As the second of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths tells us, it is through Upādāna, or attachment, and the craving that it leads to that suffering arises. The answers to the three questions that Lao Tsu poses in the first stanza of this chapter make little difference; they all characterize various attachments. All of these lead inevitably to suffering.
He who is attached to things will suffer much.
In my marginal notes I have scribbled this tidbit from Ben Wren:
Hasidic saying: There are only two sorrows in the world, never to have achieved what is desired and to have achieved it.
I have no idea if this is really a Hasidic saying or not, but the point is very Buddhist. If we accept this characterization of sorrow, then the very idea of desire is suspect. Certainly, if these are in fact true sorrows, no good can come of desiring, unless one is French. In which case, the perfect recipe for maudlin has been discovered.
