# Letting go of attachment to form **URL:** \ **Category:** General Theravada topics\ **Created:** [July 22, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/letting-go-of-attachment-to-form/1322 "2024-07-22T02:51:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joseph\_B](https://classicaltheravada.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Joseph\_B](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/Joseph_B)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/letting-go-of-attachment-to-form/1322/1 "2024-07-22T02:51:33Z")
Hello, this is my first post here, however i have been following posts here for a few months without an account and I have an interest in Classical Theravada teachings. I am a young male with aspirations to ordain in a few years once i get all my debts paid and some money to support myself while living in a monastery. I want to be able to eliminate obstacles to ordaining so that I can be as dedicated as possible to the training when the time is right and I see my attachment to my race and country as one such obstacle. I find it hard to not get angry or upset when I see hatred towards my race and country and I tend engage in similar behavior back. I realize that the more I engage in such behavior that I could one day end up in physical altercations or even potential wars that may happen in the future. My question is, what did The Buddha advise people to do so that they didn’t give in to feelings of ill will towards others who display their hatred at you? Will attachment to my race and homeland diminish naturally the further along the path that I progress? Thanks for any replies in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Paññādhammika](https://classicaltheravada.org/user_avatar/classicaltheravada.org/pa%C3%B1%C3%B1%C4%81dhammika/32/972_2.png) [@Paññādhammika](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/Pa%C3%B1%C3%B1%C4%81dhammika)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/letting-go-of-attachment-to-form/1322/2 "2024-07-22T03:00:15Z")
> [@Joseph\_B](#): > > Will attachment to my race and homeland diminish naturally the further along the path that I progress? Any attachment is to be relinquished along the path. This one is actually easy once you see the emptiness of the concept of race and country. What’s a country? Can you point to me which one is the country? What’s a race can you point to me what’s the DNA of a race? They are just concepts. The map is not a country, the people in a country changes, even names can change, even the exact land can change, as seen by wars conquering and changing borders. Even the government system changes, just look at China. It’s all just fictions, stories in our minds, just like money is a story, just like companies are stories, just like the self is a story. They don’t actually exist. How then can be be attached to mere stories? ---
**Author:** ![RobertK](https://classicaltheravada.org/user_avatar/classicaltheravada.org/robertk/32/1498_2.png) [@RobertK](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/RobertK)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 5:37am UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/letting-go-of-attachment-to-form/1322/3 "2024-07-22T05:37:07Z")
Dear Joseph welcome to the forum! All our life we have situations and experiences that we like or dislike - whether highly personal or more abstract such as country and politics. We take greater or lesser interest in such matters depending on many factors. But as ven. Paññādhammika said it is all empty. Even self is simply a wrong view. Nina Van gorkom: > . _.monks, gain comes to the unlearned common average folk, who_ > _reflect not thus:“This gain which has come is impermanent, painful_ > _and subject to change.” They know it not as it really is. Loss_ > _come. . . fame. . . obscurity. . . blame. . . praise. . . contentment. . . pain. . . They_ > _reflect not that such are impermanent, painful and subject to change, nor do_ > _they know these conditions as they really are. Gain, loss and so forth take_ > _possession of their minds and hold sway there. they welcome the gain which_ > _has arisen; they rebel against obscurity. They welcome the praise which has_ > _arisen; they rebel against blame. They welcome the contentment which has_ > _arisen; they rebel against pain. Thus given over to compliance and hostility,_ > _they are not freed from birth, old age, death, sorrows, lamentations, pains,_ > _miseries and tribulations. I say such folk are not free from ill._ > We then read that for the “ariyan disciple,” who has attained enlightenment, the opposite > is the case. **We may wonder what the secret is of the ariyan disciple. He sees things as** > **they really are and is not enslaved to the worldly condition** s.\*\* Could we also become an > ariyan disciple? At this moment we are still “unlearned, common, average folk.” From the > Buddha’s teachings we learn that seeing realities as they are can make us less enslaved > to the worldly conditions. Seeing things as they are, that is true wisdom. Do we see > realities as they are or do we live in dreams and fantasies? In our life there are realities > and there are imaginations or ideas which we form up in our mind. We do not even > know the difference between reality and imagination. However, in order to see things as > they really are we must know the difference between what is real and what is not real. > We may wonder whether the Buddha’s teaching is not a philosophical system which deals > with abstractions. On the contrary, the Buddha’s teaching helps us to know ourselves, to > know our different moments of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness. He taught the way > to eradicate attachment, aversion and ignorance. > Our thinking about reality is conditioned by many ideas we acquired through our education an through the culture in which we are rooted. If we want to understand what the > Buddha taught we should not hold on to our own ideas about reality and we should be > open-minded to his teaching. Then we will notice that his teaching is completely different > from our ideas about reality. The Buddha taught about everything which appears now and > which can be directly experienced. He did not teach abstract ideas. > [https://abhidhamma.