Dhamma Q&A with Students from Puget Sound University
Photo: Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives C03350
“How does compassion arise if you’ve detached yourself so much that you are not affected by the people suffering? How far does the detachment go?”
~ Response by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~
If one understands the attachment that is the problem, then the question will be answered easily. The attachment which is the problem is the attaching to things as ‘me’ and ‘mine.’ When we grab onto things as ‘me’ and ‘mine,’ this leads to selfishness, and when there is selfishness, there is no compassion, no concern, no caring for others. So we’re talking about the non-attachment to ‘me’ and ‘mine.’ When one no longer is clinging to anything as ‘me’ and ‘mine,’ then there is no selfishness and one is totally free to help others, to be concerned with others. When we say ‘don’t attach to anything,’ it should be understood as don’t attach to anything as ‘me’ or ‘mine.’ That’s where the problem is, and so that’s where the problem is solved. When there’s no attachment, it’s a matter of nature, say, just the natural body or the mind’s natural functions. But when we attach it becomes a matter of ego.
Another way to look at is when a dog is hungry, it’s just ‘nature is hungry,’ but when people are hungry, it’s ‘I am hungry, ego is hungry.’ In people it’s the self – the attā – that comes up. But when there’s no attachment, then there’s just ‘nature is hungry.’ It’s no longer ‘I am hungry.’ There’s no longer a hungry ego.
When there’s no attachment, there’s no selfishness, and so then we have the upāya, or the trick of not doing things with selfishness. When we don’t do things with selfishness, when we don’t act selfishly, then there’s very little dukkha, and sometimes none at all.
If there’s just the body and mind, then death has no meaning. There’s just the natural body and mind that has no meaning, but when there’s ego, death has a lot of meaning.
(From Dhamma Questions & Answers with students from Puget Sound University, State of Washington, USA as translated from the Thai by Santikaro)
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Dhamma Questions & Responses sessions were offered by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu in 1990-1991 to foreign meditators attending Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage courses.
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