Yes, we are all a long way off from that great level of cultivation.Mawkish1983 wrote:The near enemy of metta has already been mentioned. I, for example, am happily married and feel strong feelings of love (I think) and attachment for my wife. Deferentiating between the two and discerning what is love and what is the illusion of love is something I am yet to achieve. I'm working on it. I have not doubt at all that the Bodhisatta loved his parents completely, yet he left them to become a sramana (spelling?). Myriad lifetimes of developing the brahmaviharas must have helped. When he attained enlightenment he was so unattached to the world that he famously had to be asked to teach the Dhamma, having no desire of his own to do so (another thread here somewhere discusses this).theAYSays wrote:In terms of differentiating between attachment and love? I think they are two different elements that are neither mutually exclusive nor intrinsic.
I am sure you and I are a long way off this level of perfection, so we must make do practicing to develop the brahmaviharas more and more.
If you look at both Mahayanan and Thervadin scriptures, you'll find that the Buddha has compassion for even the 'less noble' or worldly desires of others. Plenty of times has he expounded on what kind of attitudes and karmas will result in worldly goods, such as familial happiness, government positions, health, or even material wealth! So clearly these things are not antagonistic to Buddhist practice.
I think this 'worldly' desire of mine is far more pure than attaining fame or wealth. And health is merely a vehicle towards happiness. Also, she's a Buddhist too, and I would certainly help her towards attaining enlightenment. Mahākāśyapa and his wife were married lifetime after lifetime because of the good they did in propagating Buddhism; that's something I want myself and my hopefully-future-wife to find.