STUDENT QUESTION:

Can this pure giving-heart be a link-breaker within Dependent Origination then?

Can one act without clinging (attaching) and so not add to their identity (habitual tendencies)?

 

BHANTE’S RESPONSE:

Of course it can.

That’s what we do. That’s what it is.

 

Slowly, if that is done properly,

then attachments and craving, they just dissolve.

That’s the nature of the path.

So, it will dissolve the dependence of Dependent Origination.

Slowly it will weaken every link.

 

Yes, from craving onwards, someone has a choice.

Craving is subtle. The most subtle part of the chain.

Attachments arise from continual craving or wanting.

 

Attachments are basically heavier wanting

that have been accumulated.

 

But really, anywhere in there can be loosened up and broken down

from craving and wanting,

to attachments or clinging,

to habitual tendencies and identity.

 

So, all of that can all be weakened at any point in time.

It is just getting coarser and coarser,

basically, that is what it means

until there is a stronger identity.

 

But the giving-heart,

all the beautiful qualities of the heart,

they dissolve all of that.

 

So basically yes,

they just weaken the whole chain until

the whole chain doesn’t really exist anymore

 

The thing is,

when the beautiful mental states

the wholesome mental states

are cultivated properly,

they are selfless, that’s the thing!

That’s why we cultivate them!



 

So, there is no real habitual tendency…

The habitual tendency is to be selfless.  

 

That’s what it is.

So, the whole chain loses its power.