พระอาจารย์ขยายความโอวาทที่เปรียบสัตว์โลกผู้ติดอาลัยเหมือนนกกระเรียนติดตม ถอนไม่ได้ พร้อมสอนแนวทางปล่อยวางด้วยสันโดษ อุเบกขา และการเจริญสมถะวิปัสสนาควบคู่กันThe teacher expands on a teaching comparing beings who cling in attachment to a crane trapped in mud, unable to pull free, and teaches how to let go through contentment, equanimity, and developing calm and insight meditation together.
A lay follower asked the teacher to expand on a teaching from a late revered elder: "Beings of the world caught in clinging attachment are like a crane stuck in mud, unable to pull free — pull one leg out and it only sinks the other deeper... Your own body isn't truly yours. Your children aren't yours. Your husband isn't yours, your wife isn't yours, your grandchildren and relatives aren't yours. Money and possessions aren't yours either. They belong to the three realms of existence; we simply come into these three realms and make use of what belongs to them for a while."
A Crane Stuck in Mud: A Picture of the Clinging Heart
The teacher explained that this comparison depicts attachment that cannot be released — like a crane whose feet sink into mud; pulling one foot out only drives the other deeper, back and forth endlessly. Before we were even born, countless millions of people were already caught in exactly this pattern. Each person arrives to become someone's child, spouse, grandchild, or parent, and then clings tightly to that relationship, along with wealth and possessions — all of which merely belong to the three realms, passed around from one to another.
The Unwholesome Uses Liking and Disliking as Its Weapon
If we simply felt sfaction in what we have and are, without causing trouble for anyone, there would be no real problem. But doesn't let go easily — its goal is to bring beings to utter ruin, and even after death, it continues to bind us to worse states than before. It uses pleasure in sights, tastes, smells, sounds, and touch to lure us into greed; when things don't go our way, it stirs anger and resentment, turning small matters into huge ones, forging bonds of mutual retribution that never end, because a stored grievance from a past life lies buried within . Our lives, in every moment, are entirely the result of the law of karma.
The Buddha therefore gave this essential teaching: "Monks, you should hold clear awareness of body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, in order to eliminate covetousness and displeasure toward the world." We should live heedfully, aware of the , satisfied with what we have and are — is fine; use only what you have for now, without extravagance, and share what you can.
Reminding Ourselves Through the Three Characteristics, and Staying Neutral Through Equanimity
The teacher cautioned against becoming too attached to people, animals, or possessions, since we must eventually part from them all — everyone's time in this world is limited. The Buddha taught us to remind ourselves often: "sabbe sankhara anicca" — all conditioned things are impermanent — and "sabbe anatta" — all phenomena are not a true self to be clung to. Let go of everything, and abide in the world through the of equanimity — a neutral mind that doesn't swing too far into liking or disliking whatever stimulates it. When the mind rests in neutrality, the stream of merit is drawn in, calming body and mind, making them refined and gentle, able to progress toward the first jhana and the noble path.
Calm Meditation Handles Emotion, Insight Handles Reasoning — Both Must Be Cultivated Together
A follow-up question was asked: daily life involves both emotion and reasoning — sometimes we buy something out of emotion, sometimes out of reason. How should this be addressed?
The teacher explained that addresses emotion, especially concerning sensual pleasures, freeing us from the emotional pull that binds us within craving for existence and non-existence in the coarser dimensions. Insight meditation addresses flawed reasoning that doesn't match reality, helping us see things as they truly are. Meditative development corrects mind and mental factors, elevating them to a higher, nobler state, until we reach the inner knower, who teaches us deeper understanding of cause and effect at each successive level. Calm and must therefore always be developed together. Most attachment and longing is a matter of emotion, which calm meditation can address, but some of it requires the deeper reasoning that only can provide, truly freeing us from clinging attachment within the cycle of rebirth.