Question: When reading books, I understand the theory of mindfulness and renunciation, but in reality, we still cannot renounce in our minds. Please give me a specific example of what attachment in the mind is, and what renunciation is?
Now you are here in this meditation retreat, that’s why you can detach from your home and from your life as a layperson. You can detach from your family also. This kind of detachment is easy to do by ourselves. This kind of detachment is concerned with the material or living beings. Attachment is concerned with the mind.
Attachment is difficult to understand. Material is easy to understand. Living beings and non-living beings is easy to understand. The mind is difficult to understand. Only when we are able to detach from living beings or non-living beings, from physical of verbal actions, we can understand the mind or mental actions.
Whatever good or bad happens in our lives, it is mostly concerned with our own attachment. But most of the meditators or laypeople find it difficult with these kinds of teachings. Only in the long time of doing good deeds, meditators or people can understand about attachment. Thats why I used to teach like this: detachment from attachment is really difficult to practice by ourselves. For me, I emphasize only about ignorance and attachment.
Most of my teachings is about ignorance and attachment.
Without teaching like this, it is really difficult for the meditators to know about the ignorance and attachment.
If I have to teach about dana sila bhavana, i feel im wasting my time. But teaching or learning about vipassana and bhavana is really difficult. Thats why I use my life and my teaching only for vipassana. This is really difficult.
Most are listening my teachings. I dont want to waste my time thats why I will do what is really difficult to do, and explain what is really difficult to explain. In this way, I can save the greatest merits for me and for Thabarwa center. My life and Thabarwa center is also for all and for Buddha Dharma Sangha.