Sep 15

Kalu Rinpoche | How do we let go of the attachment? (Part 2)

Q: How do we let go of the attachment? We know it’s not good. But it’s very difficult to let go, any advice?

A: If you hear the biography of all the different masters based on what other people are saying, then you have this kind of perception of the samsara little bit like, ‘Oh, yeah, you read a few lines, like, oh, everything is illusion. Everything is samsara, suffering. Reality of suffering, there’s nothing exist. So therefore, it is a waste of time to go in this direction, therefore only practice Dharma’ and then it kind of becomes a little bit like a chanting, not really to the heart.

We have to bring it to the heart. We may not have a capacity to abandon the worldly life right away. But the little effort that we are actually making, we have to keep it genuine. I think that is very important. So, the little effort that we’re making every day, we have to keep it genuine. You don’t have to leave your apartment, your home, your families, your job and all that. But every little practice that you do, there’s always a four basic advice. Reminding ourselves the meaning of impermanence. The reminding ourselves the preciousness of human life, and seeing the reality of suffering, the illusion of suffering, all that has to examine genuinely from the heart at least one drop, a few drops in the lake, a few drops of water in the lake. At least start like that. And I think that is a really important and it really brings a great impact in the Dharma practice.

But if you try to show to other people saying that, ‘Look at me. I made a clear renouncement. I’m most supreme, I’m better than other people. Look at me, I shave off my head, and I’m so clean and I’m superior and I’m great and I’m perfect. ” But in the reality, anything that there is a duality of mind , you are still in samsara. Samsara is not based on the object. Ultimately the samsara meaning is as long as there’s a duality of mind, there is an illusion of mind, and long as there is an illusion of mind, there’s a reality of the samsara in it. Your body can be in a mountain, but your mind can be traveling around the world.

So, I think that is very much important to keep in mind that the meaning of renunciation is a gradual progress. It’s not a one-time thing. If you look at the Buddha Shakyamuni’s history, and the biography, he examined all the reality of the suffering, one after another, slowly, gradually, then he doesn’t see the purpose of living a life like that anymore. Then he abandoned with a clear meaning of renunciation.

 

With love and respect
Kalu Rinpoche
Facebook live Q&A
12, Jul. 2020

To be continued…