eyes for instance, and that gives rise to our mind/consciousness).

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Learn Buddhism.

I'm Alan Pedo.

What are we trying to end in Buddhism?

You've heard me talk about the three fires in Buddhism.

Greed,

Anger and ignorance and the resulting delusion of that because that results in karma,

Karmic actions,

These intentional volitional actions that are trapping us in the cycle of forced rebirth.

In Buddhism the goal you always hear is enlightenment,

Awakening,

Nirvana.

But what we're trying to do is be awakened to the truth the Buddha taught so we can become an enlightened being who has realized their true natural mental state of nirvana.

Why is nirvana so important?

Because nirvana is a cessation or blowing out of the three fires of greed,

Anger and ignorance.

Why is that so important?

Just imagine that your home is on fire.

Would you want to be putting more fuel on the fire?

Would you want those flames,

The three fires,

To be constantly raging and consuming your home,

Your possessions,

All that?

No,

We don't want that.

That's unsatisfactory.

That's suffering.

That's dukkha.

So this goes into a important term inside Buddhism called Upadana.

You have heard likely that Buddhism is saying don't cling to attachments.

Let attachments go.

They're talking about Upadana because it can be referred to as attachments or clinging or grasping or just words like that.

But I think the best word for it,

Which is really the real true translation for it,

Is fuel.

And that ties right in with the three fires because we are giving fuel to the three fires due to Upadana.

And why are we giving fuel,

The Upadana,

To the three fires?

Because the second component of that is this thirst or desire.

We are thirsting and desiring to give fuel to the three fires.

But why are we thirsting and desiring to give fuel to these three fires?

That seems very unusual,

Right?

Well this is because we are ignorant of the truth the Buddha taught,

The Dharma,

The Buddha Dharma.

And we don't really understand fundamentally how things exist.

Key concepts like dependent origination,

Which is so important to this,

But even the concept of non-self.

We believe we have some type of permanent unchanging independent self inside us.

But the Buddha said that's the illusion.

We are ever-changing.

We are impermanent and we are interdependent upon other things.

So that is fundamental because we are ignorant of that truth.

We don't want to see that truth.

And so we thirst and desire to things to reinforce this belief in self.

So Buddha's practice is really about breaking down this illusion of self.

Not saying that you and I don't exist right now.

We absolutely do.

But we are a temporary grouping of things called a five aggregates or five scan-huts.

And this is just a temporary grouping,

But it works so seamlessly together through a concept called nama rupa.

And I know I'm throwing a lot of terms at you,

But nama rupa is really these five aggregates and the mind is working,

The consciousness working so seamlessly together that it gives the illusion of a permanent unchanging independent self.

But your true nature is a self that is ever-changing and is impermanent and it's independent upon other things.

When you realize that true self,

That's the enlightenment.

Because when that happens,

The thirst and desire to reinforce the belief in self and putting the fuel that's raging these three fires goes away.

Because the three fires is the issue in my opinion.

It's a big issue because when you have greed,

This desire,

You know I want things right to reinforce this belief.

And when I don't get it because impermanence is constant through everything.

We don't like that.

And when it happens,

Hatred,

Anger and this is all due to ignorance of the Buddhist truth.

And so we have this delusion.

It's like going down,

Driving down the wrong side of the road.

That's not right.

That is ignorance of the truth of how we drive down the road.

But you're in this delusional state where you believe that's right until maybe you get into an accident.

Why did that happen?

You're not driving the right way.

That's why it happened.

But you don't see it that way.

So when we're looking at in the Buddhist concept of everything going on here,

We are unaware of how we should truly live and exist.

And so we create these unskillful,

Unwholesome karmic actions.

And it all ties into Upadana.

And there's a very famous sermon of the Buddha called the Fire Sermon.

I'm going to talk about that a little later on.

But I love that one and a lot of Westerners do as well because we can relate to it.

We can relate to how this sermon goes.

But it ties into Upadana very well because the Buddha is basically saying inside this sermon,

Monks everything's on fire.

And when I go through a sermon it will make better sense.

But it's like everything's on fire.

All these senses,

You know,

Everything you see,

Taste,

All that the objects and how your mind looks at it,

It's all on fire.

Because what he's saying is we are giving rise to the fire.

We're putting fuel on the fire because we are thirsting,

Craving,

Desiring.

And that makes us give this Upadana,

The fuel that gives rise to that,

To the three fires because we don't understand the truth.

