In a certain part of India, knowing the mind of monkeys, people have devised an ingenious trap to catch them. They tie one end of a length of rope to the neck of a bottle and the other end to a tree trunk. They then place some fruits inside the bottle to attract the monkeys. When the monkey sees the fruits in the bottle, it will squeeze its hand in through the narrow neck of the bottle to take the fruits. Once the monkey has the fruits firmly grasp in its hand, the monkey is caught because its hand is now too big to come out from the bottle. Obviously the monkey can let go of the fruits and take out its hand but unfortunately very few of them do and so they are caught and trapped by their own foolish desires.

This is a Chinese poem written as follows:

Alcohol, sex, wealth and anger are Four Great Walls. Many men and women are trapped within them. Those who can jump over them are immortals.”

There are many other walls such as greed, hatred, ignorance, romantic attachment, sound, forms, material things, worldly gains, food, drinks, enjoyment, pleasure, desires etc. Coming back to the monkey, before it put its hand into the bottle, the monkey lives a peaceful life with freedom. Why was it trapped? It is because of the food and greed that arose in its heart. It was not smart enough to let go of its hand that was trapped in the bottle by holding tightly to the fruits. Similarly, human cannot laugh at the foolishness of the monkey because they themselves are also trapped by the above-mentioned and cannot let go. How many can let go of love and money?

There is a saying, “Fortune out of proportion to one’s position, and windfalls that come for no reason, are either bait sent from the creator or devious traps set by people. If we never expect or anticipate unrealistic gains, then we will never be caught in such traps.”

The world is full of traps specially baited to appeal to our weaknesses and deep rooted habits and desires. A far-sighted and wise person can see beyond these traps, so greed does not arise in his heart and he is in no danger of being trapped. Unchanged by desires, he keeps to the highway which leads him finally to his destination. Road accidents are caused many a time by obstructions along the way. I saw a video car race and there was an accident where the car in the race made a few overturns. By focusing through close video shot, the reason was that there was an almost naked woman among the crowd waving that made the driver lost his attention on the track. Just a

In Matthew 19: 23-24 we are told:

Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

In this profound truth there is a narrow gate in Jerusalem known as eye of the needle. Before a camel can be led through that gate, it must be made to kneel down and all baggage and merchandise has to be unloaded. Only then can it pass through the gate way and enter the city. We can see two morals from here:

1] A person must have a humble and respectful heart. If a camel refuses to kneel, it cannot enter the town. This can be interpreted as a proud and arrogant person cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, because the door to the Heavenly Kingdom is narrow and oversized heads will never fit through.

2] To enter the Kingdom of Heaven we have to free ourselves from our entanglement in worldly things. Like the camel, we have to unload all our excess baggage and detach from the worldly attachment.

When our heart is filled with worldly concerns and attachments, the eye of our spiritual nature is covered and we cannot see the truth clearly. When Jesus asked his disciples to sell off their properties and follow him, it was because in order to catch a glimpse of the road to heaven, we must sever our attachments to self image and material status. There is a saying:

“The path of truth is wide. When our hearts are carefree, the outlook is vast and bright. The path of human desire is narrow. When we take this way, we see only mud and thorns.”

Why do we rush into the dark and tangled road of human desires full of traps? Not only that we will lose our freedom of movement but stepping on the mud and thorns can be very painful. Why not let us unlock the chains that bind us and just pack a few simple necessities and roam freely on the path of truth and soar like an eagle in the wide blue sky, far above the dust of the world.

T.A Chew had encountered many traps in the past and is now wiser how to overcome them. To jump out of the high walls for the rich is very tough and the actual hole of a needle is very small. Even we find it difficult to insert a small string through it, needless to say a camel to pass through. Website: http://www.white-sun.com

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