You're too "clingy" (cartoon)

Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nyanatiloka

I don't know what I'm doing wrong in relationship after relationship, searching for...

(Family Guy/Hulu) As clingy as a baby at the bosom is Stewie as Brian tries to cling to Drew

Starts off fun, gets to be too much.

Crystal, is clinging a problem in life? It is in Ashley's life; she has been known to get quite clingy. Ask her. But you? Not me so much, but guys I've dated. What do they do? You know how Brian once went on that reality dating show as a contestant then became infatuated with the bachelorette? Yes, exactly, I get it. He would leave all these phone messages and not get the hint to naff off. 

Brian the clingy bachelor (Family Guy)

"Clinging" (upādāna), according to the Path of Purification (Vis.M. XVII), is a pathetic and intensified degree of craving. The opposite is the "extinction of craving," which is identical with the "extinction of defilements" (āsavakkhaya), which is the attainment of full enlightenment or arhatship. (See noble persons).

There are four kinds of clinging that prevent enlightenment:

1. sensual clinging (kāma-upādāna),
2. clinging to views (ditthi-upādāna),
3. clinging to mere rules and rituals (sīlabbata-upādāna),
4. clinging to personality-belief (atta-vāda-upādāna).

(1) "What now is sensual clinging? Whatever with regard to sense objects there exists of sensual lust, sensual craving, sensual attachment, sensual passion, sensual delusion, sensual fetters (bonds of desire): this is called 'sensual clinging.'

Owner of a lonely heart? Try clinging to sensuality. It will disappoint, but what else are you going to do to overcome the empty feeling in your core and the body's cravings? Invest?

 
(2) ''What is the clinging to views? 'Alms and offerings are useless; there is no fruit or result for good and bad deeds: all such views and wrong opinions are called the clinging to views.

(3) "What is the clinging to mere rules and rituals? The holding firmly to the view that through mere rules (vows, precepts, discipline) and rituals (observances) one may reach enlightenment: this is called the clinging to mere rules and rituals.

• [NOTE: the way to enlightenment and nirvana is liberating-insight, made possible by the Noble Eightfold Path, not mere observance of ceremonies, celebrations, superstitions, magic, abstinences, or austerities, which may aid one along the way but cannot possibly in and of themselves bring about enlightenment.]

(4) "What is the clinging to personality-belief? The 20 kinds of ego-views with regard to the aggregates of existence (see sakkāya-ditthi): these are called the clinging to personality-belief" (Dhs.1214-17).

Not going to get all clingy, are you? - I'm not even going to call you tomorrow. - Good.

.

Heart Sutra: immaculate heart free of clinging

This traditional fourfold division of clinging is unsatisfactory. Besides sensual (kama) clinging we would expect either clinging to form or materiality (rūpa) and clinging to formlessness or immateriality (arūpa), or simply clinging to continued existence (continued becoming, bhava-upādāna).

Although the non-returner, the third of the four stages of enlightenment, is entirely free from the traditional four kinds of clinging, that person is not yet free of rebirth, as one still possesses clinging to continued becoming, the deep desire for rebirth on other planes even though one grasps that they are illusory, marked by Three Characteristics of Existence, namely, that they are impersonal, impermanent, and never able to satisfy one's desires.

The Commentary to the Path of Purification (Vis.M. XVII), in trying to get out of this dilemma, explains "sense clinging" as including here all of the remaining kinds of clinging.

"Clinging" is the common rendering for the Pali/Sanskrit term upādāna, but "grasping" would come closer to the literal meaning of it, which is "uptake" after craving it. See the Three Cardinal Discourses (Wheel No. 17), p.19.

"Family Guy" the Very First Episode

(Workard) Life in modern suburban USA as brought to us by Seth Macfarlane and the many writers of and contributors to "Family Guy." This is the pilot or unofficial first episode, the prequel. The "official" first episode was a remake of it.

The Four Perversions

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; BPS.lk; Ven. Nyanatiloka Mahathera, Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines (vipallāsa)

To see things as they are NOT is distorted delusion springing from ignorance. To see reality just AS IT IS is enlightenment springing from having rightly cultivated liberating-wisdom.

 

''There are four perversions or distortions (vipallāsa), which may be either of perception, consciousness, or of views. What are these four distortions? They are to regard:

1. what is actually impermanent as permanent,
   
2. what is actually unpleasant as pleasant (capable of yielding lasting happiness),
   
3. what is actually without a self as a self,
   
4. what is actually foul (ugly) as beautiful" (AN.IV.49).

