Sunyatta Journals

 In the age of information overload it's less important to answer every question correctly, but more important to ask the right question.

The topic of friendship has been on my mind recently. I ponder about the cases where people do not get along (including my own cases), and I keep coming back to kilesa and upadanas  (attachments) being the origin of the breakdown. More importantly, it always takes two people with upadanas to result in a conflict. I. Sensual Pleasure Those who are attached to sensuality tend to step on others in order to achieve what they want. Mix two of them, and they will fight over their most desired sensual object. An extreme case of this is an open conflict involving drugs, women, or money, which is all too common. II. Ideas Those who are attached to ideas always have to be right, and will attack your ideas in order to maintain their superiority. Mix two who are both attached to ideas and it won't be pretty either. It is quite known that two know-it-alls never mix well. III. Rites and Rituals Those attached to rites and rituals will be rigid and delusional. Mix two who believe in different rit...