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Talk: 19960705-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-vipassana_retreat_part_5_of_8-43309 Start_time: 00:47:21 Display_question: What can I do when lost in attachment? Keyword_search: attached, swamp, observation, Ajahn Chah, yogurt, Cambridge, suffering, liberating, breathe, breath, Thai Forest, contemplation, medicine, lost Question_content: Questioner: <inaudible> … just notice that you’re attaching? Larry: Yeah. You see, it's a different feeling. Questioner: Like watching and suddenly you’re just pulled over in it like you’re in a swamp. Larry: Yes. Actually, to begin with, it often is like that. You go in and out, in and out, in and out. But isn't it very different when that observation turns to some attachment there? It feels very different. So then what we would look at is attachment. By the way, I was going to sum up all of the Buddha’s teaching in just a few sentences, Reader's Digest version, book of the month. Is that still going on or just my childhood? Yeah. Yes. Is that clear? Some of the most important work to be done… Look, the practice is about liberation, and it's liberation from non, from attachment and clinging. That's what produces the suffering. So, everyone's in a hurry to get liberated. But what they don't understand is first you have to understand what attachment is. In fact, if you get to know what attachment is—I'm saying 60%; I don't know where I came up with that percentage—let's just say, a fair amount of your work is over, is done, because we haven't begun to do that. Break_line: So, here's a little, simple contemplation that they emphasize, and that Ajahn Chah, who some of us learned a lot from—he’s a Thai Forest master. A simple hint: whenever you find yourself suffering, even if it's little suffering, and I'll give you a really little one in a moment, just inquire. Am I attached to something here? Means, “Am I holding on or pushing away to something?” Some years ago, I went into this health food store that I shop at in Cambridge, and there was this brand of yogurt that I really like, and week in and week out, I get this yogurt. One day I reach down, and it's not there. And suddenly there's a bit of suffering. It's not big-time suffering, but it's suffering. And so, doing this kind of exercise, you turn, you say, “Well, am I holding on to something?” Yes, that particular brand. “Why isn't my brand of yogurt here? I've been able to get it every time I've come in here. I'm a regular customer. Why don't they improve distribution or something?” And soon you find yourself suffering. Break_line: So, some of the, a very important step in liberating yourself is to learn how to examine what you're doing in the moment that brings on suffering. And what the Buddha is saying is, attachment is a very powerful idea. If you go to that, you'll see essentially what it is, is attachment to me and mine, it's the ego at work. I wanted that kind of yogurt for me, and some bad people took it away. It's the four- and five-year-old that we all still live with. Yeah. What? Questioner: So what did you do? Can you deal with it now when you don’t…<inaudible> Do you just breathe? Larry: No, it's not in the seeing of it, it falls away. You see, you have a laugh at your own expense. That's an easy one. There are others that the mind keeps going, perseverates. It's not a special medicine. Now you can use the breath to help steady yourself and also to keep from getting lost in what's happening, in losing yourself in what's happening. Breathing in, this one is really pretty easy. That's why I brought it up. Yeah. Okay. End_time: 00:51:14
