Attachment and Suffering

Naturally I have been thinking about the Buddhist idea of non-attachment and suffering lately. Buddhism teaches us the four noble truths: that life is suffering, that suffering is caused by attachment, that the cessation of suffering is possible, and that the cessation of suffering can be attained by the eightfold path. The eightfold path is also known as “the middle way” because it presents a path which lies between the extreme self-mortification of asceticism and the worldly pursuit of hedonism. A fine line indeed, if you’ve ever tried to walk it. The eight-fold path, in turn is divided into three parts. The first part consists of suggested behavior geared to manifest as “wisdom” including the concepts of right view and right intention. The second part sets up an ethical structure for the seeker by suggesting s/he engage in right speech, right action and right livelihood. The third part suggests paths to follow to increase mental development and includes right effort, mindfulness and concentration.

Clearly each aspect of the eightfold path and the four noble truths could be expounded upon at great length and indeed have been in the sutras and shastras (commentaries on the sutras) propounded since the historical Buddha walked the earth in present day India in 528 BC. Teachers in the Zen school have tried to simplify the teaching by emphasizing the concept of mindfulness and using it as a foundation upon which to build the superstructure of the rest of the teaching. Mindfulness happens to be a very pertinent teaching for stressed out westerners whose attention span can be measured in seconds. Many people originally attracted to Buddhism in the West often fail to keep up the practice because they enter the stream mistakenly thinking of mediation as a place where one can escape from one’s life, rather than the all out battle of universal mind versus ego which can be exhausting, if ultimately enlightening.

The Patriot comes from a strong Buddhist background, both academically speaking and by virtue of having practiced Zen meditation for a number of years. Due to my personal circumstances I have been looking closely at the idea that the cause of suffering is attachment. “Attachment” used to be translated in earlier works as “desire” specifically the desire to acquire and retain as well as the desire to exist. Attachment is another way of expressing desire, I suppose. If I were a good zen student I would seek out a recognized Roshi (Zen Master) who might give me a koan (question designed to lead to insight by pondering its essential meaning), and tell me to sit with it until the answer comes bubbling up from my subconscious. Koans deal with different historical events and factual situations but the questions presented therein are all along the lines of , “So what is it about this attachment that causes suffering” and, “who does the attaching and what is attached ?” These are not insignificant questions. If you are like me you have expectations about the way your life is unfolding. You make plans for the future based on certain seeming constants in your life. For example, you know that if you put $200 in your 401k every pay period you will have a certain amount of money when you retire. The assumption is that you will retain the same job, the company will be in existence for the next 30 years, you will be alive at retirement time, and the world will not be hit by an asteroid. Of course you have almost no control over any of it. But in order for us to exist without being in a constant state of panic about the things we cannot control, we erect elaborate mental structures and beliefs that allow us to function day to day. It is only when something drastic and unexpected happens that our structure is torn down and we realize how much of our self is wrapped up in our attachment to the world as we expect it to be. That, I suppose, is the place to begin investigating the concepts of attachment and suffering.

The facile approach to dealing with this unstable and impermanent world, to deny suffering, would be to limit our interactions with others, to forgo relationships and make no elaborate plans for the future lest our carefully constructed world be torn away from us. Of course that is bullshit. We are humans. We laugh, love, live and die with each other. Maybe it is our nature to suffer. Maybe the answer can be found in the eight-fold path. What do I know? But I’ll probably be posting about this topic a lot more in the near future since it is important to me lately.