Anapanasati 19: Fading Of Attachment

This short talk is on the second step of the fourth group of Anapanasati contemplations, the fading of attachment. Remembering the ideas of interdependence and no-self, we delve into the "implications of impermanence" as we consider our relationship to attachments. Our development of a lived experience of impermanence is the foundation for insight, Bikkhu Analayo tells us. "We allow the flow of impermanence to wash out our passions and attachments, generating a genuine thrust toward liberation.”

Transcript

So,

You know,

We're moving into the fourth set of contemplations here in Anapanasati.

Contemplations of Dharma or objects of mind.

And the concepts that we've been discussing over the past couple of months are beginning to dovetail and to deepen.

Ideas such as mindful attention,

Receptive attention,

The ability to perceive and to calm our bodies,

Dwelling with the breath,

A sense of contentment in the present moment,

To see and understand our reactive feelings as they arise and pass away,

And in doing so,

Allowing them to calm and to bring that same understanding to our mind,

Seeing the arising and passing away of suffering thoughts,

Allowing our minds to calm and to become more concentrated.

And each of these contributes in its own way to our sense of well-being.

And this is not to be undervalued.

The times in which we live require a significant amount of management,

You know,

Negotiation and navigation of situations,

Many of which are well beyond our control.

So finding our way forward with equanimity,

Loving kindness for self and others,

Compassion for all beings,

A lot of times this feels like threading a needle.

We need spiritual rest.

And the calming of our body,

Feelings and mind which result from anapanasati contemplations,

These can bring welcome relief.

But as we've been discussing,

There is deeper work here.

There's deeper practice and insight to be gained,

Which can help us toward a greater and more profound relief of suffering.

Impermanence is something we've discussed throughout our investigation and practice of anapanasati and its importance is clarified by its presence as the first contemplation and the fourth grouping of contemplations,

The objects of mind.

Indeed,

We've seen how impermanence manifests throughout all of our contemplations,

Not just conceptually,

But as manifest reality.

The breath moves in and out.

One breath ends and the next begins.

Each inhalation different than the next,

Each exhalation unique.

We contemplate our bodies and we know that they change and an itch comes and goes.

Our hair grows,

Our knees fail,

We're born,

We grow,

We die.

Our feelings and thoughts are similarly subject to change and we use mindfulness to observe them as they rise and fall.

Anger rages like a fire and is quenched by time.

Tears,

Feelings of inadequacy,

Moments of joy,

All of these rise and fall like stepping each day into a flowing stream different each morning than from the day before.

Interdependence too is something we spent a lot of time considering.

The idea that things come into being when conditions cause them to rise and pass out of being when those conditions change.

Impermanence is part of that,

But more importantly is the reality that all things depend upon other things for their being,

That nothing exists independently.

Which brings us to the third thing that we've been considering besides impermanence and interdependence or rather the thing we've been considering as a natural result of those two which is no self.

A few weeks ago we spoke of the five skandhas,

The five elements of our being,

Physical form,

Feelings,

Perceptions,

Thought,

Consciousness.

How each of these is impermanent,

Subject not only to passing away but simply to change year by year,

Day to day,

Moment to moment as we move from one experience to the next.

And if each of these is subject to change,

We asked a few weeks ago,

How can any one of them constitute a permanent,

Ongoing,

Unchanging self?

The reality is that each of these exists in a state of dependent co-arising,

Which is an idea we've spoken about many times.

Physical form can't last long without thought and consciousness.

Our feelings depend on our perceptions,

Our perceptions depend on our senses,

And both of these are dependent upon the workings of the mind.

Consciousness itself is dependent on the interplay between all of these other four.

Impermanence,

Independence,

No self,

It's these which form the basis of insight in the scheme of anapanasati contemplations.

It's these which lead us to a sense of liberation that we speak of in the last contemplation of the mind.

Breathing in,

I liberate my mind.

Breathing out,

I liberate my mind.

And from what?

From the hindrances which mire us in suffering and keep us from clarity and insight,

Sensory desire,

Doubt,

Ill will,

Spiritual laziness,

Restlessness.

