Attachment

I'm sure we've all heard the story about the monkey who puts his hand into the cookie jar to pull out one of the cookies. As soon as he grasps the cookie however, his hand enlarges around the cookie, and he cannot pull his hand back out of the cookie jar. The interesting thing is, the monkey does not want to let go of the cookie so he is trapped. Trapped by his own desires.

Mankind too, is trapped by desire. We maintain our illusion of a cosmos in which we are separate from everything we see around us because we are trapped by our desires. When we realize that things do not come at us from without, but from within, we realize there is nothing to fear, for it is our fear that brings us the conditions we fear. The Tao Teh Ching makes an interesting statement here. In chapter one it is said, "Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. It is true that by desiring, under the right understanding, we can bring that to us that we desire, but in so doing we focus on objects, and not on the mystery that creates the objects. The superior person must see ever more clearly into the mystery of the way of the Tao, or in western terms, the way of the cross, or self sacrifice, giving up our own desires, and surrendering to the desires of the cosmos. In this way we secure our fate,

The commentary on hexagram thirty line five says, "Here the zenith of life has been reached..." It is usually in the zenith of life that we finally attain a true understanding of the nature of reality and the cosmos. It goes on to say, "Instead, understanding the vanity of all things, we may put aside both hope and fear." One puts aside both hope and fear because, understanding the true nature of the cosmos, one understands that one needs nothing, and needs fear nothing. He is secure, (In life and in death - see the commentary on line three) by knowing ones true relationship with the cosmos.

Both hope and fear are attachements. We are attached to a particular outcome. In fear we are attached to a negative outcome, in hope a positive, but it is attachment nevertheless. The superior person recognizes that "now" is the only moment that exists, and the person lives entirely in the moment.

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