Thursday, June 18, 2009

(Un)Attachment

1.
In Zen Buddhism, practitioners strive for the 'don't know mind' - a state of unattachment to preconceptions and excessive meta-reflection. One approaches every new situation with an openness, a willingness to meet each experience head-on.

2.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, we encounter the following verses: "Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun" (Eccl 1). The author makes a compelling argument for habituating an unattached disposition.

3.
We are all vessels, overflowing with life - pouring out the old, welcoming the new, available and attentive to the present. We strive for unattachment to the impermanent, the illusive, the maya. And yet, we do not whimsically float without direction. The Guru Granth Sahib observes: "He alone is attached, whom the Lord attaches" (797).

4.
God's roots hold us close in the transindividual (Tillich); let our wings set us free.

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