So we come into the fourth set of contemplations having already well discussed the first of them.

Breathing in,

I contemplate impermanence.

Breathing out,

I contemplate impermanence.

But it's now that a conceptual understanding of impermanence,

You know,

It can't suffice.

We can understand it and we can know that it's real wherever we turn,

That we find it in each of our contemplations,

We can talk about it all we want.

But that alone won't do.

It's not enough to know about impermanence.

We have to feel it.

It has to be a lived reality,

Something in our bones,

Not just our minds.

And we gain this experiential presence of impermanence through observing its reality as we move through each of the contemplations.

Impermanence in the breath,

Impermanence in the body,

Impermanence in our mindful contentment and joy in each and all of our feelings,

Impermanence in the workings of our mind.

This is the first step toward real insight.

And it's this that we have to practice diligently with right effort,

Right mindfulness,

Right concentration.

And as our lived experience of impermanence deepens,

We can begin to grapple with the next contemplation.

And this is where I am,

Grappling here.

Breathing in,

I contemplate the fading away of attachments.

Breathing out,

I contemplate the fading of attachments.

Call it clinging or aversion as we come to see the inevitability of rising and passing away as we feel it in the marrow,

Letting go,

Open-handed release can begin to happen more naturally.

And I know that the pain in my leg during meditation rises,

It's perceived.

And if I don't hold it,

It's going to naturally pass.

By the same token,

Suffering thoughts may arise and have no more reality than the sound that we hear or the pain in our leg.

And if we can begin to see this,

Our passion for our thoughts and for our feelings begins to fade.

It's not that thoughts would stop.

Mine certainly have not.

Or that we don't feel discomfort in meditation.

But as Larry Rosenberg says,

These things may come up again and again,

But we no longer rise to take the bait.

Little by little,

He says,

The process of attachment gets purified and finally we see things as they are,

Not mixed in with our history or what we've learned.

And as this happens,

Our attachments themselves begin to fade.

This is not something we have to try for,

He says,

It's something which through practice and over time simply happens.

So my understanding as I'm working myself into this fourth set of contemplations that we need to allow the implications of impermanence to sink in and to transform our minds.

Bhikkhu Nāyu calls this cultivating dispassion,

Appreciating the constant change and eventual disappearance of phenomena,

He writes,

Will undermine whatever passion we have for them,

Ultimately revealing their unsatisfactory nature,

Our attachment as dukkha,

Suffering.

Our development of a lived experience of impermanence is the foundation for insight,

Nāyu says.

He writes,

We allow the flow of impermanence to wash out our passions and attachments,

Generating a genuine thrust toward liberation.

So the second contemplation of the last set of four,

Breathing in,

I contemplate dispassion,

The fading away of attachment,

Breathing out,

I contemplate dispassion,

The fading away of attachment,

Which is a different thing altogether than seeing attachment and consciously letting go.

What is it to be in a state where attachment is not arising as strongly and eventually doesn't arise in the first place?

To do this,

We have to be grounded in our bodies,

In our breath,

Spend time with our feelings,

With the contents of our mind,

Understanding impermanence,

Allowing things to rise and fall without attachment,

Without holding,

Without pushing away,

Everything we've been talking about.

This is really where the rubber meets the road,

So to speak.

So wherever you are in this overall scheme of 16 steps,

What I want you to do this evening as you sit is to consider,

Especially the rising and falling of phenomena,

Consider and observe the ways in which you grasp after these things.

Consider and observe the aversions that you feel.

Not telling yourself that you shouldn't be doing these things,

Simply observing.

So let's go ahead and do a guided meditation.

Find your comfortable meditation posture.

Upright.

Not rigid.

Your head straight.

Your eyes closed or gently cast down.

Hands in your lap or in a meditation mudra.

Take a few breaths,

Feel yourself settle.

Consider the space you're in,

Bring a sense of gratitude for the protection that it offers you for this opportunity to practice.

Gratitude for these teachings which have come down to us through the generations of 2600 years.

Gratitude for this small Sangha assembled.

Phalt of the Tilapia.

Take a moment to allow a field of mindfulness to naturally develop around you.

