Attaching to “pleasurable things” can be stopped in two ways.
(i) Think about the long-term “bad” consequences of such attachments, especially if such attachments lead to doing immoral or unwise deeds.
(ii) At a deeper level, any attachment takes a mind away from the “suffering-free state” (pabhassara citta). Furthermore, what we perceive to be “tasty,” “beautiful,” or “good-smelling,” etc. are all made up by our minds. It is what I call “distorted sanna” in the post below. Even though we cannot eliminate those sensations of tastiness, etc. (even an Arahant experiences them), by comprehending that mechanism, we can stop the subsequent attachment. That is what an Arahant has done to get to Arahanthood!
It could be a bit harder to see (ii) above. But if one can comprehend it, then it will make stopping attachments much more effortless.
- This is what I tried to explain with the new post “Sotapanna Stage and Distorted/Defiled Saññā.”
