Bernie Glassman at Upaya Roshi Bernie Glassman: Making Peace—The World as One Body 2012 (Part 2 of 8)
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Aug 6, 2018 
Roshi Bernie Glassman, a Zen teacher and social activist who founded the Zen Peacemakers, discusses attachment to meditative states, preferences, and opinions. He contrasts tools of practice with clinging, recounts bearing witness at Auschwitz and in conflict zones, and offers guidance for listening into fraught family relationships. Several stories highlight practicing amid fear and embracing diverse faiths.
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Attachment, Not Spaciousness, Causes Problems
- Attachment to a meditative state, not the state itself, creates suffering and dysfunction.
- Bernie Glassman compares spaciousness to a tool in a carpenter's bag that becomes a problem only when the hand clings to it and uses it inappropriately.
Carpentry Story Shows How Attachment Breaks Things
- Bernie tells a carpenter story about studying Swedish, Japanese, and Shaker carpentry and collecting tools in a bag.
- He contrasts two Bernies: one attached to a single tool who breaks a door, and one flexible Bernie who uses the right tool or oils the hinges.
Allow Preferences Without Clinging
- Recognize preferences as harmless unless you cling to them; attachment creates the problem.
- Bernie uses simple examples (vanilla vs chocolate, cigars) to show you can prefer without forcing others or refusing alternatives.