Detachment is enlightenment
Fasting is a very popular mean in religions to pure oneself and get closer to the holy one.
Now how does the fasting tradition came about?
Early religion notice that the only way to reach enlightenment is by detaching one self from
worldly material. The Buddhist stated that ” Worldly desire is the origin of samsara ( the wheel of suffering) “.
When a person is too attached to worldly material , say : money , achievement , vanity, it is less likely for him/her to be enlighten.
The Christian Bible told people to
“keep on abstaining from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11)
Again, it is not the rich people that have difficulty in finding God ,
it is those who are very much attached to the worldly possession ;
people who are lustful towards money , achievement and vanity.
Humans’ desire is the one keeping them apart from being enlighten , not the worldly material itself.
In early age , religious people used to deprive their physical being to achieve detachment.
When a person is able to manage their own physical deprivation and maintain an inner peace ,
he/she will be enlighten.
Many times in our life , simple things like money, grades , appearance , or relationship breakdown can easily disturb our inner peace. Modern society train our mind to think that without the superficial quality, our life will be miserable. In other words, modern society encourage attachment.
Think about it. What will happen to you if nobody loves you?
Or if you don’t have the superficial quality that you have now?
Will you still be happy if you are hungry , poor and wounded?
Will you still be able to maintain inner peace in your heart?
Siddhartha Gautama meditate for days without food and drink to reach enlightenment.
Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days and 40 night and resist the devil’s temptation.
Muslim people fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
It is detachment that can lead people towards God more than prayer , reading Holy books ,or charity.
It is the abstinence of human’s desire that can lead the people to listen and respond to God’s word and the world’s calling.
Somebody once told me that zen people is agnostic towards religion.
I said that he need a long way to attain enlightenment.
