The Goal of Non-Attachment in Buddhist Philosophy

Each of you have goals and desires and there is nothing wrong with that . . . unless you become so attached to them that you fail to realize that your perception of how to reach them might be incomplete.

The Meditating Monk

"But I must practice, Sensei."

"How do you practice?"

"I look to experience enlightening moments through my practice of zazen, Sensei."

"So . . . your practice is zazen?"

The student, confused by the question answered, "Yes, through committed practice I will find enlightening moments."

"So you sit in zazen continuously. You set aside all other responsibilities and actions such as cleaning, eating, and being in the company of others so that you may practice?"

"Yes, Sensei. It is through my practice that I will experience enlightening moments. As the Awakened One sat beneath the Bodhi tree, I too will succeed through my efforts."

"Have you found success?"

"Not yet! Till now I have only found discomfort, hunger and disconnection! But I am committed to my practice."

"And zazen is the whole of your practice?"

"Yes!"

"Then you are truly becoming." The Sensei smiled and walked away.

The Sensei recognizes that the student hasn't reached the realization of an encompassing Buddhist practice. The student's craving for the experience of enlightening moments is resulting in psychoemotional suffering and unsatisfactoriness due to the misunderstanding that Buddhist practice and it's benefits can be achieved only on the cushion. We practice in each moment whether we are on the cushion, at the bus stop, shopping in the grocery store, and every other activity we find ourselves in.

The young monk has set a goal to experience enlightening moments based on his misunderstanding of the role of zazen (meditation) to his practice. Doing any action out of attachment to it's relation to a goal is known in Buddhism as "becoming". In this context the monk is "becoming" because he has attached his sense of identity, WHAT he is or wants to be, on a particular desire that is unnaturally related to the world as he WANTS it to be. He has attached his whole practice to meditation.

Having the goal is not the problem. Having a plan to reach that goal is not a problem. Sticking to a plan that isn't working because . . . well . . . that is the plan . . . will lead to suffering and unsatisfactoriness as that goal stays out of your reach. You must be open to altering your plan and even changing your goal depending on the situations that present themselves because whatever your goal may be it will be affected by impermanence and the causal processes of the Universe.

You may have heard that Buddhists don't set goals because a goal is a desire and a desire leads to craving. This is often said about meditation, that we shouldn't set goals when we meditate. In the scenario of the Meditating Monk that is certainly the case. The MM's goal ascribed to meditative practice had become a craving.

I'll agree that setting a goal to be reached WHILE meditating isn't such a good idea. That'll lead to thoughts of the goal springing up and clouding the meditative process. But we do set goals for WHY we meditate, HOW we mean for our meditative practice to have a positive causal effect on HOW we are and HOW the world is around us. For example, when we engage in Dynamic Mind meditation it is meant to expand our awareness and mindfulness of our connection with . . . with everything. When we engage in Walking Meditation it is to develop a deeper connection with our bodymind. There is always a goal for meditation but during meditation it is all about the DOING, being in the moment.

Having a goal worked for Siddhartha Guatama, it'll work for you.

Siddhartha realized the truth of human suffering and unsatisfactoriness and set a goal to do something about it. First he took the ascetic route . . . that didn't work so he tried something else. He tried the Jainist route . . . he tried the yogic route . . . he tried the brahmic route . . . he tried the teachings and practices of others . . . he tried sitting under a tree . . . that sort of worked. I say 'sort of' because he came to be Awakened to the ideal of the Four Enobbling Truths and a way to alleviate suffering and unsatisfactoriness. It worked for him, he understood it but was concerned that others wouldn't be able to. Lucky for us he didn't set aside his goal, he devised a way to teach people, to spread the concept of the Middle Path. He began to teach the Dharma and found that he couldn't teach it the same way to everyone . . . he had to change the way he delivered the message depending on who he was talking to (that whole Skillful Means, Skillful Action we talked about last week) . . . later he realized that this Dharma he'd worked so hard to figure out would have to change later on or it wouldn't continue to be effective.

Siddhartha didn't let himself get attached to any one method or any one voice. He recognized and practiced the Buddhist ideals of non-attachment, impermanence and dependent origination.

Non-Attachment and Goals

In Engaged Dharma we take a rigorous pragmatic look at Buddhist philosophy, we put ideals into practice and then decide if they are useful and productive in our lives. Not setting or having goals . . . not useful and productive. Without goals people tend to drift aimlessly from situation to situation simply reacting rather than taking positive actions. Then there are those people who have hard-and-fast goals that they refuse to deviate from even when presented with proof that their goal has no value anymore, or that their path to that goal is no longer viable. This too is not useful and productive.

The Buddhist ideal of non-attachment and the life ideal of goals can, and must have a symbiotic, and a pragmatic relationship.

Attachment is defined as, "Becoming "fixated" to our ideas about people, places, things and concepts in a way that fails to recognize their impermanent, changing and evolving natures." Venerable Shi Yong Shiang

Attachment is a negative disposition that can become a major source of psychoemotional anguish and unsatisfactoriness. It comes from not realizing the impermanent nature of ourselves and of the world around us, and of resisting those inevitable changes. We become disconnected from reality-as-it-really-is because we cling to and crave our own expectations of reality. There is no aspect of ourselves or our world that will remain static. This is something we only have to peer deeply and honestly into our lives and the world around us to recognize.

If we want to practice a useful and productive brand of Buddhism we have to realize that the type of attachment the Buddha speaks about is the type of attachment that leads to a creation of, or deeping of the psychoemotional suffering and unsatisfactoriness of ourselves and those around us. Instead we need to develop those practices which promote human flourishing. We must avoid the attachments that lead to the dangerous craving that the Buddha warns about in the Four Ennobling Truths.

Non-attachment is an "encompassing and corrective view" that can be applied not only to our goals and the paths that lead to reaching them. It can be equally applied to relationships, family, careers, dependencies, and all other aspects of our lives. It does not mean we don't love, enjoy and find happiness in the world around us. It does mean that we recognize the impermanent nature of the Universe and prepare our bodyminds to deal with those changes in effective and encompassing ways that promote our own harmony and the harmony of others.