Non Attachment In The Monk's Tale

Non-attachment is a common concept within the South Asian religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. This essay expresses the importance of non-attachment by pointing out one’s ability to embrace death, the consequences of attachment and each religion’s view on karma and how it is shown in the traditional and modern narratives; The Ramayana, The Monk’s Tale and The Nun’s Tale.

Attachment is when one holds on to things as if their life and happiness depends on it. Family, wealth, friends, material goods and sexual desires are all considered to be attachments. While non-attachment is when one lives free of the attractions and distractions life has to offer. As mentioned before, non-attachment is a common concept within the South

This is similar to how one might see the concept of non-attachment. The Ramayana and The Nun’s Tale both express the importance of non-attachment by showing us the consequences of attachment. These consequences leading to our suffering, as attachment is said to be the root cause of suffering. “Attachment is the origin, the root of suffering; hence it is the cause of suffering.” (Dalai Lama, 1988:37) For instance in the Ramayana, it is shown the consequence of attachment in family. If it weren’t for Sita and Ram, Lakshmana wouldn’t have had the need to cut off Surpanakha’s nose. It was because she was coming to attack Sita that Ram was in the position to tell Lakshmana to stop her and in the anger of his sister in law being in danger caused him to not think wisely and cut her nose off. “I fear for all of us. That was no animal, my husband. That was a human. And in her eyes, you are the villain and I am no victim. This action will have a reaction,” said Sita. (Sita in C.K., 77) She was right, there was a reaction, the abduction of Sita. This leads us to another family attachment, the relationship between Ravana and Surpanakha. Ravana had abducted Sita only because both Lakshmana and Rama had hurt

As enlightenment is the ultimate goal for these religions, Hindus call it achieving moksha and Buddhists and Jains, nirvana. All three religions believe that whether it is to end the cycle of rebirth, or to live a better life in the next birth one must wipe clean all their karma. Karma is usually due to attachments, as mentioned earlier in this essay to how the Bhagavad Gita connects attachments and karma. In the Ramayana, when Rama, Sita and Lakshmana discussed karma, Lakshmana had said “All events in our lives are reactions to past actions”(Lakshmana in C.K., 122), Rama replied saying “Events are events. Humans qualify them as good or bad.”(Rama in C.K., 122) Contrary to this is what Prasannamati Mataji had mentioned in The Nun’s Tale, “Jains, however, conceive of karma as a fine material substance that physically attaches itself to the soul, polluting and obscuring its potential for bliss by weighing it down with pride, anger, delusion and greed, and so preventing it from reaching it’s ultimate destination at the summit of the universe.”(Dalrymple, 2009:10) Pride, anger delusion and greed all being causes of attachment. Buddhists believed karma to be a cause and effect situation for instance in The Monks Tale when Passang talks about ducks who make home and lay eggs near his house he says “my parents would warn me not to go near