The Buddhist teaching of

detachment
Questions about the Dharma

Once we understand the illusion of suffering, perceived as so real

by the fact of attachment to it, we take the next step which
consists of learning detachment, of overcoming the obstacles of
ignorance, desire and suffering.

José Manuel Martínez Sánchez

We have collected golden seeds from the thoughts of the

wise, phrases and attitudes that have illustrated a decisive
and lucid truth in our own inner search. The wise man - with
his vivid flashes of knowledge - brings light to the path of
life. They have understood and, therefore, they make us
understand. His word is not artifice but a source of knowing
experience.

The Buddha's word transcribed in the Dhammapada [1]

illustrates that genuine voice of the wise man. In that text
we can read things like this:
“As a deep lake is transparent and calm, so the wise become when listening to the Teaching”
(VI.82). [2]

What teaching are we talking about? Simply from the

teaching that comes from the clear vision (vipassana) of
reality (dharma). Those truths that, as for the scientist,
reveal themselves when observing the natural processes of
life.

Buddha means awakened , one who awakens to that clear

vision. Buddha's teaching is the result of his observation,
not of theoretical speculation. Buddha awakens when he
observes an old man, a sick man and a corpse. From there
– and after finally seeing a sannyasin (renouncer) – he
realizes, beyond his palace retreat, the realities of
existence. And he decides to dedicate his life to meditation,
to being attentive. For “he who constantly meditates and
perseveres is freed from bondage and attains the supreme
Nibbana,” the Buddha would later elucidate. (Dhammapada,
II.23).

Meditation is the mastery of the mind, the overcoming of the

veil of illusion and the conscious stability of it. In this way,
attention emerges as a natural and original quality of the
mind. With meditation we connect with the essential nature
of the mind, we learn to conquer it, since at first we sense it
as indomitable, separated from our will.
“The mind is very difficult to perceive, extremely subtle, and flies after its fantasies. The wise
man controls it. A controlled mind leads to happiness” (Dhammmapada, III.36).

Once we understand the illusion of suffering, perceived as

so real by the fact of attachment to it, we take the next step
which consists of learning detachment, of overcoming the
obstacles of ignorance, desire and suffering .

But how to distinguish the real from the unreal? I think it is

one of the fundamental questions to begin to clear the
fragility of the path.

However, and inevitably, we have to face this fragility.

Observe all phenomena face to face to clarify as much as
possible their primary manifestation, which is seen in their
emptiness. There are some verses from the Dhammapada
that place us in front of that difficult reality of non-
identification of phenomena, whether they are pleasant or
unpleasant, inviting us to a neutral gaze (not coldness, even
though it may seem that way). Those verses say like this:
“Do not identify with what is pleasant nor identify with what is unpleasant; not to look at what is
pleasant nor at what is unpleasant, because on both sides there is pain” (XVI.210).
After a meditation session one begins to realize these very
basic dualities. When vision is focused on the everyday
world of lights and shadows, the capacity for self-
awareness increases significantly and vision is initially
sensitized to later stabilize in mental harmony.

Attachment (klesha) is a cause of distress and is an

obstacle to the attainment of essential knowledge. The
virtue of a gaze installed in the emptiness of mental
processes helps us not to contaminate with interpretations
that which in itself does not have it. We give the subjective
content of something whose nature reveals to us a first
sensation that must not be susceptible to continuity. Since
everything is impermanent, the Buddha's virtue consists in
capturing the instantaneous fragrance of that permanence
without leaving aside the continuity of the other
impermanent phenomena that occur and glimpse our
dharma.

It is difficult to let the fragrance of the rose fly when it is

pleasant to us, perhaps we would like to recreate that
experience even when the rose is no longer in our hands.
The same thing happens with loved ones, with dreams, with
time...
“Avoid identification with what is loved, because separation from it represents pain; Ties do not
exist for those who do not make differences between loved and not loved” (XVI.211).

In this passage of the Dhammapada we are told about

avoiding identification with what is wanted, about
understanding that for those who do not differentiate what is
wanted from what is not wanted, ties do not exist. And the
consequence of the pain – of course – returns to the stage.
Pain is resistance. We resist on many occasions because
we don't know how to avoid it and on other occasions
because we don't want to . The ego revels in pain, while in
happiness the ego completely dissolves. However, the
occasions of pain, their inevitability, are a cause that would
be better to prevent than to go through such harsh trials.
This is one of the benefits of meditation, that it prevents
future egotistical situations, since we become aware of the
self and learn to control it, first, and dissolve it, finally. That
is, in fact, the true practice of detachment, one that can no
longer identify with anything except everything.
“You can only practice dharma purely if you have developed detachment from this life” [3] .

