Possessor or Possessed?

Genuine love and kindness is desperately needed in this world. It comes from appreciating the object, and rejoicing in the object, wanting the object to be happy and well, but holding it lightly, not tightly. And this goes for possessions too. You are in an extremely materialistic society in which the possession of more and better is held up as the total criteria for being happy. Then people get confused, because they come to the Buddhadharma and it teaches giving up, renunciation. People say, “Does that mean I have to give up my Mercedes or my beautiful condominium?” But the question is—do we possess the possessions, or do the possessions possess us?”

…What we own is not the problem. It’s our attitude toward our possessions. If we have something and we enjoy it, that’s fine. If we lose it, then that’s OK. But if we lose it and we are very attached to it in our heart, then that’s not fine. It doesn’t matter what the object is, because it’s not the object which is the problem. The problem is our own inner grasping mind that keeps us bound to the wheel, and keeps us suffering. If our mind was open and could just let things flow naturally, there would be no pain.

~ Venerable Tenzin Palmo