Cutting the Tree of Attachment
One must cut down this firmly rooted tree with the strong axe of detachment.
Liberation requires cutting our attachments to the world-tree. The axe is detachment (asanga)—not hatred of the world but freedom from its grip. We do not destroy the world but our bondage to it. This act of spiritual surgery is painful—attachments feel like part of ourselves. But what is cut away is the source of suffering, and what remains is the freedom of our true nature. Detachment is not cold withdrawal but warm liberation.
The real form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination one must cut down this strongly rooted tree with the weapon of detachment.
Buddhist teachings on attachment parallel this—suffering arises from clinging; release from clinging brings freedom.
Bhagavad Gita