The Bitter Sweetness of Attachment – Coffee and Karma
Last month, Venerable René Feusi illuminated the nuances of attachment during a weekend retreat at The Buddhist Center-Thubten Norbu Ling.
Through the lens of lamrim realizations, René used humor to highlight the futility of attachment, noting that even in the bardo (intermediate state), our cravings, like for coffee, remain unsatisfied.
As he quipped, “There’s no coffee in the bardo.”
Attachment, as explained in the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, manifests in our very existence.
Venerable Robina Courtin, during her two-week visit, emphasized this point through various teachings, including dependent arising, introductory tantra, and mahamudra meditation.
She illustrated the power of attachment with a poignant story of a fisherman whose lifelong joy in killing fish blinded him to their suffering.
This attachment, rooted in past karma, painted a divine picture of fishing for him, leading to his rebirth in lower realms due to unpurified karma.
Robina stressed that the tragedy lies in how attachment distorts reality, leading us to harm ourselves and others.
By understanding and addressing attachment at its root, ignorance, we can begin to break free from its grip.
Her teachings implore us to recognize attachment’s subtlety and its pervasive influence on our lives, emphasizing the necessity of understanding and overcoming it to end suffering.
