As some of you know, I’m a practicing Buddhist. In the Buddhist vernacular we refer to our adherence and observance of Buddhist principles as our “practice”. This is because it is exactly just that, practice. I’ve written a few posts on mindfulness, emotional awareness and meditation.
I haven’t really spent anytime talking about clinging. Clinging is a central theme of Buddhist logic and practice. Clinging and Aversion are the two states of mind that 98% of our lives are caught up in. Our lives swirl between finding things that we like and running away from things we don’t like. When we don’t get the things we want and can’t get away from the things that we don’t want…there are issues.
There is a famous Buddhist saying, “You only lose things that you cling to”. Since moving to London my practice has been fairly lax, with the added stress of moving homes my practice has slipped considerably. I wouldn’t say that I’ve been unhappy, but just say a little hesitant.
I’ve been missing the familiarity of my gym, my trainers, and my friends. At the same time I haven’t really been giving my new gym a fair shake. It’s going to be different, new ways of teaching, different personalities etc. We like to form preferences, we like to have things just the way we like them, and when they aren’t we’re not satisfied. This preference, this clinging to what was… has been the root of my dis- ease.
All things change, nothing remains the same, another famous mantra. At the root of this, it’s all very simple… second grade stuff. Ah but to put it into practice… hard as shit. A way one can help temper the peaks and valleys of emotions is a simple little mantra. “This to, shall pass” it helps keep things in perspective. When things are bad… you know that they can’t stay, that they’ll have to pass. As you are riding high and things are at there best, one has to be aware of the fundamental truth that this too shall pass.
Whether it’s your training, your motivation, your relationships all of it is in flux. That holding on to what was is just a fruitless exercise. Like the second arrow, it’s your choice whether or not you want to play that game.
Anyway, I was just sort of looking the current state of my life; I hope some of you can use this. I offer this for your reflection.
Thanks,
Nopstar
25 responses so far ↓
1 Shadyeskimo // Mar 18, 2008 at 1:05 am
I have always found Buddism interesting, its really well tought through, and even though I never read any I always and my dad always said, This too shall pass. And It is true, I moved from Greenland to the US in Naperville Illinois, and then to Denmark, so I am familiar with moving and moving far. It takes some time and It Will pass!!
2 BNMD // Mar 18, 2008 at 6:03 am
Hey Nop,
I’m not sure what specific school of Buddhism you belong to, but I love almost all forms of Buddhism. It’s remarkable how a negative reaction (Gotama’s rejection of Hinduism) has started such a varied and beautiful religion. If you’re looking for things to start your mind, I recommend Nagarjuna’s “Mulamadhyamakakarika” or, especially because of your emphasis on practice, Dogen’s “Heart of the Shobogenzo.” Neither is particularly long and both texts have great (especially Nagarjuna’s) editor’s notes to help guide you along in your reading.
Better luck at your gym man. When I switched, I thought of it this way: I once had to give my old gym a fair shake, just as I have to do this one. With that, it became less about myself and more about the practice of Muay Thai (I can smell the Buddhist tinges in that statement).
3 Ernesto // Mar 18, 2008 at 7:37 am
We miss you in Frisco brother…
4 Shane // Mar 18, 2008 at 7:43 am
That was an excellent post. I’m going through many stresses right now and this post is perfect for exactly what you said, putting things into perspective. That mantra is so simple, yet so effective. Again, thank you for this post and thanks for doing such a great job with this site.
5 Tong Po // Mar 18, 2008 at 8:39 am
“Our lives swirl between finding things that we like and running away from things we don’t like. ”
That’s some deep shit, brother. That’s the American Dream, man! Getting more and more useless shit that we like! Anyway, I figure our society gets pretty wrapped up in “I’m getting mine” and not enough of “giving back.”
6 spydaman // Mar 18, 2008 at 10:22 am
Nop, thanx for that….Tong po…very true!
7 TexMT // Mar 18, 2008 at 11:35 am
I’ve recently started following the path, so I really appreciate the post on clinging. While I haven’t moved, I’m also starting at a new gym, so I empathize with your struggle. Just stay mindful of the here and now and you’ll get through it.
8 Josh // Mar 18, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Good post.
9 Ian // Mar 18, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Hey TexMT, where in Texas do you train?
10 Dawkins // Mar 18, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Why did you move to england?
11 TexMT // Mar 18, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Ian - Dallas.
12 greg // Mar 18, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Very interesting. “You only lose things you cling to.”
Everyone has heard the idea many times through different media (religious teachings [I'm Roman Catholic and the basic idea of not "clinging" to material things is also taught], books and even movies [Fight Club, anyone? hehe].
Is the concept in Buddhism the same or different from what you’d hear from other sources? Is it limited to clinging to material possessions, and worldly success? What is the difference between clinging and caring? How do you balance things like responsibility ?
I’m pretty sure I know what a Catholic priest would say about things like this. I’m wondering what Buddhist teachings would. Can anyone suggest basic Buddhist readings for a complete newb?
13 Kote Lor Loi // Mar 18, 2008 at 7:40 pm
This was a good post. These words transcend religion man. The Picture is crazy too. good job, Salaam.
