Good morning friend,
Attachment - To the habit of seeking sensual gratification. Attachment leads to suffering and developed due to the fleeting and mental reaction.
Attachment -There are several types. An addict takes a drug because he wishes to experience the pleasureable sensation that the drug produces in him, even though he knows that by taking the drug he reinforces his addiction.
In the same way we are addicted to the condition of craving.
As soon as one desire is satisfied, we generate another. The object is secondary ,the fact is that we seek to maintain the state of craving continuously, because this very craving produces in us a pleasurable sensation that we wish to prolong.
Craving becomes a habit we can not break, an addiction.
And just as an addict gradually develops tolerance towards his chosen drug and requires ever larger doses in order to achieve intoxication, our craving steadily become stronger the more we seek to fulfill them.
In this way we can never come to the end of craving. And so long as we crave, we can never be happy .
Link here -
Suffering - Definition And Causes In Buddhism .
Attachment To Expectation
Another great attachment is to the " I " the ego, the image we have of ourselves.
For each of us, the " I " is the most important person in the world. We behave like a magnet surrounded by iron fillings: it will automatically arrange the filings in a pattern centered on itself, and with just as little reflection we all instinctively try to arrange the world according to our liking, seeking to attract the pleasent and to repel the unpleasant.
But none of us is alone in the world, one " I " is bound to come into conflict with another. The pattern each seeks to create is disturbed by the magnetic fields of others, and we ourselves become subject to attraction or repulsion.
The result can only be unhappiness, suffering.
Nor do we limit attachment to the " I "we extend it to " mine " whatever belongs to us.
Nor do we limit attachment to the " I "we extend it to " mine " whatever belongs to us.
We each develop great attachment to what we possess, because it is associated with us, it supports the image of " I ."
This attachment would cause no problem if what one called " mine " were eternal, and the " I "remained to enjoy it eternally. But fact is that sooner or later the " I " is separated from the " mine ."
The parting time is bound to come. When it arrives, the greater the clinging to " mine " the greater the suffering will be.
And attachment extends still further - to our views and our beliefs.
No matter what their actual content may be, no matter whether they are right or wrong, if we are attached to them they will certainly make us unhappy.
We are each convinced that our own views and traditions are the best and become very upset whenever we hear them criticized.
If we try to explain our views and other do not accept them, again we become upset.
We fail to recognize that each person has his or her own beliefs. It is futile to argue about which view is correct, more beneficial would be to set aside any preconceived notions and try to see reality.
But our attachment to views prevents us from doing so, keeping us unhappy.
Finally, there is attachment to religious forms and ceremonies.
Finally, there is attachment to religious forms and ceremonies.
We tend to emphasize the external expression of religion more than their underlying meaning and to feel that anyone who does not perform such ceremonies can not be a truly religious person.
We forget that without its essence, the formal aspect of religion is an empty shell.
Piety in reciting prayers or performing ceremonies is valueless if the mind remains filled with anger, passion, and ill will.
To be truly religious we must develop the religious attitudes, purity of heart, love and compassion for all. But our attachment to the next external forms of religion leads us to give more importance to the letter of it than the spirit.
We miss the essence of religion and therefore remain miserable.
All our sufferings , whatever they may be, are connected to one or another of these attachments. Attachment and suffering are always found together.
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Link here -
How all these are Impermanent ?
Attachment Causes
How does it arise?
Analyzing his own nature, the future Buddha found that it develops because of the momentary mental reactions of liking and disliking.
The brief, unconscious reactions of the mind are repeated and intensified moment after moment, growing into powerful attractions and repulsion into all our attachments.
This is the immediate cause of suffering.
Looking deeper he saw that they occur because of sensation. We feel a pleasant sensation and start liking it, we feel an unpleasant sensation and start disliking it.
Now why these sensations? What causes them? Examining still further within himself he saw that they arise of because of contact :
Now why these sensations? What causes them? Examining still further within himself he saw that they arise of because of contact :
- Contact of the eye with the vision,
- contact of the ear with the sound,
- contact of nose with an odor,
- contact of tongue with a test,
- contact of body with something tangible,
- contact of mind with any thought, emotions, ideas, imagination, or memory.
Whenever an object or phenomenon contacts any of these six base of experience, sensation is produced, pleasant or unpleasant.
And why does contact occur in the first place? Because of the existence of the six sensory bases - the five physical senses and the mind - contact is bound to occur.
And why does contact occur in the first place? Because of the existence of the six sensory bases - the five physical senses and the mind - contact is bound to occur.
The world is full of countless phenomena: sights, sounds, odors, flavors,textures,various thought and emotions.
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Attachment Meaning
And why this flow of mind and matter?
What causes it to occur?
The process arises because of consciousness , the act of cognition which separates the world into the knower and the known, subject and object, " I " and " other ".
Every moment consciousness arises and assumes a specific mental and physical form. In the next moment, again, consciousness takes a slightly different form.
Then what causes this flow of consciousness? It arises because of reaction.
Then what causes this flow of consciousness? It arises because of reaction.
The mind is constantly reacting, and every reaction gives impetus to the flow of consciousness so that it continues to the next moment.
The stronger a reaction, the greater the impetus that it gives.
The slight reaction of one moment sustains the flow of consciousness only for a moment.
But if that momentary reaction of liking and disliking intensifies into craving or aversion, it gains in strength and sustains the flow of consciousness for many moments, for minutes, for hours. And if the sustains the flow for days, for months, perhaps for years.
And if thoughtful life one keeps repeating and intensifying certain reactions, they develop a strength sufficient to sustains the flow of consciousness not only from one moment to the next, from one day to the next, from one year to the next, but from one life to the next.
And what causes these reactions?
And what causes these reactions?
Observing the deepest level of reality ,he understood that reaction occurs because of ignorance.
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Attachment Quotes
We are unaware of the fact we react, and unaware of the real nature of what we react to. We are ignorant of the impermanent, impersonal nature of our existence and ignorant that attachment to it brings nothing but suffering.
Not knowing our real nature, we react blindly.
Not even knowing that we have reacted, we persist in our blind reactions and allow them to intensify.
Thus we become imprisoned in the habit of reacting ,because of ignorance.
At last the truth was clear to him : suffering begins with ignorance about the reality of our true nature, about the phenomenon labelled " I ".
And the next causes of suffering is " sankhara ", the mental habit of reaction. Blinded by ignorance, we generate reactions of craving and aversion which develop into attachment, leading to all types of unhappiness.
The habit of reacting is the kamma, the shaper of our future. And the reaction arises only because of ignorance about our real nature.
Conclusion -
In this way attachment in leads to suffering in Buddhism. Ignorance, craving, and aversion are the three roots from which grow all our suffering in life .
