Obsession - 痴

One of the traps which people find themselves stuck at is obsession. And I am sure, it is very common a phenomenon, say one finds oneself addicted to blogging, or feels uneasy if one is unable to log on to MSN for a night, or must watch the drama serial everyday. Many little things like these are forms of obsession and they are actually traps which impede the enrichment of our spiritual life.

It's definitely a plus point to be committed, to be loyal and to be faithful to what we believe and what we do but when it goes over a certain limit or when it is for a wrong cause, obsession sets in. Obsession isn't exactly something which we are aspiring to achieve but rather, something which we want to use to challenge ourselves with. We can use obsession to our advantage, and that would be a training to divert all attention spent on unnecessay issues to matters which summon us more. For example, instead of a daily routine of a one-hour television spree, one can always spend the hour reflecting on one's day, how one has been compassionate and benevolent or how one has kept Buddha's words and teachings in mind and practised them. On reflection, one may realise that one has done one's best in reducing or at best, nullifying one's bad karma.

When practising Buddha's teachings, we only hope to attain a pure self and by a pure self, I suppose meaning one of minimised negative karma, one of a kind heart, one who views others all alike, one who shows compassion to all beings. And to attain a pure self, obsession to worldly possessions must be eliminated, addiction to mundane matters must not be there to hinder, the desire for materialistic items must not obstruct. That is why what we are looking for isn't a mere verbal "Yes, I will try to curb my habit" but more of a physical committment from people to quit the bad lifestyles they have always been leading and take on a more pro-active role in their spiritual, Buddhist life.

As for the current me, I dare not say I do not have obsessions to certain things or issues, because I still carry the hope of playing in the rain one day. I still want to bear the desire that one day I will be able to ride the motorbike in the rain. I still want to run in the rain for a very long distance one day. As the rain patters on the other side of the windows and one day, on me, may all these trivial, all-leisure thinking gets washed off me.

Just a sidenote, a recent study shows that most teenagers feel that Buddhism is a peaceful religion. Indeed it is, so keep your faith in Buddha and pray wholeheartedly.