14 ED // Mar 18, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Good stuff. Nice to see my Muay Thai brothers and sisters sharing such deep stuff. Working out hard, being concious, not letting our ego control our lives and meditation…all good. Nop, where did you move to?
15 Ian // Mar 18, 2008 at 10:03 pm
TexMT, would you happen to know of any decent MT gyms in Austin and S.A.?
-Sorry to run off-topic guys-
16 nopstar // Mar 18, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Hi Greg-
Clinging or to be more precise “self-centered craving” as it’s more commonly referred to is a core theme in Buddhist teachings. Buddhism in a nutshell, believes that the dis-ease of the human existence is caused by clinging to all things.
Caring and compassion aren’t viewed as clinging but as highly treasured traits.
Personal Responsibility… I’ll try to address this in a succinct manner. We believe in Karma, that you own all of your actions, whether it is through body, speech or mind. Buddhist believe we are never really absolved of our wrongdoing but you have to create Merit (good deeds) to escape the bad.
Buddhism, particularly my lineage (Theravada) has a strong oral teaching tradition. If you would like to learn more, I can direct you to a few Dhamma (Buddhist teachings) talks that you can download. A good introductory talk is this one by bhante rahula. You browse through more talks here.
Let me spend some time looking for a good book. I’ll get back to you soon.
17 TexMT // Mar 19, 2008 at 4:45 am
It’s not Theraveda, but Thich Nhat Hanh many wonderful books dealing with different aspects of Buddhism. My favorite has to be “the Miracle of Mindfulness”. A good basic primer on Buddhism is “What the Buddha Taught”, by Walpola Rahula. It’s well written (simple language) and well organized.
There are different schools of Buddhism that have evolved in slightly different paths over the years. They are all Buddhism, but they emphasize different teachings over others and recognize different teachings as legitimate that the others may not. Theraveda (practiced in places like Sri Lanka and Thailand) is probably the most traditional and is roundly considered to the be the oldest. Mahayana (practiced in places like China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan) is a little younger. Then there is Vajrayana (Tibetan) and Zen (which orginated in China but is better known in Japan - the combination of Mahayana and Taoism, put very simply).
Search “Buddhism” on Wikipedia for a very thorough and detailed explanation.
18 TexMT // Mar 19, 2008 at 4:46 am
Also, there’s some great Zen podcasts at Zencast: http://amberstar.libsyn.com/
19 TexMT // Mar 19, 2008 at 4:56 am
Ian:
I don’t know of any personally, but I train with a school sanctioned by Ajarn Chai of the Thaiboxing Association of the USA (www.thaiboxing.com). I’ve generally found that anyone certified by Ajarn Chai is the real deal.
In San Antonio, Chai lists Sinlapa Muay Thai (http://muaythai.sinlapamuay.com/), Texas Samurai (http://www.texassamurai.com/), and White Tiger MMA (http://www.whitetigermmatx.com/). I didn’t see any in Austin. My personal bias is to train with Muay Thai only gyms rather than MMA places, but that’s just me. I can’t vouch for any of these places personally, but I hope that helps you find a good gym.
Chok dee!
20 BNMD // Mar 19, 2008 at 8:36 am
As a heads up, Zen is of the Mahayana school.
And for people trying to branch in, you may want to look into Pure Land as a starting point. It, on the surface, has many similarities with more Western traditions but, ultimately, can assist in the understand of other traditions since it acts as a sort of bridge. (This should not be taken as a literal conceptual bridge; Pure Land is indeed its own entity. However, because of its immediate similarities to Western religions, it can offer people a springboard with which to dive into the other schools)
21 TexMT // Mar 19, 2008 at 2:47 pm
BNMD: I’d disagree with you on Zen being “of the Mahayana school.” It definitely came from Mahayana, but the mixture of Chinese Taoism (for the Chinese Zen) and both Taosim and Japanese flavor for Japanese Zen make it (in my opinion) worthy of it’s own classification. I guess that could be debated both ways, and I’m no expert on the schools….but for what it’s worth.
Thanks for throwing Pure Land in there, I completely left that out.
22 Ian // Mar 19, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Thanks TexMT.
I also prefer pure muay thai schools as well. That sinlapa gym seems to have good credentials. One of the instructors grew up in a refugee camp in Mae Sot I think and knows a hybrid of SEA boxing styles. The other guy is a retired thai with 250+ fights in Thailand.
I now live in S.A. when home from college so I was just wondering about my options, and I’m thinking of transferring to UT Austin so I was curious about the scene up there as well.
23 greg // Mar 19, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Hi Nop,
Thanks for the info and the links (I’m listening to it right now). I have done some “research” on Buddhism before, and I did find it difficult to determine where to start because of the number of schools/traditions. Basically there are so many texts to choose from, that I cannot choose. The fact that most titles of the texts are in languages I do not understand makes it that much harder. I wish there was something for Buddhism like the Christian’s Bible that one could pick up and read the popular chapters/books or even just the Gospels, which pretty much contain everything a Christian could have to reflect on.
24 JJ49 // Mar 21, 2008 at 3:24 am
Greg…the book you may be looking for is The Good Heart -by Dalia Lama Excellent format. Fr Laurence Freeman also an excellent source…Google will give a complete source of his writings. Or…just google “sutra” and have at it!
25 greg // Mar 23, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Thanks for the tips guys…
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