[2012 Sprin gWeek 5 Dharma Talk] Discussions on impermanence, attachments, happiness, and death.

Unfortunately, our speaker, Rev. Kusula, wasn’t able to make it this week. We hope to see him again soon; he always leads amazing Talks. However, true to UBA spirit, we adapted and we changed our format for this week. With the addition of tasty nachos, we held a group discussion on the subject of impermanence and on other general topics about Buddhism.

Simply, impermanence is the idea that things in this life are impermanent; nothing lasts forever. Therefore, it is important to live in the present moment. For instance, we agreed that relationships will inevitably end (for whatever reason) and it is important to cherish the time you have with someone. It is also important not to put anyone on a high pedestal; people are not stagnant and people are constantly changing.

This led to a discussion of attachments. If everything is bound to end, then is there a point to attachments to objects or to people? Many of our members agreed with the symbol of an open hand. Our interaction with forms of attachments should be like having our hand open, palm facing upwards. We allow things to land on your hand, but we also allow them to leave; we do not firmly grasp or try to trap anything. We should be able to live in contentment when we are without attachments. We should be able to let things come and go.

Furthermore, we agreed that there seems to be different levels of attachments. While it is true that desires cause suffering, certain desires are worth that burden. Attachments, formed from the right intentions, are not necessarily negative and are worth having. Take friends and family as examples of good attachments!

We also delved into questions of happiness and death. We discussed the distinction between instantaneous happiness and lasting happiness. Although somewhat tricky to answer, we agreed that happiness is not permanent, but that should not deter us from finding joy in life. We briefly talked about death as well. We all realized that life is impermanent. Therefore, because death is inevitable, we must live life fully and compassionately.

Yep, we went through many topics! But our discussion was so interesting; everyone had such personal and intriguing interpretations of impermanence and Buddhism in general. In fact, it was crazy how much time had gone by! Although it has passed, it was so wonderful to have such an intimate group of amazing people, all sharing in a moment of blissful contentment!