Clinging

The image is of a monkey grasping fruit. This is a return of the symbolism to the monkey in stage three, but here his restlessness roaming has fixed for the moment on a particularly desirable object.

Clinging is an intensification of craving. It is the more or less obsessive quality of the mind which fixates on its object. There are said to be four kinds of clinging; sensual clinging, clinging to a an ego position, clinging to superstition (rites and rituals) and clinging to views (dogmatism.)