Wear Out the Old, Make No New
Do not pine after the old, do not fashion new attachments. Do not grieve what fades, do not cling to anything.
Am I weighed down by both — old regrets and new cravings — carrying the load of both?
📝Reflection
Our minds pile burdens from two directions. On one side we pine after good old days and cling to them; on the other we fashion new attachments toward what we don't yet have. Old regret and future craving weigh on the mind at once. This verse asks us to set down both: let the old wear away naturally, but add no new clinging to it. "Those were the days" and "if only I had this" are both minds that have left the present moment. The lightness of letting the old coat wear thin without buying up new ones — that is the way to empty both hands and grasp the present whole. The light-hearted live neither in the past nor the future, but only in now.
🌱Apply It Today
When "those were the days" or "if only I had this" arises today, recognize both as "a mind gone elsewhere than now," and return to the present.
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