So as part of that we have to realize that we have to guard our senses.

So that's really important because we don't guard our senses.

We want everything to come in and to satisfy us.

And it doesn't really satisfy us.

But when we look at what we see,

What we hear,

What we taste and feel and all this and how it interacts and with the mind,

We're giving rise to all these unwholesome states and unwholesome actions and unskillful actions because we don't truly understand what we're experiencing and what we're doing because our mind is in control.

We're not in control.

We have not tamed the mind and this is part of Buddhist practice as well to tame,

Settle the mind,

Right,

So we can gain insight to do what the Buddha taught.

Because right now is doing whatever it wants to do.

We just don't even realize that.

And so that's what's also contributing to everything.

So when we're looking at this fuel,

This Upadana,

The reason is so important when you can relate to the three fires as well.

It is giving rise,

It's fueling constant rebirth.

And I know that's still a very hard concept for a lot of us to really understand in the West,

But what we're looking at in Buddhism is this is just one existence right now.

And there'll be future existences and there was prior existences.

We're all connected by the stream of consciousness and the karmic actions inside there.

So that's so important because this identity we have right now,

This identity and belief in self that again we believe is permanent,

Unchanging,

Independent is the illusion.

What our true foundation,

What our true possessions are,

Is our actions,

Our karma.

And when we realize that,

That's liberating,

That's powerful because that makes a big difference in what we do.

So we are basically fueling this forced cycle of rebirth,

Forced trapped inside this cycle.

So our mind wants us to keep doing that.

It wants to keep these unskillful,

Unwholesome karmic actions going and trapping us.

We have to essentially fight back and we do that through Buddhist practice.

And what we have to focus on is this Upadana because when we no longer give fuel to something like the three fires,

Guess what?

They go out right?

Nirvana.

That's what we want because when I say greed,

Hatred or anger,

Ignorance,

Delusion,

Does any of that sound good to you?

This is why the three fires or even also called the three poisons is something we want to get rid of.

That's Nirvana.

Nirvana is not a bad thing.

That's the absence of those things and the actions,

The karmic actions that result from them.

So even if you don't believe in rebirth,

Those are good things to get rid of,

To eliminate,

Blow out.

So we are no longer fueling them when we have control of our senses and how we interact and understand things.

That's why you see practices such as meditative concentration inside Buddhism,

Our conduct and morality,

Our wisdom,

The three fold training inside Buddhism is all there to help us eliminate this fuel.

When we have eliminated the thirst or desire,

We're no longer seeking to fuel the three fires.

Love it.

I think this is the most wonderful thing inside Buddhism because you hear everything such as the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha's Heart,

The Noble Eiffel Path.

That's all about stopping us from fueling the three fires because we're trying to no longer have that thirst or desire for that love of self,

Ego,

That's trapping us because it's giving fuel,

Upadana,

We're seeking things out,

Fueling the three fires.

So let's go into the sermon of the Buddha on this one,

The fire servant.

And the backdrop to this,

The Buddha traveled quite a bit.

He went to lots of different places and so he actually went to this community of monks and we usually think like all monks were thinking Buddhism,

Right?

But there are many different types of religions in the region of ancient India.

So in this particular one,

These monastics were worshipping fire and this is of course a great sermon for an analogy about Upadana but it's also about them because in here,

In this community that they had,

Buddha was talking to them but you know it's getting late and where was he gonna sleep?

He said well let me sleep inside this big room that they had in the middle where the fire was,

Their whole eternal fire there.

But they were worried about that because inside that room was this snake,

This serpent inside there and they were worried he was gonna kill the Buddha.

So they may have not been following the Buddha at a time but he realized he was a holy person and respected person and all that,

Right?

And of course at a minimum he's a guest.

So Buddha's like,

Nope,

I'll be perfectly fine inside there.

And he goes inside there and his fire essentially,

The fire of truth if you will,

Was greater than this serpent was,

This snake that was inside there.

And so it died out.

It couldn't attack him,

It couldn't fight him.

And this all sounds very supernatural,

Right?

But this was something where it was very important for this particular sermon here,

For this community because that was something very important to them.

Not only this holy fire that they just kept going inside here,

Right?

But also that serpent,

That snake that's inside there,

A fire serpent.

And so where the Buddha was able to really not be affected by it,

Not die from it,

Was something that raised their eyebrows.

Like we need to listen to this person.

So with that,

Let's go into the fire sermon.

