How can we transcend attachment and find true liberation while engaging with the responsibilities of daily life? Many people mistakenly believe that liberation means avoiding tasks and obligations altogether. In truth, freedom is not about shirking responsibilities. It’s about engaging with them fully without letting them control our emotions and weigh us down.

Be Like a Mirror: Reflect With Equanimity, Let Go Without Clinging

       To understand this, consider a mirror. A mirror effortlessly reflects everything that appears before it, whether beautiful or unpleasant. It doesn’t reject what it reflects and, when the object is gone, the reflection disappears just as naturally. The mirror doesn’t cling to what has passed. This simple quality teaches us a profound truth: much of our suffering stems from resisting what comes before us.

       We ordinary beings tend to avoid the things we should do and resist the people we should engage with. At the same time, we cling to people and events that have long since passed, falling into a nostalgia trap. To illustrate how some people cling tightly to the past, a Chinese idiom says: “Some are unable to let go of a wrong, exacting revenge even after ten years.” This is how we live our lives - unwilling to face what life brings us in the present, and not being able to release what’s already gone.

       The Diamond Sutra says: “The mind of the past cannot be grasped, the mind of the present cannot be grasped, and the mind of the future cannot be grasped.” This teaching is meant to help us see through the deceptive nature of the illusory mind and free ourselves from its grasp. Ordinary beings cling to things and people, and from that attachment comes fear of losing them. While we may understand this principle, the real question is: can we actually practice it? That’s something we need to reflect on and continually strive for. It’s not easy but let’s do our best. 

True Freedom Lies in Non-attachment, Not Avoidance

       Failure to learn from the mirror, believing that to avoid all worldly responsibilities is the path to liberation, often leads to deeper mental entanglements, and that’s not true freedom.

       As Dharma practitioners, we must strive to act in accordance with our position, fulfilling our duties to the best of our abilities. Those who work sincerely and mindfully often find themselves unburdened, while those who are unwilling to take up responsibilities are grumpy and feel miserable. When something needs to be done, just do it. When it’s finished, just let it go. In this way, the mind is calm and free. This is the mindset to cultivate on our spiritual path.

       This holds true in monastic settings as well. There are always tasks to be done in the sangha communities. Yet, some members are reluctant to take on responsibilities, believing that they should be free from worldly cares now that they have left the secular world behind. But the great Buddhist masters found liberation not by avoiding work, but by embracing it with a mind resembling a mirror: not resisting anything that comes before them, and not clinging to but letting go of what passes.

       The secret lies in allowing the mind to cling to nothing. When our minds are detached from any particular situation, circumstances lose their power to affect us adversely. Afflictions exist only when we resist a task or person, paying too much regard to unpleasant things. When the mind doesn’t get attached to anything, we become free and unburdened, no matter the circumstances. As the ancients said: “When matters arise, respond accordingly. When they pass, let them go.”

       By embracing this teaching, we can find freedom and inner peace even in the midst of life’s many responsibilities.