See it as an ornate festive carriage.
See how fools are entranced by their visions,
yet for the wise there is no attachment.
Dhammapada v. 171
This very world that we live in is our field of spiritual study. We can learn from all of it, but we probably find on occasion that we prefer to look away. Taking time out to refresh and renew can certainly be helpful, and was regularly praised by the Buddha. Let's take note, however, that here our Teacher is specifically inviting us to look directly at the world - not to merely look away in judgement, but to study it; to reflect on it; to see where, when and how we are fooled by its appearance. An attractive object such as an ornate festive carriage can be beguiling so long as we are not wise, and similarly utterly unattractive objects can fool us. But projecting love or hate on to an object is something extra that we do; we are not obliged to add anything extra. As the Buddha said elsewhere, in the seeing let there just be seeing. Nothing added, nothing taken away.
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