clingging

this evening I went to a Buddhist study group. It was lead by this monk named Carl (his American name). His introduction had to do with this small shriveled up thing. He held it up in the air and said he was going to pass it around and asked if we could tell of what it was. When I got it I looked at it really close, smelled it. I was not sure what it was, it had a bit of mold growing on it, a touch of sap of some sort. I thought perhaps it was a walnut, my best guess.

After everyone looked at it he asked us what it was. No one knew. I was wrong with my walnut theory.

apparently it was a shriveled up peach.

he laid the peach down on his table next to a very beautiful, ripe orange.

he proceeded to tell us a story about the peach. Carl told
us that he was walking and saw this on a tree just the other day. The peach was still hanging off the tree in this state, it had never fell to the ground. He compared it to the way we tend to live our
lives. We cling to the notion of a self, and the idea
of being an individual. This peach was clinging to the
tree and would not let go in the same way. The unhealthy
attachment to the tree had not helped the peach, in fact it had shriveled up and looked disgusting. . He then held up the peach and the orange and asked which one we wanted to be.

If we continued to hold on and cling to this world and the idea of having a separate self we would be the peach.

If we let go and embrace the selflessness that truly exists we will be the orange.

I loved this analogy. I thought it was very true and an excellent way of explaining the clinging/attachment that occurs in our daily lives.

I hope to be the orange one day :) Im tired of being the bloody peach.