Meditation On Attachment & Its Antidotes

Join Venerable Sangye Khadro in examining attachment, the difficulty it causes, and the antidotes to overcome it. According to Buddhism, attachment grasps at a pleasant object or person and exaggerates its good qualities to the extent that we might feel miserable without it. This clinging disturbs our calm and can be an obstacle to successful meditation. Reflecting on our experiences, we can recognize the impermanence of the things we grasp and allow our love and compassion to grow instead.

Transcript

So, Today we'll do a meditation on attachment. So we'll bring to mind an actual experience that we have of attachment, And then just look at that state of mind to see if we can recognize what Buddhism says, That it brings problems, It disturbs our mind, And so on. And then we'll look at a few methods we can use to decrease our attachment. So let's begin. Make yourselves comfortable. Take a few minutes to settle down. Let your body be as relaxed as possible while still sitting up straight. And let your mind settle down in the present, Right here, Right now, Putting aside thoughts of the past, Or the future, Or other places. So really decide to keep your mind focused on the here and now, And on the meditation that we are doing. And let's also bring into our mind a positive motivation for doing this meditation. So we all do have feelings of concern for other people, Other beings. Wish them to be free of suffering, Problems, Difficulties, And wish them to have peace and happiness. Bring those thoughts and feelings into your mind, Into your heart. And then have the aspiration that you will learn something in this meditation that will help you to be more helpful to others and to the world. And if you're comfortable with the idea of enlightenment, You can feel the wish that this meditation will be a step towards enlightenment, Helping us get closer to enlightenment so we can become more and more beneficial to others. Thank you. Now, Bring to mind an experience you have of attachment towards some object. So it could be one of your possessions or a certain type of food you like to eat or beverage you like to drink or an activity you like to do, Kind of sports or exercise. So there's probably lots of things we have attachment to. So just choose one and I'll remind you of the meaning of attachment. So it's what arises in our mind towards some object or activity or person that we find pleasant, Attractive, Enjoyable. And there's a certain element of exaggeration, Seeing the object is much more wonderful than it really is. And a sense of kind of wanting to own it, Possess it, Keep it close to us or keep doing it again and again in the case of an activity. And maybe even a sense of feeling, I can't be happy without that object. I need it in order to be happy. So those are some of the things involved in attachment. It's a sort of clinging, Grasping to some object. So bring to mind one such object towards which you have this state of mind. So according to Buddhism, Attachment or craving, Grasping is a delusion. It's a factor that disturbs our mind and it can also lead to suffering and problems. So let's explore that, See if it's true or not. So try to remember what your mind is like when there's attachment, Desire, Craving, Greed. Your mind calm, Peaceful, Clear, Or is it agitated, Restless? That's the quality of mind when there's attachment there. And can you remember a time when attachment is a of problems, Difficulties, Even when girls, Languages Pa Kidman told them to stay on just for yourself or maybe for other people in the relationship with someone else. And one problem that attachment can lead to, And probably all of us have experienced this problem, Is feeling sad and happy or even grief when we separate from the object. For example, If it's lost or it breaks or it's stolen, So we no longer have that object of our attachment, And we can really suffer as a result of that. So see if you can remember having that experience. So those are some of the problems of attachment that we can experience in an immediate sense. But another problem with attachment is that it can sometimes motivate us to do actions that are unethical, I. E. Create bad karma, Maybe even illegal, And therefore we're creating the cause to experience suffering later on, Either later in this life or in future lives. And Buddhism says it's also an obstacle to the practice of meditation, Being successful in our meditation, Because often our mind is distracted from our meditation object because of attachment, Remembering pleasant experiences from the past or fantasizing about ones we would like to experience in the future and so on. So most of the time when our mind is distracted in meditation, It's because of attachment. So that means attachment is the hindrance to attaining higher, More pure states of mind, Like calm abiding, And then of course the highest goals of liberation and enlightenment. So if you do recognize faults and shortcomings to this state of mind and would like to reduce it, There's a few different methods we can use. One is impermanence. So the things that we're attached to, People, Objects, And so on, Are subject to change, Like they are changing all the time, Every minute, Every second, And as they change they degenerate, They get older, And eventually at some point in time they will no longer exist, They won't be there anymore. So bring to mind that object of attachment you thought of at the beginning, The thing you're attached to. Just contemplate how this is changing, Getting older, Won't last forever, And ask yourself, Is it really worth being attached to? So you know. Another aspect of impermanence is death. So one day we will die. That is something inevitable, Unavoidable, And when we do die, We have to leave behind everything, All of our possessions, Our enjoyments, Our family and friends, And so on. And if we still have attachment at that time, If we're still attached to our things and to people and very sad, Very reluctant about letting them go and separating from them, Then imagine how that would make it difficult for you to die with a peaceful state of mind, How your mind would be disturbed by attachment at that point in time. So when it comes to people, Family, Friends, And so on, Thinking about separating from them is very painful. We don't even like to think about that. But the reason it's painful is because of attachment. And attachment is not the same as love. There is a difference between attachment and love. And so ideally, We try to reduce our attachment, Let go of our attachment, But increase our love and our compassion, Our warm, Positive feelings for others, Wishing them happiness, Wishing them to be free of suffering, Wishing to help them as much as we can. So if we work on increasing those feelings and decreasing our attachment, Which is more about me, My happiness, Then we won't have that pain, That sadness, That grief when we do have to separate from loved ones. So this is something that takes time to work on. It is possible to do, But we do have to put in time and energy and make our mind familiar with these different ideas and different contemplations. So see if you can bring your meditation to a conclusion by deciding to work on decreasing attachment, Seeing how that disturbs your mind and creates problems rather than happiness, And on the other hand, To increase genuine unselfish love and compassion for others, Which brings real joy in your heart, In your relationships with others. And finally, Make a dedication of the merit, The positive energy of doing this meditation, Just as we had as our motivation at the beginning, We wish to benefit others. We can now dedicate this positive energy that it will bring genuine peace and happiness and freedom from suffering to all living beings.

Reviews

It's encouraging to know that there is a pathway out of self grasping attachment. Thank you!

Excellent teaching. Thank you 🙌