Clinging Is the True Suffering

📖Master’s Reading

The afflictions and torments of our life are often caused not by the matter itself but by the inner unwillingness to accept and to let go. In truth, the cause of suffering is clinging; when you fix your eyes on suffering and will not let go, suffering torments you without end. The more you cling to a lost love, an unattainable thing, or some grievance, the more this suffering gnaws at your soul.

It is like gripping something and refusing to release it: in the end the thing is crushed and the hand aches too — both are harmed. In life, many times, not to deliberately entangle oneself, but to transform the mind and let go at the right moment, is the good remedy for leaving pain.

Both the Heart Sūtra and the Diamond Sūtra teach us not to stubbornly rest on a single point. The Diamond Sūtra's "let the mind dwell nowhere" is a gentle reminder: "Mind, do not rest upon anything." If the mind attaches too much to outer people and things, then when impermanence brings loss, one weeps bitter tears.

True practice is learning to loosen that tight grip. When you see through arising and ceasing and are willing to transform the mind and set down clinging, the afflictions that once felt unbearable suddenly lose their weight. Once the mind is willing to loosen, suffering naturally lightens, and the soul at last regains freedom.

🌱Reflection for Daily Life

• Understand that the source of suffering all comes from inner clinging.
• Notice whether you attach too much to people and things.
• Learn to let the mind dwell nowhere, seeing through arising and ceasing.
• Loosen the tight grip, transform the mind and set down clinging.
• The deeper the clinging, the deeper the suffering; loosen the mind and suffering lightens.