The Invisible Burden of Spiritual Attachment

Venerable Chang Gao is a monastic residing at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. This interview was recorded on January 31, 2021, to shed light on the pervasive nature of spiritual attachment and the urgent need for spiritual purification.

Venerable Chang Gao speaks:

"How much of an impact does 'spiritual attachment' truly have on the human body? In this day and age, do people in the world really understand what spiritual attachment is? Let me give you an example. Imagine a person walking from their home to the market across the street to buy groceries. Within a short ten-minute window, they purchase a bunch of bok choy and a dozen eggs and return home. To the naked eye, they look exactly the same as when they left. However, in those ten minutes, their body has already been subjected to spiritual attachment, and they have brought back hundreds of spirits with them.

They feel absolutely nothing, and their family members do not notice any difference in them. Yet, they have undeniably been attached. Why? Because during those ten minutes, they were constantly planning their work; while shopping, their mind was busy calculating, bargaining, and worrying. They were caught in a cycle of thoughts and emotional fluctuations. In such a state, the spirits wandering in the surrounding space can easily enter their body, take up long-term residence, and become attached spirits within them."

The Vastness of the Human Vessel

"How many wandering spirits are there in the space around us? It is an immeasurable multiple of the Earth's seven billion human population. How many attached beings can a human body carry? It is staggering to realise that a single human body can accommodate an infinite number of sentient beings. How large is the space within this body? Perhaps only the vastness of the universe can serve as a proper comparison.

From the moment a foetus is born, the process of spiritual attachment begins. As long as one has a physical body, emotions, thoughts, and the Five Desires, sentient beings can attach themselves at any time. Once this body begins to be occupied by these beings, it starts to change. The more attachments there are, the more pronounced these changes become."

The Erosion of Cognitive Function

"Once external spirits enter the human body, they can move freely into various organs. The more densely these organs are occupied by external spirits, the less flexibly they can be used. Take The Head, for example. Once the number of beings entering The Head increases, the brain's reaction speed, sensitivity, and memory retrieval capabilities are all compromised. A person might normally be able to recall where they placed an object in their hand within ten seconds. But when there are too many attached spirits in The Head, they might struggle for an hour and still not remember, eventually needing to search everywhere to find it. This is because The Head, which was clear ten seconds ago, has been interfered with by attached spirits, causing a loss of clarity. They put the item down without being conscious of where they placed it, and ten seconds later, they find the item in their hand is gone, and they have no memory of where it went.

The impact of attached spirits on The Head does not stop there. Once these beings congregate in large numbers, they occupy more of the space within The Head, which increases the level of mental drowsiness. They obstruct the flow of blood within The Head, causing the circulation to slow down, which makes The Head feel heavy and dull."

The Reality of Our Daily Lives

"In today's world, as civilisation progresses, our thoughts have multiplied, our desires have grown, and unwholesome mental notes are more visible than ever before. These various factors have resulted in every single person being filled with spiritual attachments—not one person is exempt. If you walk down the street, you can observe the state of a person's attachments through their eyes, their movements, their gait, the way they eat, and how they dress. Every aspect of their being reveals their status.

If your eyes were capable of seeing these beings, you would see clearly that the person in front of you—from their skin, hair, and facial features to their limbs and even their internal organs—is completely occupied by attached spirits. Therefore, when they are eating, it is their attached spirits who are eating; when they are shopping or seeking pleasure, it is also their attached spirits. In many cases, it is these spirits who are truly in control."

Reclaiming the Body

"So, who does this human body actually belong to? Is it yours, or does it belong to these beings? There are too many spirits borrowing this body. Often, we have completely lost the right to govern our own physical form. What is the meaning of living like this? We must reclaim the right to use our bodies for our own spirit. We must not allow our bodies to be so easily borrowed. Only by keeping the body pure and sensitive, and by constantly engaging in purification, can our own spirit continue to ascend. Only then does this body have any real value.

The only way to prevent the body from being easily borrowed by attached spirits is to 'let go.' Let go of your attachment to the body. Stop clinging to the desires of the world, stop clinging to your own personality, and stop clinging to your afflictions, thoughts, and delusions. By holding onto a single Buddha-name, you keep your body and heart pure. By maintaining right thoughts and positive energy at every moment, these beings will naturally find it difficult to attach themselves to you.

The human body is precious and hard to obtain. Do not let it easily fall into illness or decay. Once spiritual attachment occurs, the body is changing, deforming, or forming diseases every second. I urge everyone: do not be careless."

— Chang Gao

This interview was recorded by the Buddhist disciple Shi Fajing.