• See Manual of Insight (Ledi Sayadaw, Wheel 31/32, p.5).

We don't have that in Iceland (Bjork)

According to the Path of Purification, the following perversions are eliminated by the first path-knowledge (stream entry, the first stage of enlightenment): the perversions of perception, consciousness, and views that the impermanent is permanent or that what is not a self is a self, and furthermore the perversion of views that the unpleasant is pleasant and that the foul is beautiful.

 

By the third path-knowledge (non-returning) are eliminated the perversions of perception and consciousness that the foul is beautiful.

 

By the fourth path-knowledge (full enlightenment) are eliminated the perversions of perception and consciousness that the unpleasant is pleasant (Vis.M. XXII, 68).

Explaining "Right View" (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; John Bullitt (Access to Insight), "Right View"

The Buddha overlooking Thailand (theskamantues'dayglory/flickr.com). NOTE: There is preliminary right view as distinguished from final knowledge or liberating right view.

 

Right view is the first of the eight factors in the Noble Eightfold Path, and belongs to the wisdom division of the path.

Definition

"And what is right view? Knowledge with regard to disappointment, knowledge with regard to the origin of disappointment, knowledge with regard to the cessation of disappointment, knowledge with regard to the path of practice leading to the cessation of disappointment -- this is called right view" (DN 22).

Right view's relation to the path

"And how is right view the forerunner? One discerns wrong view as wrong view, and right view as right view. This is one's right view. What is wrong view? 'There is nothing given, nothing offered, nothing sacrificed. There is no fruit or result of good or bad actions. There is no this world, no next world, no [special significance to things done to] mother, no father, no spontaneously reborn beings; no Brahmins or wandering ascetics who, faring and practicing rightly, proclaim this world and the next after having directly known and realized it for themselves.' This is wrong view...
 
"One abandons wrong view to enter into right view: This is one's right effort. One is mindful to abandon wrong view to enter and remain in right view: This is one's right mindfulness. Therefore, these three qualities -- right view, right effort, right mindfulness -- run and circle around right view" (MN 117).

Buddhist novices practicing in Lamayuru monastery, Ladakh, India (Dietmar Temps/flickr)

 
Consequences of wrong view

"In a person of wrong view, wrong intention comes into being. In a person of wrong intention, wrong speech. In a person of wrong speech, wrong action. In a person of wrong action, wrong livelihood. In a person of wrong livelihood, wrong effort. In a person of wrong effort, wrong mindfulness. In a person of wrong mindfulness, wrong concentration. In a person of wrong concentration, wrong wisdom. In a person of wrong wisdom, wrong liberation. This is how from wrongness comes failure, not success" (AN 10.103).

Results of right view

Borobudur, Java, Indonesia (TrevThompson/flickr)

"When a person has right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, right wisdom, and right liberation, whatever bodily deeds one undertakes in line with that view, whatever verbal deeds... whatever mental deeds one undertakes in line with that view, whatever intentions, whatever vows, whatever determinations, whatever formations all lead to what is welcome, agreeable, charming, profitable, and pleasing. Why is that? It is because the view is auspicious.

"Just as when a sugar cane seed, a rice grain, or a grape seed is placed in moist soil, whatever nutriment it takes from the soil and water, all conduces to its sweetness, tastiness, and unalloyed delectability.
 
Why is that? It is because the seed is auspicious. In the same way, when a person has right view... right liberation, whatever bodily deeds one undertakes in line with that view, whatever verbal deeds... whatever mental deeds one undertakes in line with that view, whatever intentions, whatever vows, whatever determinations, whatever formations -- all of them lead to what is welcome, agreeable, charming, profitable, and pleasing. Why is that? It is because the view is auspicious" (AN 10.104).
 
A thicket of wrong views

Bamboo thicket (Maxwell Holden/flickr)

"There is the case where an uninstructed, ignorant worldling... does not discern what ideas are fit for attention and what ideas are unfit for attention. This being so, one does not attend to ideas fit for attention, and instead one attends to ideas unfit for attention... This is how one gives attention unprofitably:

• 'Was I in the past? Was I not in the past?
• What was I in the past? How was I in the past?
• Having been what, what was I in the past?
• Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future?
• What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future?
• Having been what, what shall I be in the future?'

