Appearances And Attachment
“It is not appearances that tether us; it is attachment.”
Appearances are everything that appears to our mirror-mind.
Attachment is clinging/grasping/holding on to these reflections,
creating a personification of a limited view.
Appearances constantly flood in. If we become attached, concepts form and so we become involved and distracted, losing our equanimity – our calmness and composure. Being detached doesn’t mean giving up everything: it just means not being tethered.
Being tethered creates limitations: we walk around in continual circles, never able to expand our experience.
Being detached, we are more able to express compassion in a situation. It’s what emptiness is all about.
BUDDHA IN THE MUD is a blog - a living book based on the Dzogchen teachings. Our teacher is life, and life is karma. We are all Buddhas in the mud of concepts. 
This was how I was trained as an artist. And I can do that in the studio anytime. But in my personal life I could not seem to operate that way. But I think attachment has been extinguishing all along. Six years ago I studied Pure Awareness Emotional Competence with Tom Stone. Now I am begining to be the artist in my ‘becoming less and less personal’ life.
Being original is turning back to our origin.
It is spontaneously inspiring at every moment.
The artist is the beauty within,
and what could be more beautiful than caring.
Tony