Friday, March 20, 2009

ignorance & attachment

it's quite widely known that root of suffering is attachment and root of attachment is ignorance.

there is root of ignorance. it's attachment to self. so, it forms a circle: attachment augments ignorance while ignorance augments attachment. it's running in circles, therefore it's pretty hard to advance: the faster we run, the sooner we exhaust.

how does attachment to self augments ignorance? 'i know better than the one beside me.' 'i'm fed up with this all!' 'this thing is no good, i need a better one.' 'i'm too tired today.' 'i love you.' 'what entertainment should i pick next?' 'i want that!'

arrogance, rage, greed, sloth, lust, gluttony, envy. familiar eh? each of them denies learning. lack of learning encourages each one of them. all come from the idea that 'i' exists.

i know how it sounds. no fun. smells of apathy. pretty sad.

why does it sound that? we have all been taught this way since birth. there are things we are taught to despise and others to admire. neither brings peace.

good luck.
mickael

6 comments:

Barry said...

The Buddha referred to arrogance, rage, greed, etc., as Mara.

Each of these are aspects of our conditioned self and, until we "un-condition" ourselves, we will run in the circle that you describe so well.

Thanks, Mickael!

mickael said...

thank you, Barry. being out of any particular tradition i rather am lame with terminology.

good luck.
mickael

Ted Bagley said...

I would have to counter that the root of suffering is not attachment as attachment comes after mis-recognition of the self. No suffering arises with attachment to correct recognition of no-self and requires no conditioning.
The conditioning of a self came from the mis-recognition and wanting to decondition would support the original mis-recognition.

mickael said...

what is the correct recognition of no-self? :)

good luck.
mickael

Ted Bagley said...

No-recognition. ;)

mickael said...

black sand.

(bows)

(leaves)