Here, Lama Zopa Rinpoche indicates a fundamental

condition for advancing along the path of Buddhist
knowledge. As we see, detachment can be developed in
vital training, where inevitable suffering, in the long term,
can be seen as something positive in our learning path. But
obviously no one wants to go through suffering, and
practicing detachment is a way to avoid future regrets. At
the entrance to suffering, ignorance pushes us, at the exit
from it, wisdom gives us a hand. Therefore, one realizes
and knows that one would not make the same mistake
again, going directly to wisdom without having to undergo
the harsh test of pain. Perhaps, to do this, we have to make
mistakes many times. This is life, in essence, a constant
awareness, a progressive development of consciousness, a
dream from which we awaken little by little.

The Buddha said:

“When the fire of lust is extinguished, one is happy; When the fire of hatred, of illusion, is
extinguished, one is happy; When pride, erroneous opinions and all passions and pains are
extinguished, one is happy.” ( Jataka , Introduction, i.60 ff.) [4]

Nirvana, which in a loose translation could be defined as

the happiness of extinction , is a concept that attracts
existentialists, nihilists, orthodox and heterodox religious
people, philosophers and teachers of almost all traditions
and schools. In many cases the concept is reduced to the
interests of the speculative purposes of those who prepare
their speech. However, grasping the essential dimension of
this concept involves a task more than one of intellection or
erudition, but of sensitivity. Sensitivity when entering the
most transcendent area of the human spirit. Your highest
spiritual achievement. Therefore, in most cases, we speak
of an indefinable character of the term nirvana . And,
probably, it is the most accurate conception.

Also, as in the negative theology of Maimonides, one gets

closer to the meaning of nirvana by saying precisely what
nirvana is not. This, as Erich Fromm already pointed out,
happens in numerous spiritual traditions, both Western and
Eastern, when trying to refer to the Essential Truth or the
Absolute. For example, in the Tao Te Ching we read:
“One can talk about the Tao, but not about the eternal Tao.

Names can be named, but not the Eternal Name.” [5]

“In Mahayana Buddhism [says Erich Fromm] the Almighty is

absolute emptiness (emptiness), which can only be alluded
to by what it is not. ” [6] In the Heart Sutra, we read the
following:
“Thus Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, no sensations, no perceptions, no impulses, no
consciousness; there is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind; there are no shapes, sounds,
smells, tastes, touches, or mental objects; there is no consciousness of the senses.” [7]

In this extinction of the mind, of the senses, of the things

learned, room is made for something new, an authentic
experience of direct happiness. Detachment consists
precisely in this, in stopping clinging to objects, in
experiencing them while they are there and in letting them
pass when they are no longer there. Everything changes, it
is impermanent, it lives in a continuous process of change.
The desire to become takes us away from the now, sensual
desire chains us, ignorance fills us with false conceptions.
Corruptions (asavas) -in short- hinder the free,
uncontaminated, pure and spontaneous path. The mind that
bathes in emptiness - on the contrary - is renewed every
moment, experiences unlimited being, carefully
understands that everything is born and dies, and beyond
that: there is something eternal, nirvana. The happiness of
extinction.
We see, in this way, that the search for essential truth
suggests a certain or absolute relaxation of even the
highest senses, called intellective. You cannot reach real
knowledge of things through the mind, through reasoning.
There is an extinction of mind, an awareness of the sublime
manifested in the experience of emptiness. A mystique of
silence revealing the deep. A knowledge without knowing, a
doing without doing.

Perhaps it is paradoxical that emptiness fills, that cessation

marks a beginning, that stillness moves us through
existence. But, the gaze must overcome the obstacle of
duality to understand that which goes beyond concepts and
their discourse. Name and form are aggregates of
ignorance. This is how we build the self , the beliefs, the
conditioning.

Therefore, the first step to true knowledge consists of the

extinction of the chain to the mind and its set of illusory
constructions, which subject us to that cycle of rebirths and
deaths (samsara) through which we wander bound to
suffering (duhkha), attached to the self , to what is yours
and what is mine. To that loneliness of seeing ourselves
separated from each other. Different, alone and isolated.

The dissolution of the entire mass of pain is to rediscover

the buddha nature that we all have. It is the cessation of a
cycle of chains of pain, with its causes and effects, with its
multiple forms of manifestation. Suffering often becomes
addiction (shenpa), even though we feel it as a pleasure.
For this reason, detachment is inserted in the doctrine of
the middle path, which Nagarjuna or Zen Buddhism told us
so much about and, in general, the great schools that apply
a coherent view of living life. A wise way to be in the world,
in harmony and balance, away from extremes, which are
what always make us fall apart on one side or another.

