Are we attached to people or things, or are we attached to the concepts of people or things?

Question

In the spiritual sense, we are attached to the people and things with a deep heart-felt feeling. Society is attached to the concept of people or things. Bhante Chandima Gangodawila, please correct me if I am not right. Can Bhante comment a bit more on your question so we can understand with clarity, the actual meaning of the Question? Thank you very much. Bhante. Metta. 💖💞💝

Answer

We are attached to concepts, and not to the idea of people, or things. Just as when we think people are misusing us, we are cheated by the people, but rather by the concept of them.

It is pretty easy to clarify. Regardless of spiritual or societal life, we get attached to the people and things. If we look at the nature of these attachments closely, none of us has really attached to those xyc, but to our self-created concepts of such people and things. For instance, a man attaches to a woman, but what actually happens is a man is attaching to a concept of a woman of his conceptuality. So if one can really look into one's self-created concepts of people and things, there is a very good chance of not getting caught up in unnecessary hassles.