So I'm going to be reading this one from the website access2insight.

Org.

So they have many different sutras,

Which are called sutras,

In the polycanon up on there.

So I'll be abridging some of this but you'll get the gist.

Thus I heard on one occasion the Blessed One was living a Gaya together with a thousand bhikkhus.

And bhikkhus are monks.

There he addressed the bhikkhus.

Bhikkhus,

All is burning.

And what is the all that is burning?

The I is burning.

Forms are burning.

I consciousness is burning.

I contact is burning.

And whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither painful nor pleasant that arises with eye contact for its indispensable condition,

That too is burning.

Burning with what?

Burning was the fire of lust,

Was the fire of hate,

Was the fire of delusion.

I say it is burning with birth,

Aging,

And death,

With sorrows,

With lamentations,

With pains,

With griefs,

With despairs.

The ear is burning.

Sounds are burning.

The nose is burning.

Odors are burning.

The tongue is burning.

Flavors are burning.

The body is burning.

Tangibles are burning.

The mind is burning.

Ideas are burning.

Mind consciousness is burning.

Mind contact is burning.

Also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither painful nor pleasant that arises with mind contact for its indispensable condition,

That too is burning.

Burning was what?

Burning was the fire of lust,

Was the fire of hate,

Was the fire of delusion.

I say it is burning with birth,

Aging,

And death,

With sorrows,

With lamentations,

With pains,

With griefs,

With despairs.

Bhikkhus,

When a noble follower who has heard the truth sees thus,

He finds estrangement in the eye,

Finds estrangement in forms,

Finds estrangement in eye consciousness,

Finds estrangement in eye contact,

And whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither painful nor pleasant that arises with eye contact,

For it is indispensable condition,

In that too he finds estrangement.

He finds estrangement in the ear,

In sounds.

He finds estrangement in the nose,

In odors,

He finds a estrangement in the tongue,

In flavors.

He finds estrangement in the body,

In tangibles he finds a estrangement in the mind,

Finds estrangement in ideas,

Finds estrangement in mind consciousness,

Finds estrangement in mind contact,

And whatever is felt as pleasant or painful,

Or neither pleasant or painful,

That arises with mind contact,

For it is indispensable condition.

It too he finds estrangement.

When he finds estrangement,

Passion fades out.

With the fading of passion he is liberated.

When liberated there is knowledge that he is liberated.

He understands birth is exhausted.

The holy life has been lived out.

What can be done is done.

Of this there is no more beyond.

That is what the Blessed One said.

The bhikkhus were glad and they approved his words.

Now during his utterance the hearts of the thousand bhikkhus were liberated from taints through clinging no more.

And that is the fire sermon.

What was so remarkable then that those thousand bhikkhus who were not Buddhists,

They were worshipping fire,

They all became enlightened due to a sermon.

That was how remarkable it was.

The Buddha could speak to anyone in a way that they understood.

And as you learn with Upadana,

Which is fuel,

And they understood fire,

Three fires,

As you heard the Buddha talk about in here several times,

This made instant sense for them.

And with that it liberated them.

For us when we hear this we can understand portions of this.

And for some of us we get parts of this and some of us we don't.

But what's so remarkable about it,

He's saying that what you're seeing,

This beautiful maybe your car or the trees or your home and all that,

It's all on fire.

All of this is on fire.

You just don't see it.

Now not literal fire,

But it's on fire due to our sense organs and the objects we connect with,

Whatever we're seeing,

Hearing,

Touching,

All that stuff.

And how it arises in the mind.

And the mind going,

Yes,

More,

More.

I'm making my perceptions and assumptions on this.

And I'm making you because you're fueling this.

We're gonna fuel the three fires of greed,

Anger,

And ignorance.

And that's gonna result in those unskillful,

Unwholesome karmic actions.

So the Buddha is saying,

Guard yourself.

You have not been seeing that everything's on fire with all these sensual,

Sense objects and how we are interacting with it and how that's fueling the three fires.

When you guard yourself,

Guard your senses,

That is gonna make the big difference.

And when you look at enlightened beings like the Buddha,

Bodhisattvas,

Other Buddhas,

Arhats,

His followers,

They,

When they're enlightened,

They were guarding their senses.

So how we may be upset about someone says to us or what we see we don't like or we taste we don't like or what we feel or perceive all these things we are fueling the three fires.

