The way attachment functions within the individual is very different from anger. Anger possesses you. It’s hot, you feel it, and you can see it coming. Attachment is cool, soft. It’s like dipping paper in oil. When the paper touches the oil, though you barely dip a corner of it, a large amount of oil is quickly absorbed. And it’s extremely hard to wash out. Likewise, attachment is pervasive. It comes unexpectedly, takes over our entire body, mind, and even speech. Without our realizing it, attachment has taken over. That is the difference between anger and attachment. Anger is rough, attachment comes in gently. By the time we realize it, we are already up to our neck in it.
~ Gelek Rimpoche, “Good Life, Good Death”