The middle way is a healthy living ethic, based on the

search for balance in everything we do, through measured
action or right understanding. In this way, we conceive that
nirvana, its search, does not imply an abandonment of our
connection with ordinary life, that is, it is not about going
beyond (although ultimately it is), about transcending, which
perhaps could seen as a kind of existential escape.
Nagarjuna explained it extraordinarily well:
“It is taught [in the Buddha's message] that the ultimate meaning rests on conventionality, and
that without reaching this ultimate meaning one does not enter nirvana” [8] .

Nagarjuna urges us to differentiate between “conventional

truth” (samvrti) and “truth according to the ultimate sense”
(paramartha) in order to explain that both cannot be
separated and must be understood equally, the former
being the vehicle towards the second. Thus, the Buddhist
monk takes refuge in the Buddha, in the Dharma and also
in the Shanga or community of monks, which is called the
Three Jewels. This coexistence with others, this apparently
common experience, is essential to assimilate the Buddhist
path in its entirety.

Emptiness is a path, not a concept. Detachment is too. Both

are part of another experience or path that consists of
letting yourself be carried away by direct understanding. I
mean cessation. And more specifically, paraphrasing
Patanjali, to the cessation of mental processes, to union
with ourselves (yoga). Call it infinity, divinity, being, soul, or
any other conception , the space of understanding that
underlies such a personal experience is clear. Because the
Buddha, as we said at the beginning, lived firsthand what
would be the bases of his teaching. Self-knowledge was the
key to knowledge. It may be subjective, but there is nothing
more objective than the object itself seeing itself, especially
when the gaze is clear and penetrating.

In meditation you learn to clarify that look. Because, as

Antonio Machado wrote, “the eye that you see is not an eye
because you see it, it is an eye because it sees you” [9] .
Meditation is like a mirror in which what is seen returns us
to the observer himself.

Let us remember the following fragment from Milinda-

Pañha:
“Oh King Milinda! When a yogi who has well practiced vipassana, which leads to the precursor
path ( pubbabhaga-magga ), which precedes the noble path ( ariya-magga ), reaches the state
in which the flow of mental and corporeal forces ceases , it can be said that is heading
towards Nibbana.” [10]

Entry into nirvana begins with the cessation of those mental

and corporeal forces . Forces that we appreciate in a
certain sense as inevitable and even necessary for life.
Therefore, nirvana is usually attributed to the moment of
death, but it does not have to be that way. It is worth adding
the appreciation that this cessation does not oppress, but
rather liberates (moksa). The mental and corporeal forces
are liberated and for this reason we speak of emptiness and
detachment, because there is nothing to cling to if we are
liberated. Returning to thinking, returning to feeling, etc.,
could once again involve a chain. Hence those called
liberated in life, such as Buddha, are considered very few.
But it is still possible, since we all share Buddha nature. It is
here, through this recognition of intrinsic capacity to achieve
Buddhahood, where the Noble Path begins, and where all
our actions try to be directed along that middle path of inner
wisdom. Perhaps one day, and not too far away, in the
midst of the spontaneity of our virtue, we will simply realize
that we are happy. And then we could say that we have
woken up.

About the author: José Manuel Martínez Sánchez . Albacete (Spain), 1983. Graduate in
Hispanic Philology from the University of Murcia and Master in Humanistic Psychology. He has
also been a Reiki Master since 1999. To date he has published the following books: "Epica del
naufragio" (poetry), "The postmodern man" (essay), "Seeking inner peace" (essay), “Towards
spiritual awakening” (essay), “The light of conscience” (essay), “Children of the Sun” (novel) and
“Concert of Hopes” (poetry). Blog: www.lasletrasdelaire.blogspot.com
[1] Buddha and his teaching. (2007). (R. Street, Translated)
Madrid: Edaf.

[2] The cited chapter and verse of the Dhammapada are indicated,
respectively.

[3] Rinpoche, L. Z. (1999). Virtue and reality. Alicante: Dharma

Editions.

[4] The path to nirvana. Anthology of texts from the Pali Canon.
(1997). Madrid: Edaf.

[5] Tse, L. (1993). Tao Te Ching (John C. Version) H. Wu ed.).

(TO. Colodrón, Trans.) Barcelona: Edaf.

[6] Fromm, E. (2006). Of mysticism and religion. In J. Silva

(compiler), The humanism of Erich Fromm (pp. 139-142).
Mexico City: Paidós.

[7] The heart sutra (Prajñá-paramita hridaya sutra) . Consulted

on June 9, 2009 at Librosbudistas.com:
http://www.librosbudistas.com

[8] Arnau, J. (2002). Mula Madhyamaka Karikah. The

Fundamental Text of the Middle Way. Nagarjuna. Asian and
African Studies , XXXVII (3), 527-557.

[9] Machado, A. (2004). Complete poems. Madrid: Espasa Calpe.

[10] Sayadaw, M. (1999). Towards Nibbana along the Eightfold

Path. (R. Martínez-Lahoz, Trans.) Mexico: Dhamma Dana Fund.