For enlightened beings,

They understand how our sense organs are interacting with the objects and how it arises in the mind so that they are not influenced or impacted by it because they are guarding themselves.

They are aware.

We also have word mindfulness,

Right?

And there's a very secular approach to that you see everywhere nowadays but in Buddhism mindfulness is being mindful.

Mindful of all these obvious sense objects out there and your sense organs interacting with them because we are not mindful.

We are just like blindfolded going out there and bumping into everything.

We don't see what's going on.

He's saying,

Guard yourself.

And when you guard yourself,

You're no longer fueling these intense sensations or even the lack of them.

So we're seeing these hot and cold hot and cold as he's describing here.

None of that's good.

And so when you are able to understand what you're encountering and how that works you can guard yourself and not allow it to fuel those fires.

And that may sound something you don't want.

You're like,

I want to feel that sensation of love or the joy of sensation of this thing that I like or what I eat or whatever,

Right?

But it's all impermanent.

It's all ever-changing.

It's all interdependent upon other things.

We just don't realize that.

And we may intellectually understand to some degree but not fundamentally.

Enlightened beings understand it deeply,

Fundamentally.

We're not there.

That's why we practice.

So when you are able to guard your senses due to these sense objects and how it arises,

That is the liberating path.

And again,

How do we do this?

The Buddha gave us the entire path.

Whether you are following the Noble Eightfold Path or maybe for example the Six Perfections inside Mahayana Buddhism which also follows the Eightfold Path,

You are following the path and the practice that helps you understand through wisdom.

We've got a Threefold Train.

Wisdom to understand the Buddhist teachings.

So we are aware of how everything works.

Like I just described with Upadana and this Thursday craving that's giving fuel,

Upadana,

To the three fires and how it's all working with the sense organs and sense objects in the mind.

Because we don't really see that connection right now and how that's translated into karma and how it's trappiness and rebirth.

We don't get all that.

We don't understand dependent origination and non-self.

So that wisdom,

Which is fine,

Then we have to interact with our world with morality and conduct,

Generosity,

Compassion,

Loving kindness,

Charity,

All those things.

Because that transforms our mind as well too.

Because when you are thirsting and desiring things and you're putting fuel right into the three fires,

That includes things that are not wholesome.

So we want to obviously transform that into wholesome things we find on the Buddhist path which doesn't fuel up those three fires.

And then we have meditative concentration.

We need to be mindful of what's really going on around here like the Buddha is talking about.

We have to have that effort to continue on this path.

The meditative concentration to tame,

Control this mind who is thirsting and desiring all these things to fuel it,

Keep this constant process going,

Keep those three fires going.

No.

You don't want to be chained to the cycle of rebirth,

Samsara.

You want to be liberated from it.

To live as you truly should be.

Because when you look at the Buddha or the line of followers,

They were not sad people because they didn't have these sensations you're having right now.

They almost had like that calm,

Subtle smile if you will because they were enlightened.

They weren't enlightened with overwhelming joy when we get from sense pleasures or despair.

It was this joy of freedom,

Liberation,

Because now they are living as a truly can be.

There is as we close this podcast episode,

You hear about Mara in Buddhism.

This is the tempter.

This is the one who challenged Siddhartha Gautama so he wouldn't become the Buddha.

When you think about Mara,

He's all around us.

Even if you want to think about him not as the demon,

This being,

This deity who challenged the Buddha,

But even your own mind.

When you encounter all these different sensations and experiences,

Right?

That's Mara.

That's what I think.

That's Mara.

How are we gonna interact with Mara?

You look at the Buddha,

Mara didn't affect him anymore.

So Mara could do whatever he wanted to and you saw this on the Buddha's enlightenment.

Couldn't impact him.

That's what is happening here.

He saw everything Mara was doing as fire,

Flames.

He was like,

Can't affect me anymore.

I see Mara for what Mara truly is.

When we see things as they truly are,

That is freedom.

That is liberation.

That's nirvana.

Do you have any questions about Upadana or fuel,

This attachment?

I'd like to hear from you.

You can send me a message from my website,

Allenpino.

Com or on social media.

You can definitely leave a message in a comment on this podcast on Spotify.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes or anything else you'd like to bring up with me,

Please let me know and I'll look forward to talking with you in our next episode.

Thank you!

Reviews

Thank you for the lesson 😁
I am here thinking... don't we need this fire to follow buhdism and look for an "improvement" that Buda suggest? Maybe I am looking at the fire as something bad, when I should understand it is not.