Or one is perplexed about the present: 'Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? Where has this being come from? Where is it bound?'

 

"As one attends unprofitably in this way, one of six kinds of view arises: 

• the view I have a self arises in one as true and established, or the view I have no self... or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive self... or
• the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive not-self... or the view It is precisely by means of not-self that I perceive self arises as true and established, or
• the view: This very self of mine -- the knower who is sensitive here and there to the ripening of good and bad actions -- is the self of mine who is constant, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and will endure as long as eternity.'

Meditation (health.indianetzone.com)

"This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed, ignorant worldling is not freed from birth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair. One is not freed, I tell you, from suffering and disappointment.

 

"The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones... discerns what ideas are fit for attention, and what ideas are unfit for attention. This being the case, one does not attend to ideas unfit for attention, and instead gives attention to ideas fit for attention... One attends profitably, This is disappointment... This is the origin of disappointment... This is the cessation of disappointment... This is the way leading to the cessation of disappointment. As one attends appropriately in this way, three fetters [obstacles to enlightenment and liberation from suffering] are abandoned: identity-view, doubt, and clinging to rites and rituals [as if they had the power to lead to enlightenment]" (MN 2).

 

Knowing and seeing for oneself

Novice meditating (alibaba.com)

[Kaccayana:] "'Right view, right view,' it is said, venerable sir. To what extent is there right view?"
 
[The Buddha:] "By and large, Kaccayana, this world is supported by (a false dichotomy) a polarity -- that of existence and non-existence (being and nonbeing, the twin wrong views of eternalism and annihalationism).

"But when one sees the origin of the world as it actually is with right view, 'non-existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one. When one sees the cessation of the world as it actually is with right view, 'existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one.
 

Meditation (SeekingHeartwood/flickr)

"By and large, Kaccayana, this world is in bondage to attachments, clingings, and biases. But one such as this does not get involved with or cling to these attachments, clingings, fixations of mind, biases, or obsessions, nor is one resolved on 'my self.' One has no doubt or uncertainty that, when there is arising (origination, becoming, being), only unsatisfactoriness is arising. And when there is passing away, only unsatisfactoriness is passing away. In this, one's knowledge is independent of others. It is to this extent, Kaccayana, that there is right view" (SN 12.15).

Abandoning the unskillful

                                  ...Cultivating the skillful

Meditation superhero (msnbc.msn.com)

"Do not go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scriptures, by logical speculations, by inferences, by analogies, by agreement through pondering, by probability, or by the thought, 'This monastic is our teacher.'

"[Instead,] when you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted and carried out, they lead to harm and to suffering' -- then abandon them...
 
"When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted and carried out, lead to welfare and to happiness' -- then enter and remain in them" (AN 3.65).

• Sutra on Views (AN 10.93)
• The Four Noble Truths
• The Fourth Noble Truth
• "Views" in General Index

The Discourse on Right View (sutra)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly, "Discourse on Right View" (Samma-ditthi Sutta, MN 9), based on translation by Ñanamoli Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi

Young Buddhist novices, Lamayuru monastery, Ladakh, India (Dietmar Temps/flickr)

  

Birth

Novice, Burma (UrsulasWeeklyWanders.com)

24. Saying, "Good, friend," the monastics delighted and rejoiced in Sariputra's words. [The Buddha declared Ven. Sariputra his chief male disciple "foremost in wisdom," just as he declared Ven. Khema his chief female disciple foremost in wisdom.] Then they asked him a further question: "But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma?" -- "There might be, friends.

 

25. "When, friends, a noble disciple understands birth, the origin of birth, the cessation of birth, and the way leading to the cessation of birth, in that way a person is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma.

 

Buddha in Phutthamonton (Gift of Light/flickr)

26. "And what is birth, what is the origin of birth, what is the cessation of birth, what is the way leading to the cessation of birth? The birth of beings into the various orders of beings, their coming to birth, precipitation [in a womb], generation, manifestation of the aggregates, obtaining the bases for contact -- this is called birth. With the arising of being, there is the arising of birth. With the cessation of being, there is the cessation of birth. The way leading to the cessation of birth is this Noble Eightfold Path -- that is:

1. right view
2. right intention
3. right speech
4. right action
5. right livelihood
6. right effort
7. right mindfulness
8. right concentration

27. "When a noble disciple has thus understood birth, the origin of birth, the cessation of birth, and the way leading to the cessation of birth... that person here and now makes an end of suffering (reaches nirvana). In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma." 

