Teaching on Attachment & Emptiness

Venerable Robina gives a teaching on Attachment & Emptiness during the Lawudo Trek in Nepal.

One way of presenting these levels of practice which are expressed in this packaging of Tsongkhapa’s called the Lamrim, this gradual path, this course, that you graduate from as a Buddha, is in terms of understanding attachment. This is massive for the Buddha, way bigger than we can think because it’s assuming even the way the world is, how we’re born, the kind of bodies we have, it’s got a much bigger framework than we can think of.

So effectively the actual delusion that’s the source of all suffering is this thing called ego grasping that the realisation of emptiness cuts, and all the teachings lead to that. But effectively in daily life we can say attachment is the main problem. This bottomless pit of dissatisfaction, the neediness, that causes the anger and aversion then causes all the other things, which cause us to harm others, which causes suffering rebirths, and so on.

When we understand attachment is the main problem, then junior school is learning to control the servants of the attachment, which is the body and speech obviously. We’re so caught up in our own world, in the modern world I’m this body, we so utterly identify with the body, “we make the body the boss” as Lama Yeshe says, totally completely absorbed in the body. This is me!

If we do say words about my mind, we point to the brain. We learned that, we haven’t experienced the truth of it, we’ve never studied the brain, most of us, we just believe what we’re told. We think we’re so intelligent, that we’re scientific, it’s just nonsense. Most of us haven’t really studied math, science, botany, all the things some people have, we just say it’s true because we believe it. We think we’re scientific, no we haven’t studied it.

We totally identify with this body, the body is massive, the senses run the show and they’re the servants of attachment, that’s it. So obviously the first job, because attachment is so primordial, you’ve got to start controlling the servants of the attachment, which is the body and speech, which is our behaviour. Do what your grandma says - behave nicely, don’t harm others. This is fundamental.

By controlling the body and speech, the servants of attachment, you’re naturally subduing attachment, it’s very evident. Now you’re really qualified to go to high school and get to the root of the problem, and begin to understand and unpack all the delusions, in particular attachment. You become your own therapist, this genius person, who can unpack and unravel the mind to this unbelievable degree, including getting this incredible concentration, inconceivable, unheard of in our modern psychology. It’s just seen as religion, we throw it away as some kind of rubbish. We have no idea how astonishing it is, how sophisticated, how brilliant, and anyone if they worked hard could do it.

It’s all there, coming from these amazing Hindus thousands of years ago before the Buddha, these geniuses who mapped the mind internally. It’s so mind-blowing. By this point you’ve got renunciation, you’re incredible, which means two parts - one you know what suffering is and you’re sick of it, and two bullseye you know the causes, karma and delusions, as Lama Zopa says “you’ve got renunciation when just the thought of another moment of attachment is so disgusting, it’s like being in a septic tank”. That’s way to go, that’s pretty profound. How would you be so far - radiant, joyful, content, fulfilled, happy, you’d be an incredible human being by now.

Lawudo Trek, Nepal, 31st March 2019.

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