i'm not actually sure what i'm asking; just some thoughts i've been having lately and thought some of you good people could give me some responses. i am not a buddha; i don't know what love is to a buddha. what do you mean? what is love between two people, mother and daughter, husband and wife, what is romantic love, and what is love to a buddha?
In romantic love, in any human relationship, there is expectation. Take the example of a husband and wife. The husband sees the wife as being someone other than himself. So does the wife. They each expect the other to reciprocate their love. While this goes on everything is fine and dandy. But, if one day the wife is distant, it worries the man. If they are separated in some way, both are miserable. Why? Because they saw the other as different from them and were attached to that entity. They had expectations and desires, whch could not be fulfilled, leading to misery. Now consider the love of a Buddha. A man of realization sees himself in everything. There is none other than him. Therefore, there is no expectation of reciprocating love. There is no possibility of separation. There is no desire. There is no attachment also, because there is nothing to be attached to. This is love for love's sake. Such love cannot be shaken, because it does not have a cause. Whereas the human relationships require a cause. Humans always love because of something. Be it physical attraction, or mental similarity or some spiritual connection. When that reason is removed, then love goes away. The love of a Buddha, being causeless, is permanent, complete and all-encompassing.
Love is nonattached, based on faith, freeing, causes joy, real, selfless, easy, follows the heart, comes from the spirit, focused on giving, secure, respectful, warm, needless, wise. I found this in the following blog: http://www.michers.blogspot.com/ it was in a chart, love, opposed to attachment.
thank you! i think i've solved this question in my head now.. love and attachment, two separate things. one is attached to one's spouse, and loves him or her on some different level, where she is not his spouse, but where she is god.. what, then, is attachment - and it's worth? attachment is to me something just as god-like and tremendous as love. apologies for my ignorance, i am just musing over these things that are new concepts for me, trying to figure out what is good. any words of direction welcome.
what does that mean? there is dislike, there is confusion and pride and disgust and sadness... these things aren't love, and yet they exist. 'love is all', i cannot see. 'god is all', perhaps, but then god is love and confusion and pride and disgust and sadness and joy and anticipation and all things. so when we feel love, god is love. but god is more. also hate.
it took me a long time to realise this. you can look at in this way. if love was a house and it had many rooms, hate would be a room too. because if it wasn't for love, there could not be hate, hate is created throughout love, therefore hate is love. anotherside of love. love upside down. many people argue with this with, yeah well than it's not love anymore, but if you are upside down, it's still you, isn't it?
