Attachment, Hatred and Obscuration Increase Suffering

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"The Bodhisattva Sutra" (p.18)

PART 1 Brain Waves Reveal the Complete Process of a Meditation

1 Everything Is Determined by the Conditions

● Attachment, Hatred and Obscuration Increase Suffering

Let's discuss here the terms attachment, hatred, obscuration and Divine Loving Kindness, Divine Pity, Divine Praise and Divine Detachment.

What is attachment?

In classical Buddhism, attachment is an affliction called greed.

Greed is an attachment to objects beyond necessity.

Attached to a certain object, we are bound to the world of that particular object.

Let's take an example.

It is commonly believed that an average Japanese adult needs between 1,800 to 2,400 calories per day in order to sustain his/her body.

This should vary with weight, age and sex, of course, but by becoming attached to taste and overeating, we may suffer diseases such as diabetes.

Or suppose you fell in love with someone and you finally gave yourselves to each other.

But if you get passionately attached to that person, you will take their freedom away and the relationship will not last long.

Even if it lasts, you will suffer tremendously at the end of the relationship, when death comes to take that person away.

And eventually, you will be reborn into the world where your partner is, which is this human world, the fourth world from the bottom in the realm of desire.

Thus, MSA based on attachment brings nothing but suffering.

Lets's look at hatred next.

In classical Buddhism, hatred is an affliction known as anger.

Anger is a working of the mind which attempts to destroy the object.

Hatred not only makes us unable to look at things as they are, but makes us consume a lot of energy.

Let's take an example.

When someone hates someone, his mind is concentrated on hatred and spends a lot of time in his life hating that person.

Since his speech and action are based on hatred, the accumulation of his mental element will be naturally hatred-dominant.

Thus hatred brings on such things as estrangement, separation and conflict.

These qualities become the central elements of his life.

Since the next life is determined by the accumulation of mental elements, he will be reborn into the world that is a collection of beings who have the same elements.

What kind of an affliction is obscuration?

Obscuration is expressed as ignorance in classical Buddhism.

What is ignorance?

Ignorance is a state in which we do not understand the truth of this world and that of the three realms (the realm of desire, the realm of form and the realm of non-form).

The mind is captured by the pleasure of the moment.

"Live for today,"

"Happiness is momentary pleasure,"

"I want to enjoy life as much as possible while I am still alive" - these are all workings of ignorance.

Thus, by experiencing the heights of pleasure, MSA based on ignorance consumes merit and becomes the cause of falling.

You can now see very clearly how MSA based on attachment, hatred and obscuration leads to misery.

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