Last week my cranky old bicycle that I found ages ago that now has a broken saddle, wonky bottom bracket and dodgy gear changer and which I left unlocked outside my house was taken away. I was mildly annoyed at the inconvenience. Yesterday evening I came home to discover the cover of my new motorbike had been moved and my neighbour told me that she had disturbed someone fiddling with it. An hour later the whole cover had been removed. Clearly someone was casing it to see how easy it would be to steal and probably whether it was worth it. The result of that for me was intense anxiety and a strong sense of vulnerability and, today, one more lock on it and I moved it even closer to my front door.

The Buddha once asked a king how he would feel if a member of his family experienced distress or disgrace. The king replied that he would suffer intensely. the Buddha then asked him how he would feel if someone in his kingdom that he did not at all know were to experience distress or disgrace. The king replied that it would have little impact on him. The Buddha said that this shows that the cause of suffering is attachment.