Here is a very nice teaching from a talk by Zen teacher, Lewis Richmond...


Often I'm asked, "What is this detachment thing in Buddhism? It sounds cold or hard."
Actually, as Suzuki Roshi explains, detachment in Buddhism means just the opposite of
cold and hard. The plum flower in spring is opening very slowly and steadily, but at the
same time it's dying. To fully appreciate the plum blossom—to love it—we need to give up
our sense of wanting the flower to be beautiful, or wanting it to linger—both of which are
involved with our own ideas and desires. We need to appreciate the way the flower actually
is. So detachment actually means love in its true sense—love, as Vimalakirti says, which has
eliminated attachment and aversion. We see the plum blossom and tears come to our eyes:
It's beautiful, and it's dying. We’re completely one with that.


Press here for more words from Lewis Richmond

Press here to return to selected words by other people

Press here to return to the Home page