It is so easy to get entangled with the pressures of work, family dramas, relationship issues etc. The body and mind are finely tuned to handle acute stress, but not the prolonged, daily stress we experience from these emotional entanglements. How then do we follow the Buddha’s advice, “Don’t get entangled with what you long for or dislike”? In this episode, we explore how we turn situations and people into things we long for or dislike. We can engage in a mindfulness practice to stop ourselves from getting stressed, angry or attached by reminding ourselves: “Don’t get entangled. It is empty.”

Don’t get entangled 

With what you long for or dislike.

Not seeing what you long for is suffering;

So also is seeing what you dislike. (210)* 

Therefore, do not turn anything 

Into something longed for, 

For then it’s dreadful to lose. 

Without longing or dislike, 

No bonds exist.

—Buddha, The Dhammapada

References

Buddha. The Dhammapada, translated by Gil Fronsdale. (2011). Shambala, pp. 56.