So let's begin right now getting ourselves resettled in the room.
Get yourself in an upright position on your cushion or your chair.
Make sure your spine is upright and relaxed.
You can tilt your head down slightly and lower your eyes,
But don't close them.
That will give rise to snoring and sleeping and drowsiness.
You can have your right hand resting on your left with your thumbs touching,
Sitting on your lap.
So let's take the next couple of moments,
Minutes,
Just to focus our mind on some breathing meditation to get settled.
I'll set a short motivation and then we'll continue with the practice.
So let's cultivate our motivation.
To quote Kenshir John Patek Chok,
He says,
Unless we recollect death,
We will not stop our attachments to the pleasures of this life,
And this will create many problems.
For the sake of these pleasures,
We may kill,
We may steal,
We may have extramarital affairs,
We will lie,
We'll cause disharmony,
Or we'll speak harshly to others.
And then eventually we will have to face the suffering that these actions produce.
When we don't think about death,
We're overwhelmed by attraction to the appearances of this life.
We have all the arguments and strife that come from a mind that is partial and segregates the world into friends to whom we're attached,
And disagreeable people whom we dislike.
On the other hand now,
Before we die,
Right this minute,
If we remember death,
We will remember the Dharma.
So now as we shift our focus to the breath,
Each time our mind leaps off of the object,
With great kindness and gentleness,
Bring your mind back to the breath.
The analytical meditation that we'll begin now is based on verse 21.
The misery of attachment.
Sensual pleasures are like salt water.
The more you indulge,
The more thirst increases.
Abandon at once those things which breed clinging attachment.
This is the practice of bodhisattvas.
As been pointed out many,
Many times,
Attachment is really tricky.
And until we meet the Dharma,
It's not anything we're prepared to address,
Or give up,
Or see as negative.
It's what makes me happy.
So don't mess with that.
The Buddhist definition of attachment is an attitude that clings to a person or an object,
Or an idea,
As a source of happiness.
The key word there is clinging,
Which leads to craving.
So we're going to start this Lam Rim meditation right now by looking at,
Reflecting on,
The conclusion that we want to arrive at first.
Because when we know this,
It'll prevent us from going off in tangents that get us confused or upset.
So this is what we're trying to get at,
To see attachment that is actually not our friend.
It's not going to bring us happiness.
It may be fleeting in the moment,
But it's a thief destroying our peace of mind.
And when we recognize the disadvantages of attachment,
Only then can we start letting go.
So let's bring to mind,
Right now,
People,
Things,
Ideas,
Places that we're attached to,
And make specific examples in your mind.
It's actually good to make a written list of this,
But right now we're meditating on it.
But later on,
Leave a list.
You'd be amazed at how long the list can be.
So people who you're really attached to,
That you would describe as your love,
Places,
Your brilliant ideas,
Things.
And now let's pare it down.
Let's choose a person that we're attached to.
And persons can include your favorite kitty,
Your dog,
Your pet snake,
Whatever it is.
How does that person or beloved pet appear to you?
And as you consider their qualities,
Honestly look and ask yourself,
Does this person really have all the qualities that I attribute to them?
Do they really?
And then as we continue to look at this beloved person,
Start looking at the expectations that you have of that person.
They're very likely unrealistic,
As expectations mostly are.
And then we will fall into the trap of thinking that person is actually always going to be there for us.
Always.
And they will continuously make me happy,
Because that's what beloved ones do.
They're always there.
They're always going to make me happy.
They're there to cheer me up,
To support me,
To encourage me,
To take my side.
So go looking for the other unrealistic expectations that you may have had of that person,
Or perhaps it's still lurking around in your mind.
And the next point really goes in deeply to expose the misery that comes from attachment.
It's total misery.
How does your attachment make you act?
What have you done to get your object of attachment?
What have you done in the past to get that person?
How did we all compromise our ethical standards to get what we wanted?
And then what kind of relationships did we get into?
Perhaps they were very unhealthy.
What did we do to get this person that was manipulative or aggressive?
And so as you reflect on these,
Don't go into guilt.
These can be purified.
But let's take a look directly and barely,
Looking right at it,
What attachment has driven us to do.
So in conclusion,
Let's again see attachment not as our friend,
But as this thief destroying our peace of mind.
And when we see this clearly,
Then we can let go of it bit by bit.
