How to catch a monkey

There is a story I heard some years back about a strategy used in certain cultures to catch monkeys.

Tied to a tree is a ceramic jar with some fruit or nuts in it. The mouth of the jar is small, so that the open hand of the monkey can slip through. The monkey goes after the food, but while clutching it, his closed fist is too big to slide out of the mouth of the jar. Even when the people are coming to eat him, he will not let go of his favorite treats and run to freedom. 

This is an obvious metaphor for human tendencies as well; letting go of what ever we are holding on to is the key to our freedom. If the monkey saw that his grasping was the source of his bondage and ultimate demise, he would open his hand and live free another day.

But perhaps his ‘monkey-mind’ was telling him some story about what is needed now, or some promise of future fulfillment.

Here we have another metaphor of buying the thought stream - or shifting attention to consciousness itself, which is the source of clarity, insight, inspiration, truth, and freedom from suffering.