on letting go
Jun. 12th, 2005 07:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iamomWhen you find yourself attached, remember that 'letting go' is not 'getting rid of' or 'throwing away'.
If I'm holding onto this clock and you say "Let go of it," that doesn't mean 'throw it out'.
I might think that I have to throw it away because I'm attached to it, but that would just be the desire to get rid of it.
We tend to think that getting rid of the object is a way of getting rid of attachment. But if I can contemplate attachment, this grasping of the clock, I realise that there is no point in getting rid of it - it's a good clock; it keeps good time and is not heavy to carry around. The clock is not the problem.
The problem is grasping the clock. So what do I do? Let it go, lay it aside - put it down gently without any kind of aversion. Then I can pick it up again, see what time it is and lay it aside when necessary.
--Ajahn Sumedho, quoted in Friday's DailyDharma
If I'm holding onto this clock and you say "Let go of it," that doesn't mean 'throw it out'.
I might think that I have to throw it away because I'm attached to it, but that would just be the desire to get rid of it.
We tend to think that getting rid of the object is a way of getting rid of attachment. But if I can contemplate attachment, this grasping of the clock, I realise that there is no point in getting rid of it - it's a good clock; it keeps good time and is not heavy to carry around. The clock is not the problem.
The problem is grasping the clock. So what do I do? Let it go, lay it aside - put it down gently without any kind of aversion. Then I can pick it up again, see what time it is and lay it aside when necessary.
--Ajahn Sumedho, quoted in Friday's DailyDharma
