1. Ready to Go : Ready to Die

　　This heart of ours is much like a child. The child is unable to take care of itself and so has to depend on mother and father, on guardians and nursemaids, holding on to various people. But the child at least has parents and guardians to look after it, to make sure it seldom meets with harm. Whereas although the heart is always grasping and clinging to various things, it doesn”t find any such safety and security.

　　The heart can”t rely on itself and therefore always likes to cling onto things. For the most part, it tends to reach for wrong things, for things that do it harm. The reason it likes to search for and hold on to things, is so that it can find safety, security and comfort for itself. The things it clings to however, are not dependable and so they pose a constant danger for the heart. Whether we are children or already grown up, this is the way our minds tend to be.

　　Instead of trying to rely on ourselves we always put our hopes in other things, other people. We can”t stand on own two feet. This is because the heart isn”t wise enough to check whether the objects it grasps hold of are right or wrong, good or bad. It doesn”t know how to care for itself, how to help itself, because there”s no one to teach it. There”s nobody to advise on how to know which things are dangerous and which are beneficial, which things should be held on to and which things shouldn”t. The heart therefore continues indiscriminately to grasp hold of anything, whether good or bad, as long as it likes the look of it. Even if it isn”t gratifying, the heart”s characteristic trait is still to keep on grasping and clinging. Why should it be like this

　　Normally, one wouldn”t think that a mood1 or a thing that”s displeasing is worth clinging to. Yet the heart continues to grasp hold of such things. It clings to anger, to delusion and lust, hatred and disgust, because it becomes involved and caught up in them. We can never say that the heart simply knows an object, for it always gets caught up in it and clings to it. For the most part, those things have nothing good in them.

　　Why does the heart have to go and grasp at things

　　 It”s because it is attracted without realizing the repercussions of its attachment. Even though you may wish to break away from it you can”t, because there”s something else which is powerful enough to force the heart to grasp and hang on. The object then becomes caught up in emotions, which continually overcloud and obscure yourself. Here we”re talking about emotional objects1 and moods.

　　Now I”ll speak about material objects. The heart will grasp at and cling to whatever object is present. It doesn”t matter how trifling or significant, how valuable or worthless it might be; the heart can and will attach itself. We wouldn”t be wrong if we were to call the heart an expert ”hanger-on”. This is because it”s still unable to rely on itself, and so must depend on outside things, until the end of the body that has led one through the changing situations. It may even forget itself by surrendering to the power of external objects, even though their control is baseless and leads the wrong way.

　　The Lord Buddha taught that, "self is the protector of self".2 Try to cure the heart of its dependency, of the tendency it has of always hoping to rely on other things. Disengage yourself from such objects and turn inward to rely more on your own resources and abilities. Don”t depend on your parents, friends and others, so much that you forget yourself. Our human trait of continually seeking support in other people develops eventually into a personal habit. It”s like this all over the world, and in this regard we can hardly even measure up to some kinds of animals. This, then, is why the Lord Buddha taught about self-relianc…

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