"The previous Sangharaja, The Supreme Patriarch of the monastic order, once went on a tour of China, where someone offered him a very beautiful teacup. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen. He thought, 'Oh! The people here have real faith in me, to offer me this beautiful teacup!' And as soon as the teacup was in his hand, immediately he was suffering. Where should I put it? Where is it safe to keep it? He couldn't stop worrying it would break.

"Before he had that teacup, he was fine. Once he had it, he wanted to show it off to the people back home in Thailand. He put it in his bag and kept telling everyone to watch out that the teacup didn't get broken. 'Hey! Careful, please!' Everywhere he was watching out for it. He had nothing but suffering. Before, this suffering didn't exist, but now there was the heaviness of having the teacup.'

"So he boarded his plane back to Thailand. When he arrived he warned the novices, 'Be careful! Don't let the teacup break! You laypeople, watch out! There's something fragile here!' This went on all the time, suffering because of attachment to the cup.

"Finally, one day, a long time later, a novice picked it up and it slipped from his hand and broke. What relief Sangharaja felt, 'Ah, I am free! Suffering all these years.' "