Upadana

Today Mike B. led our Sangha by playing a talk on the topic of Upadana, or “clinging” by Akincino.

Here is a link to the talk: https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/360/talk/54064/  The focus on Upadana starts at about 21 min.  

Below are some notes Mike created while listening to the talk (spelling of Pali words is almost certainly incorrect in most cases)

1. Grasping sensuality – calma upadana (4 min)
   1. Anything you can have sense experience of can be grasped, bank account to meditation mat
   2. Call this affluence, security, wealth, etc. (society generally applauds this tendency)
   3. The things that make us safe make us prisoners – “where you grasp, that’s where it gets you”
   4. The very act of grasping to make things safer is the thing that produces most of what we hope to avoid….it is backfiring in a major way
   5. The “seeking mind” is a good name for this
2. Identification with view – ditta updana (9 min)  [could cut further] 
   1. Attachment to any view will leave you in a vulnerable position (diet example…”everybody should do that”, then “if you don’t do this I don’t take you seriously”, then crusade) 
   2. 18:30 – trying to establish the primacy of my competence
   3. “Being right” is a good name for this
3. Identification with technique – cilavatta upadana (about 20 min)
   1. “Having the right technique” is a good name of for this – me knowing how it works
   2. Modern examples = favorite diets, work out routines, electronic devices, right kind of vehicle, etc., “the right kind of…” anything
   3. Develop strategy of optimization, extends to relationships, etc. 
   4. Idea of “we can manage this” 
4. Clinging to doctrines of self — Atavada upadana 
   1. All about being someone, creating an identity
   2. Create an identity that pretends to be permanent – chocolate éclair example
   3. With a permanent self – a soul – your problems are eternal
   4. Shift of perspective from smart thought to being a smart person  process of identification, we appropriate arising phenomena in our experiences
   5. Mantra: “This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.”