Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org
Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org
Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org
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when they hear such a teaching. To many, the idea of letting<br />
go of the objects of clinging and attachment is terrifying as<br />
they feel that if they let go they will lose the happiness they<br />
have worked so hard to gain. It is precisely such terror,<br />
however, that show the truth of the Buddha’s teaching,<br />
illustrating as it does how the threat of losing the objects of<br />
one’s attachment leads one directly to suffering and distress.<br />
<strong>In</strong> order to cultivate and maintain the objects of our desire,<br />
we must engage in endless labour to acquire them and,<br />
worse, must protect them jealously against danger from<br />
thieves, villains, and natural and unnatural disasters.<br />
Whenever we let down our guard in the slightest, we risk the<br />
loss of something cherished, something on which our<br />
happiness depends. <strong>In</strong> fact, even with the best of our efforts<br />
to guard and collect pleasant experiences, we must<br />
inevitably part with all that is dear to us, leaving nothing we<br />
can truly call our own apart from our eternally unsatisfiable<br />
desire.<br />
The people, places and things we cling to as bringing us<br />
happiness are undeniably the very cause for all of our fear,<br />
worry, stress, lamentation and despair. While we are in<br />
contact with the beloved, we build up greater and greater<br />
attachment and strive harder and harder for more and more<br />
contact with them until we are inevitably forced to come to<br />
terms with our attachments when we lose what is dear to us.<br />
For some, it is this loss that leads them to question their<br />
belief in the merit of craving and clinging and decide to find<br />
a better means of seeking happiness. Some are not so lucky,<br />
dying in great anguish and despair due to never having come<br />
to terms with their attachments. Unable to see the truth of<br />
reality, such people are unable to end their lives in peace<br />
and are liable to continue their suffering after death, based<br />
on the power of their dissatisfaction.<br />
Undeniably, the Buddha’s path is a radical departure from<br />
how most people live their lives. Often, the first thing a new<br />
meditator realizes from their practice is the immensity of the<br />
challenge in just seeing things as they are, due to the<br />
profound shift in outlook it requires. One who has never paid<br />
much attention to their mental well-being will live their life<br />
treating the mind much like a garbage dump, piling on more<br />
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