Bring your mindfulness to your breath and with each inhalation,

With each exhalation,

Feel your mindfulness deepen and expand.

Feel the movement of your belly expanding with each inhalation,

Moving back in with the exhalation.

Welcome your breath.

Your breath is your closest friend,

Your closest ally.

And as you breathe in mindfulness and in the moment,

Consider the manifestation of impermanence in the breath itself.

Each moment of the inhalation different than the last.

The inhalation ends,

The exhalation begins.

A cycle that changes,

A cycle that repeats.

Consider the same twice.

Indeed,

Our breathing will one day cease.

The breath of life is by its very nature limited,

Impermanent.

Let your mindfulness begin to expand out through your body.

Feel the energy of it suffusing through your entire body.

Feel yourself in your meditation posture rooted and strong in this moment.

Allow your body to calm.

Feel the tensions which may remain.

Let them drop away.

And yet know that the body too,

Like the breath,

Is of its nature impermanent.

Changing over the years,

Changing each moment.

Cells die,

Cells are created.

Pains come,

Pains go.

Our body is subject to change.

How can it be the basis of self?

It's changing and permanent.

Can we greet body and breath with a sense of open-handed release,

Not attachment to what we know to be impermanent?

Not without value,

Not something we don't take care of,

But to which we do not cling.

Feel contentment.

Feel contentment in your sitting.

Let your mindfulness of breath and body begin to recede into your peripheral awareness.

Open yourselves to the feeling of contentment,

That which can be found only in the moment.

We feel contentment in response to what happens around us in the same way that we experience other feelings in response to what happens around us.

Things are our reactive patterns.

They cause us surface level discomfort and they often cause us to react and act toward others in a way which can cause real suffering for them.

We speak unkindly.

We avert our gaze.

We demonstrate our irritation,

Impatience.

Our feelings can be strong,

But like the body,

Like the breath,

They aren't permanent.

Our work is to see them as they arise,

As they exist and we understand them and as they pass away,

Which they will if we don't feed them with our clinging and with our aversion.

Our feelings come,

Our feelings go.

They are not permanent,

They change.

How can they represent a permanent sense of self?

Through your recognition and non-attachment of feelings,

Experience their calming.

Learn how to practice non-attachment of feelings in the face of impermanence,

A skill which we take from the meditation cushion out into the world with us,

Leading us into light action,

Skillful behaviors.

Our bodies are not us.

They don't constitute a self.

Our feelings are not us.

They don't constitute a self.

How can they?

As the winds of your feelings calm,

Consider the deeper realization of the mind.

Breathing in,

The sutra tells us,

I am aware of my mind.

When it's here,

We wander in the wilds of suffering.

Throughout our lives,

We've had joy,

Pain,

Fear,

Love,

Loss.

These live in our thoughts.

They visit us and we suffer.

Bring your mindfulness to the nature of your mind without judgment,

Just clarity.

Like everything else,

Our thoughts are impermanent.

What I suffer with today,

I did not suffer with yesterday and I may not suffer with tomorrow.

Our thoughts rise.

They exist and we see them and understand them and they pass away.

Our work here is to allow that process.

Without clinging,

Without aversion,

Just clarity.

What is it to be with our thoughts with open-handed release?

Feel their impermanence as a lived experience.

Something that is as true as breathing.

And as we develop this skill,

We find a sense of gladness.

And our gladness leads us to deeper involvement with meditation,

Increased concentration.

Until finally we can begin to approach the idea of liberation.

And it's only here at the twelfth step that the Buddha brought forward the idea of liberation.

If we live the reality of impermanence with our thoughts,

If we practice with our thoughts with open-handed release and sensual desire,

Feelings of ill will,

Fear,

Doubt,

They lose their hold because we're not holding them.

And we can be glad.

Many of us are Alicia Tibbs.

Tables.

Let's take a few minutes if you'd like to get up and stretch or do some walking meditation,

Maintaining if you can your sense of presence.

We hear a lower sounding bell in a couple of minutes.

We'll invite you back to your seat and we'll have a period of quiet meditation.