Question: What is detachment?

Because of attachment, you are staying in the society, like other human beings. Because of attachment to the life of a layperson, you are just like a layperson. Meditation center is useful to detach from our own inner attachment and ignorance. The more you stay and do good deeds in meditation center, the more you can detach from society and social activities. If we can detach from the society and our lives as a layperson, we are easy to stay anywhere, to do anything with mindfulness and detachment.

Question: Can I practice mindfulness and detachment while living in the society?

If you can try hard, you can get success. But you need to come and practice in the meditation retreat like this often. You need to ordain as the temporary samaeera or monks also. In this way, you can detach from the society and from your life as a layperson.

Question: Please tell me more about what is good dharma and what is renunciation?

Dana sila and bhavana are doing good deeds. Dana is giving or helping or volunteering to the others or Buddha Dharma Sangha. Not giving, not helping, not volunteering to the others and Buddha Dharma Sangha are not doing good deeds.

Sila is keeping precepts. No killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no telling lies, no drinking alcohol are doing good deeds. Killing, destroying the belongings of the others, doing sexual misconducts, telling lies, drinking alcohol and using drugs are doing bad deeds. Keeping precepts is doing good deeds, breaking precepts is doing bad deeds.

Practicing the mind to be stable and pure is good deeds. Not practicing the mind to be stable and pure is not doing good deeds. Without practice, it is difficult to understand. The more we can practice, the more we can understand about doing good deeds and doing bad deeds clearly. Detachment is opposite with attachment. Both of detachment and attachment are concerned with the mind. Both are mental action. Not knowing about attachment or detachment is wrong view, or wrong understanding. Knowing about detachment or attachment is right view, or right understanding.

If there is ignorance or wrong view or wrong understanding, there will be attachment. If there is attachment, there will be ignorance, or wrong view and wrong understanding. Ignorance is the cause of attachment. Attachment is also the cause of ignorance. If there is mindfulness, there will be detachment. If there is detachment, there will also be mindfulness. Mindfulness is the cause of detachment. Detachment is also the cause of mindfulness. There are more ignorance and attachment in the mind of the animals. That’s why, there is limit in their intelligence and abilities. There are less ignorance and attachment in the mind of human beings. That’s why, there are less limits in the intelligence and abilities of human beings.

If we are animals, we cannot detach from our traditions of living, doing and eating and sexual conducts and sleeping. In this way, animals cannot be meditators or monks or nuns.

Now we are human beings, that’s why, we are able to detach from the tradition of eating sleeping sexual conducts. In this way, we can be meditators or monks or samaneeras or nuns. In this way, we can stay on the pagoda, temple or meditation center – by keeping precepts and doing all kinds of good deeds with mindfulness and detachment. Because of attachment on wrong view or wrong understanding, we cannot understand about mindfulness and detachment. The more we can detach from wrong view or wrong understanding, the more we can understand about mindfulness and detachment. All these answers appear from my practice. Without enough practice, it is difficult to understand my answers.