Letting Go is Gaining

With attachments, all too often we find ourselves desiring what we wish for or perhaps missing what we had. It is as if we held a treasured item our hand. After a while, we might see it and little else.

Our thoughts keep returning to it, our eyes keep seeking it. We hold tight. We focus intently on the object of our desiring, our missing.

It is as if we were staring at a tiny grain of sand grasped firmly between two fingers.

We cannot let go.

In our focussing, we fail to look up. In our inability to let go, we do not see what lies beyond—the beach with countless grains of sand, seashells, birds, the sunrise, the sky.

What if we do let go?

We will gain so much more than that which we let go of.

Comments

[Linda]

How I wish I could realise the truth of this in my life. Attachment is the thing I struggle with most, and mostly in relation to people. I fixate on a person I feel I must have in my life and obsess over them. It's really delusional, I know, to think that any happiness can come from that person. I certainly know intellectually that contentment can only come from an equanamous, calm and loving mind. How to be free of this the poison of attachment?

And yes, I do chant every day. Will my attachments weaken with more practice? I sincerely hope so. I really dislike being a slave to attachment.

[Venerable Wuling]

With more practice and learning, yes, our attachments will gradually weaken.