Understanding Attachment: Lessons from the Lord Buddha : หน้า 83/263

characterized by the Lord Buddha as being attached to the things we like. It is like a monkey trapped by glue in a monkey trap. Normally it sticks to the trap when it sits down, and trying to prise its body free, it uses its legs to push — however, it only succeeds in sticking its feet to the glue as well. Trying to bite its way free, its mouth sticks to the glue as well. In the same way, when we become enamoured of something, at first we think we are simply showing approval for that thing, but later we find that we have become sentimentally attached to that thing and can no longer let go. The action of desire on the mind is to supplement ONE'S attachment to an object of desire until we find it impossible to extricate ourselves any more — just like a piece of meat that is thrown into a burning hot pan will burn and stick to that pan as soon as it comes in contact. Once attachment and desire become the habitual way of thinking for a person, their personality changes to become more and more materialistic. Once materialism or habitual craving becomes engrained in a person's heart, it becomes difficult for them to give away any of their wealth, even for charitable purposes. They become so attached to their wealth, that they feel nothing for the plight of monks, hermits, the poor, beggars or orphans. It is like taking a clean white cloth and dying it a different colour — even if you were to rinse that cloth a hundred times in clean water, you would be unable to restore it to its original whiteness. In the same way as dye in a cloth, desire tends to impregnate the mind almost irrevocably making one attached to one's wealth. The risk of entertaining such desire in the mind is that it may be the reason for a person to be reborn in one of the