LETTING GO IS ABOUT TRANSFORMING WORLDLY AFFECTION INTO THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF THE BUDDHA
Question: How can we truly apply the truth of letting go in our daily life? How do we go about showing filial respect to our parents, and taking care of our children, and yet still able to let go of them in our daily life? Please enlighten us, Master.
Answer: This calls forth wisdom. If you say, “Now that I’m learning Buddhism, I’m going to abandon my husband, mother and children, give up my responsibility to cook for the family, and let go of everything else”, I can assure you that you are in for trouble!
This is not what letting go is about. To truly let go is to let go from the heart which means relinquishing our sense of attachment and it’s not about abandoning your entire household. If you do so, you may as well become a monk and abandon everything. There is no way that you can truly let go in this way.
Letting go means you let go from the heart. You still need to save and take care of your family, but you transform the worldly affection towards your family members into the loving-kindness of the Buddha.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Public Talk, Houston, USA, 8 September 2016
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