Can There
Be Love Without Attachment?
Question (Yogi) : Can there be love without attachment? I love
my daughter and care for her, her health, etc. I see this is attachment but I
don’t see it as a bad thing. Could you define love and attachment; explain what
is different or similar…?
Answer (Sayadaw) : Love is the nature of mind. This is not the
problem. The problem is the habit. You love someone; there is “someone” in your
mind.
There is
attachment in the mind. To be free from attachment, we must remove “someone” or
“something” from the mind. We must disconnect something and the mind. We must
not think about something, not even about ourselves. This habit is possible if
you practice. In this way, the mind will be without attachment for something or
someone. That mind is very powerful. That
mind can live alone, can live by itself.
Question (Yogi) : So how does one practice that?
Answer (Sayadaw) : You
must abandon the habit of the mind; the habit of something; the habit of humans
from the mind.
Question (Yogi) : What
do I replace it with?
Answer (Sayadaw) : With
the Truth. The Truth is mind and matter, five aggregates (perception,
feeling, mental formations, consciousness, matter), and Ever New
Impermanent Nature.
Try to love this
Truth … there is no something, no someone, just mind and matter. You can love
that Truth. This Truth is permanent.
No one is
permanent; nothing is permanent but the Truth of mind-matter or Ever New
Impermanent Nature is permanent. Love the Truth and your mind will be strong;
your mind will be stable.
If you love
someone, your mind will be unstable. Your mind will be weak; you have to worry
because of your attachment to someone.
Everyone must die,
become old, must suffer … this is the Truth. This Truth is permanent. This is why you must love the Truth which is
mind and matter or Ever New Impermanent Nature. In this way, our mind can be
free from worry, fear and sorrow. This is a real freedom.
No one can be free
because the Truth is not someone. The freedom from the misunderstanding of
something or someone is real freedom. Not freedom from present or from life
cycle or from Universe; the real freedom is freedom from misunderstanding.
- End -