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Understanding-Reality.pdf](https://abhidhamma.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Understanding-Reality.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Joseph\_B](https://classicaltheravada.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Joseph\_B](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/Joseph_B)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/letting-go-of-attachment-to-form/1322/4 "2024-07-22T23:19:30Z")
Thanks, i will take some time away from social media sites a political happenings for a while to ease my mind. It is easy for me to get caught up in arguments or even just anger when by myself at what i see happen and I’m tired of being angry. I will reflect on the things said in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![bksubhuti](https://classicaltheravada.org/user_avatar/classicaltheravada.org/bksubhuti/32/19_2.png) [@bksubhuti](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/bksubhuti)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/letting-go-of-attachment-to-form/1322/5 "2024-07-25T14:13:17Z")
Welcome to the group. It is nice to know that people lurk around our group before joining. It is good. Welcome! **The Simile of The Saw** is always a good one. [https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.than.html](https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.than.html) There are plenty of subjects based on anger. There is a whole chapter in the dhammapada. [https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/dp17.htm](https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/dp17.htm) The main thing to do is to learn loving-kindness and realize that people with anger often feed their own anger. Do anything else but have a mind of anger. You will always lose if you have anger, even if they instigate the anger from you. Anger is never justified. Here is a [timestamp video of a story](https://youtu.be/W_GKKFPytEc?t=1362) I told where I had to fight my anger, by doing something wholesome (spoiler: Going to the chanting hall). ---
**Author:** ![Nripendra](https://classicaltheravada.org/user_avatar/classicaltheravada.org/nripendra/32/1150_2.png) [@Nripendra](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/Nripendra)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 12:21am UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/letting-go-of-attachment-to-form/1322/6 "2024-07-31T00:21:30Z")
> [@Joseph\_B](#): > > Will attachment to my race and homeland diminish naturally the further along the path that I progress? One can assess one’s progress in the path by examining how much one has abandoned. If you’ve given up a lot, you’ve come a long way; vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Nature](https://classicaltheravada.org/user_avatar/classicaltheravada.org/nature/32/2114_2.png) [@Nature](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/Nature)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2026, 12:19am UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/letting-go-of-attachment-to-form/1322/7 "2026-11-11T00:19:29Z")
> [@Joseph\_B](#): > > My question is, what did The Buddha advise people to do so that they didn’t give in to feelings of ill will towards others who display their hatred at you? “When we see something we dislike, aversion arises. We usually think that the object causes the aversion to arise, without realizing that after seeing the object, the mind generates thoughts, and it is actually these thoughts that give rise to aversion, not the object itself. The arising and passing away of defilements depend on how the mind thinks about the object, not on the object itself.” — Sayadaw U Tejaniya (Meditation teacher) ---
**Author:** ![Nature](https://classicaltheravada.org/user_avatar/classicaltheravada.org/nature/32/2114_2.png) [@Nature](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/Nature)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/letting-go-of-attachment-to-form/1322/8 "2026-11-11T00:32:59Z")
> [@Joseph\_B](#): > > Thanks, i will take some time away from social media sites a political happenings for a while to ease my mind. It is easy for me to get caught up in arguments or even just anger when by myself at what i see happen and I’m tired of being angry. In the DN 16, the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, the Buddha offered guidance to those seeking the path, helping them discern what is beneficial and what is unbeneficial.In the DN 16, the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, the Buddha offered guidance to those seeking the path, After reading, the wise reflect carefully and make their own discernment. > **[SuttaCentral](https://suttacentral.net/dn16/en/sujato?reference=main&utm_source=chatgpt.com)** > > Early Buddhist texts from the Tipitaka (Tripitaka). Suttas (sutras) with the Buddha's teachings on mindfulness, insight, wisdom, and meditation.