Becoming

Wheel of Sense Worlds (greencollarrap.com)

28. Saying, "Good, friend," the monastics delighted and rejoiced in Sariputra's words. Then they asked him a further question: "But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma?" -- "There might be, friends.

 

29. "When, friends, a noble disciple understands becoming (bhava), the origin of becoming, the cessation of becoming, and the way leading to the cessation of becoming, in that way a person is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma.

 

30. "And what is becoming, what is the origin of becoming, what is the cessation of becoming, what is the way leading to the cessation of becoming? There are these three kinds of becoming: 

• sense-sphere becoming
• fine-material becoming
• immaterial becoming. 

With the arising of clinging, there is the arising of becoming. With the cessation of clinging, there is the cessation of becoming. The way leading to the cessation of becoming is this Noble Eightfold Path -- that is, right view... right concentration.

 

31. "When a noble disciple has thus understood becoming, the origin of becoming, the cessation of becoming, and the way leading to the cessation of becoming... that person here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma." 

Clinging

31 Planes reduced to Six States (lokas)

32. Saying, "Good, friend," the monastics delighted and rejoiced in Sariputra's words. Then they asked him a further question: "But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma?" -- "There might be, friends.

 

33. "When, friends, a noble disciple understands clinging, the origin of clinging, the cessation of clinging, and the way leading to the cessation of clinging, in that way that person is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma.

 

34. "And what is clinging, what is the origin of clinging, what is the cessation of clinging, what is the way leading to the cessation of clinging? There are these four kinds of clinging: 

1. clinging to sensual pleasures
2. clinging to views [opinions]
3. clinging to rituals and observances
4. clinging to a doctrine of self (atman).

With the arising of craving, there is the arising of clinging. With the cessation of craving, there is the cessation of clinging. The way leading to the cessation of clinging is this Noble Eightfold Path -- that is, right view... right concentration.

 

35. "When a noble disciple has thus understood clinging, the origin of clinging, the cessation of clinging, and the way leading to the cessation of clinging... that person here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma." 

Craving

Cosmology (creative-harmonics.org)

36. Saying, "Good, friend," the monastics delighted and rejoiced in Sariputra's words. Then they asked him a further question: "But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma?" -- "There might be, friends.

 

37. "When, friends, a noble disciple understands craving, the origin of craving, the cessation of craving, and the way leading to the cessation of craving, in that way that person is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma.

 

38. "And what is craving, what is the origin of craving, what is the cessation of craving, what is the way leading to the cessation of craving? There are these six classes of craving:

1. craving for sights (forms)
2. craving for sounds
3. craving for fragrances
4. craving for flavors
5. craving for tangibles
6. craving for mind-objects. 

"With the arising of sensation (vedana, basic feeling not emotion), there is the arising of craving. With the cessation of sensation, there is the cessation of craving. The way leading to the cessation of craving is this Noble Eightfold Path -- that is, right view... right concentration.

 

39. "When a noble disciple has thus understood craving, the origin of craving, the cessation of craving, and the way leading to the cessation of craving... that person here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma." 

Sensation

Novice, Thiksey Monastery (Dietmar Temps)

40. Saying, "Good, friend," the monastics delighted and rejoiced in Sariputra's words. Then they asked him a further question: "But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma?" — "There might be, friends.

 

41. "When, friends, a noble disciple understands sensation, the origin of sensation, the cessation of sensation, and the way leading to the cessation of sensation, in that way that person is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma.

 

42. "And what is sensation, what is the origin of sensation, what is the cessation of sensation, what is the way leading to the cessation ofsensation ? There are these six classes of sensation: 

1. sensation born of eye-contact
2. sensation born of ear-contact
3. sensation born of nose-contact
4. sensation born of tongue-contact
5. sensation born of body-contact
6. sensation born of mind-contact. 

With the arising of contact, there is the arising of sensation. With the cessation of contact, there is the cessation ofsensation . The way leading to the cessation of sensation is this Noble Eightfold Path -- that is, right view... right concentration.

 

43. "When a noble disciple has thus understood sensation, the origin of sensation, the cessation of sensation, and the way leading to the cessation of sensation... that person here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dharma." More