“Ignorance is Bliss?” by Bro Jerry - 8 November

These notes were taken by Sze Yuan.

Letting go:

1)     It is something that is easy to say, but hard to practise. This is because we are still defiled and have attachments to many things. This range from coarse kinds like material wealth, to more refined ones like relationships. Yet despite this spectra, they are all attachments and hinder our practice in letting go. We understand on an intellectual level the concept of anicca (non-self) and that all things come and go, this intellectual understanding takes time to diffuse into us. Hence, we have to constantly reflect, remind ourselves, and provide the conditions for the practice to ripen.

2)     Analogy of birds:

a.       A pair of birds built their nest outside Brother Jerry’s house one day a few months back and he had the fortune of witnessing the growth and development of the hatchling. The growth process lasting a couple of weeks was documented on his home video footage, and he shared the footages with us. The main stages were as follows:

                                                               i.      The first task was to build the next, and the pair of birds hustled endlessly to collect twigs to build a sturdy nest.

                                                             ii.      The mother bird then laid a single egg, and they embarked on their parenthood there forth.

                                                           iii.      For the next two weeks, the parent birds took turns bringing back food to feed their hatchling, and they had to frequently defend their nest from intruding birds too.

                                                           iv.      Despite their meticulous care, the inevitable day came when the little bird grew up and took flight away from the nest.

b.      The whole growing up process of the birds bore an important lesson of letting go. The parent birds were analogous to our parents, and as children we are their hatchlings. In grooming us up before letting us take flight to live our own lives, parents demonstrate a commendable act of letting go.

3)     How does letting go align with conventional success? How can we succeed when we are not attached to anything?

a.       Firstly, it is important to acknowledge that Buddhism is not against material success. Go forth and earn your riches, what is essential is earning it righteously without breaking the 5 precepts, and not using it to break the precepts.

b.      Secondly, the attitude of letting things be and not being overly attached to things is in fact conducive for success even in the conventional world too:

                                                               i.      Letting things go means that one is able to have harmonious relationships with our colleagues. We learn to let go of grievances and are able to have metta towards them. As the saying go, we recognize that “holding on to anger is like holding on to a piece of charcoal wanting to throw at someone else – we end up being the one burned”. A harmonious working relationship constitutes building conditions for success at work.

                                                             ii.      Furthermore, letting go means that we are more flexible with our plans and are able to adapt to changes. This is especially relevant in today’s context where things are volatile and ever-changing. An attitude of letting go means we do not grasp on the existing plans to tightly, and are able to go with the flow and adjust our mental state in accordance to the situation. This is certainly beneficial in ensuring a high work performance.

c.       In fact, there are many Buddhist practitioners who are very accomplished in our society. However, many are low profile, hence are not well-known.