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April 16, 2026   Interest vs. Clinging   In the Latukikopama Sutta (MN 66), the Buddha tells a story to the Venerable Udayin about a quail who is tangled in a rotting vine and unable to free itself. Even though the vine is weak, the quail is ignorant and cannot escape. This sutta, known as the Discourse on the Simile of the Quail, reminds us that even minor attachments can be powerful, keeping us ensnared in unconscious habits or thought loops if left unchecked and unacknowledged.    It’s important to note, however, that it’s not the attachment—big or small—itself that poses the threat, but the attitude toward it. As Theravada monk Bhante Henepola Gunaratana explains, there’s a difference between interest and clinging. We can have interests—even desires to enjoy and succeed—without attachment.    Poet Jane Hirshfield zeroes in on the difference between the terms “detachment” and “nonattachment,” arguing that the latter leaves room for the interest, or passion, that fuels art. As she says, “Detachment implies the extinction of feeling. In non-attachment the river-life of emotion continues, only our relationship to it alters.” The artist creates out of desire or passion, but lets go of the finished product.    In this way, we don’t have to disconnect from our daily lives or abandon our passions. Our task is to refrain from clinging, and this week’s Three Teachings offers different stories to help us understand this crucial distinction.

Clinging By Bhante Henepola Gunaratana  In a teaching from his book Dependent Origination in Plain English, the Sri Lankan Theravada monk known as Bhante G drills down on the difference between interest and clinging, using the Discourse on the Simile of the Quail and also the metaphor of a hang glider to illustrate how overcoming grasping leads to freedom.

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Six Small Meditations on Desire By Jane Hirshfield Encouraging us to embrace the world as it is, including our desires, poet Jane Hirshfield implores us to see the difference between preference and attachment, and adds, “The taste of awakening is not flavorless, the energies of practice are not apathy or depression.”

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A Single Handful By Buddhadasa Bhikkhu  Telling a story about the Buddha in the forest, Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu explains that non-clinging is the heart of Buddhism, and the most important teaching to grasp. Holding a handful of leaves in his palm, the Buddha says that his knowledge is like all the leaves in the forest, but the only information a practitioner needs in order to escape dukkha, or suffering, is akin to the leaves that fit in the palm of his hand: “Nothing whatsoever should be clung to as ‘I’ or ‘mine.'”

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