The Right Understanding of “Attachment”

In the 90s, I read a short but powerful book by the Thai Buddhist master, Buddhadasa. It is titled, One Question, One Wisdom. I was truly impressed by the third chapter of that book. Someone asked Buddhadasa, “If a foreigner asked you what the most fundamental teaching of Buddha is, how would you answer?” Buddhadasa said, “We can answer with a brief statement from the Buddha–do not hold on to anything.” So, here we have it, the entire teaching of Buddha summarized in one short sentence.

That attachment is the root cause of suffering is a very common belief in both Western and Chinese Buddhist circles. But such a statement must be scrutinized and carefully understood. Based on my own observations, it is often misinterpreted. It is helpful to ask the following questions:

(1) What is “attachment”? I have problems with the way the term is used in Buddhist circles. It is too broad, and the vagueness of the term may mislead us about how to practice. We need a good definition of attachment.

(2) Are all kinds of attachment bad? Or is it just certain forms of attachment?

(3) Does attachment have both an upside and a downside? It seems that way to me. If attachment has both an upside and a downside, then are Buddhists guilty of cherry-picking and focused only on the dark side?