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Originally Posted by francstoic  More generally, I want to ask whether it is "fair" to be attached to circumstances when they provide joy/happiness, but as soon as they produce suffering/sorrow, one abandons the attachment. I mean, I have known some Eastern philosophies talk about abandoning attachment to the world completely. Why would anyone want to do that? |
In Buddhism one of the basic principles is that Life is suffering. Everything leads to suffering, even doing something enjoyable. If you do something that makes you happy, it won't last forever. If you pursue a relationship, the person will eventually die. It doesn't say that you should do nothing pleasurable: it promotes the middle way. But you should distance yourself from earthly pursuits.
Being caught up in life causes you to desire, and desiring leads to suffering. The very desire to BE is something that must be overcome to attain Buddhahood. So one is encouraged to distance oneself from desiring (and life) by meditation and insightful practises. There is more to achieving enlightenment, but once you achieve enlightenment and you die, then you escape the eternal cyclic passage of time and reincarnation and you obtain Nirvana.
So basically, they teach detachment because life is pain and there is something better than it.