Abhidhamma Papers |
Attachment, greed, craving, clinging; all these words express the meaning of lobha, and lobha always has dukkha as its end result.
Lobha arises in daily life in many degrees. Imagine that you own a beautiful Ming vase, for example. The sight of this treasured possession tottering on the mantelpiece may cause the unprompted arising of very strong attachment - the body may even react with the characteristic grasping nature of lobha. To be aware of lobha in such a gross form presents no difficulty after the event. The problem is to see this attachment as something apart from the object of consciousness. If and when the object comes to its end in the form for which the attachment arose, lobha may yet persist. There is still a clinging to the object but in reality the object has vanished and there is just a clinging, which is to say, a clinging to emptiness. This is dukkha. Dukkha arises not merely because of lobha but also as a result of not understanding the true nature of the object as rupa (matter) which arises and passes away moment after moment. Had the vase not broken then, it would eventually have returned to dust by some means or another. The misunderstanding lies in taking as permanent what is impermanent.
This lobha is the kind that attaches to form or 'material shape'. Another kind of lobha is the one that attaches to view. Seeing the body as self is a view based on lobha. As can be seen from the list, four of the eight types of lobha are connected with view and may arise with or without pleasure, prompted or unprompted. Views are the first type of lobha that have to be erased if progress is to be made. For instance, if one persists in ego-personality belief, then it will be hard to develop generosity or goodwill to any great degree because of the excessive importance placed on self which is a characteristic of this view.
Lobha, unconnected with view, may arise with pleasant or unpleasant feeling. It is with these forms of lobha that awareness of their arising becomes more difficult (and more uncomfortable if one considers the degree of subtlety and apparent innocence of much that is classified as unskilful).
Pleasant talk, friendship, going to the cinema are all activities which may involve the arising of lobha cittas accompanied by pleasant feeling. The lobha cittas arising with indifferent feeling may occur when one simply stands, when one corrects the length of the breath during a meditation practice, or when one watches a nimitta. According to abhidhamma, all will lead to dukkha arising from the attachment to impermanent objects in an impermanent world.
Since lobha is so extraordinarily deep-rooted, to the extent that conceit is only completely eradicated in an arahat, then it may be worth considering its advantages. When considering the more subtle forms it is obvious that most of us will never succeed in eradicating much lobha for many lifetimes, yet it provides pleasure and amusement and these may be used to promote joy and happiness, providing the necessary morale for a continuing and consistent practice. Since it is obvious that there will be attachment to the practice, one might consider whether it is not a good thing to be attached to something that may lead to unattachment.
Also we do not have a clear knowledge of the states of consciousness that become less and less fettered as they get higher and so any progress in eradicating just a small amount of lobha will bring a greater freedom and well-being to our lives. This is so simply because there is an improvement, leading to a state that was previously unknown to us. Lobha may be weakened by contemplating the three marks of existence. An understanding or gradual acceptance of anicca, dukkha and anatta will allow progress to be made. It is when progress has been made and we look back that we may realize anicca, dukkha and anatta are present in our lives.
Guy
The essay then points out that attachment may be focussed, not just on material objects, but also on 'view' (ditthi) - in fact, four of the eight types of consciousness rooted in attachment are associated with wrong view. The translation of the term as 'view' may be misleading, implying as it does an idea, or the way one anticipates the future. But its meaning seems deeper than this; perhaps 'world view' or 'the way one perceives the world' is closer. It is also usually associated with the wrong views of eternalism and annihilationism. The former is usually illustrated by the desire to be immortal, but an example nearer to home might be practising meditation with the idea that it will result in pleasant states of mind. The latter view of annihilationism is also usually illustrated by the belief that nothing survives after one's death. Another example would be the desire to go to sleep in order to get away from it all.
The essay also points out possible difficulties in distinguishing between skilful and unskilful consciousness. While pleasant talk and friendship sometimes arouse attachment, if the discussion is about dhamma, skilful consciousness may be aroused instead. Whereas frivolous talk tends to disperse energy, talk about dhamma tends to raise energy. On the other hand, it does not seem that the distinction between skilfulness and unskilfulness is simply a matter of the amount of energy raised. For example, when one loses one's temper, a great deal of energy may be raised, but an unskilful consciousness is present. The problem, however, is that when energy is raised, one may feel more 'awake' and then think that this is skilfulness. But it may only be strong energisation (piti) in a citta with attachment and pleasant feeling. While it may not be so easy to distinguish the two at the time, it seems to be easy afterwards: one's state of mind and energy level after the event will make it quite clear whether the consciousness was skilful or unskilful. The latter restricts and narrows, while the former opens up the mind.
Another problem in distinguishing skilfulness from unskilfulness was discussed in the context of doing meditation practice. While attachment to the practice is very much a possibility, it also seems possible that there comes a point in the practice where a sense of a kind of urgency arises. Perhaps this is not a form of unskilful attachment; it seems more like a strong desire to do whatever is necessary, and it seems to build up a momentum in the practice. In abhidhamma, there is also the term dhamma-chanda - the will to do what is right, which is not based on self or others. In the suttas the Buddha is asked how it is possible that one can come to end all craving by craving. The Buddha compares it to a man who has a desire to go to the park; when he has got to the park, he no longer has that desire. In one's own practice, then, it may be profitable to distinguish between attachment to the practice and a real desire to do it.
Finally, the problem of eradicating lobha was also discussed. There seem to be two sides to this. On the one hand, there is gradual work and development, so that mindfulness and concentration may accumulate. On the other, there may be points when an opportunity may be taken and a change can take place. The former seems to have a gradual step-by-step nature, while the latter seems to be more a matter of not getting in the way and allowing skilfulness to arise. The strength of skilful consciousness may be great and may also be a powerful antidote to attachment and other forms of unskilfulness. There may be many opportunities throughout the day for skilfulness to arise and because of this the texts place a great deal of emphasis on the good fortune of being born as a human.
In terms of specific meditation practices, the traditional cures for strong attachment are the cemetery meditations, and the meditation on the thirty-two parts of the body. These are not, however, recommended if there is any tendency towards aversion, as they may give rise to a form of morbid excitement. Anicca practice is also considered an antidote, particularly for the desire to aquire material goods and for cutting off pride.
