Good to read. They have accepted desire but then proceed to analyze it - something I am loath to do.
I just suggest they are there and surmise reasonably that survival will encompass the basic desires.
From thereon every person will go his own way - pursuing his own desires. It makes sense for him to spend as little effort as possible so he can achieve more desires - but I'm just making an assumption.
However, if these thoughts about desires are true, it gives direction to those of us who want reform.
Instead of following the religious threat route "eternal damnation" will follow bad habits, instead of following the governmental threat route that bad habits will lead to prison, it might be better for people to find habits like non-violence, peace, justice - all the good things - on their list of desires.
But, as my Buddhist friends might say "Desire or tanha in Pali is an important thing to understand."
Harry
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Brian wrote:
Hi Harry ,
Perhaps Buddhism can shed some light on your desire to have desire be a basic assumption:
THREE KINDS OF DESIRE
Desire or tanha in Pali is an important thing to understand.
What is desire? Kama tanha is very easy to understand. This kind of desire is wanting
sense pleasures through the body or the other senses and always seeking things to
excite or please your senses - that is kama tanha. You can really contemplate: what is
it like when you have desire for pleasure? For example, when you are eating, if you are
hungry and the food tastes delicious, you can be aware of wanting to take another
bite. Notice that feeling when you are tasting something pleasant; and notice how you
want more of it. Don't just believe this; try it out. Don't think you know it because it has
been that way in the past. Try it out when you eat. Taste something delicious and see
what happens: a desire arises for more. That is kama tanha.
We also contemplate the feeling of wanting to become something. But if there is
ignorance, then when we are not seeking something delicious to eat or some beautiful
music to listen to, we can be caught in a realm of ambition and attainment - the desire
to become. We get caught in that movement of striving to become happy, seeking to
become wealthy; or we might attempt to make our life feel important by endeavouring
to make the world right. So note this sense of wanting to become something other than
what you are right now.
Listen to the bhava tanha of your life: 'I want to practise meditation so I can become
free from my pain. I want to become enlightened. I want to become a monk or a nun. I
want to become enlightened as a lay person. I want to have a wife and children and a
profession. I want to enjoy the sense world without having to give up anything and
become an enlightened arahant too.'
When we get disillusioned with trying to become something, then there is the desire to
get rid of things. So we contemplate vibhava tanha, the desire to get rid of: 'I want to
get rid of my suffering. I want to get rid of my anger. I've got this anger and I want to
get rid of it. I want to get rid of jealousy, fear and anxiety.' Notice this as a reflection on
vibhava tanha. We are actually contemplating that within ourselves which wants to get
rid of things; we are not trying to get rid of vibhava tanha. We are not taking a stand
against the desire to get rid of things nor are we encouraging that desire. Instead, we
are reflecting, 'It's like this; it feels like this to want to get rid of something; I've got to
conquer my anger; I have to kill the Devil and get rid of my greed - then I will
become....' We can see from this train of thought that becoming and getting rid of are
very much associated.
Bear in mind though that these three categories of kama tanha, bhava tanha and
vibhava tanha are merely convenient ways of contemplating desire. They are not totally
separate forms of desire but different aspects of it.
The second insight into the Second Noble Truth is:
'Desire should be let go of.' This is how letting go comes into our practice. You have an
insight that desire should be let go of, but that insight is not a desire to let go of
anything. If you are not very wise and are not really reflecting in your mind, you tend to
follow the 'I want to get rid of, I want to let go of all my desires' - but this is just another
desire. However, you can reflect upon it; you can see the desire to get rid of, the desire
to become or the desire for sense pleasure. By understanding these three kinds of
desire, you can let them go.
The Second Noble Truth does not ask you to think, 'I have a lot of sensual desires', or,
'I'm really ambitious. I'm really bhava tanha plus, plus, plus!' or, 'I'm a real nihilist. I just
want out. I'm a real vibhava tanha fanatic. That's me.' The Second Noble Truth is not
that. It is not about identifying with desires in any way; it's about recognising desire.
I used to spend a lot of time watching how much of my practice was desire to become
something. For example, how much of the good intentions of my meditation practice as
a monk was to become liked - how much of my relations with other monks or nuns or
with lay people had to do with wanting to be liked and approved of. That is bhava
tanha - desire for praise and success. As a monk, you have this bhava tanha: wanting
people to understand everything and to appreciate the Dhamma. Even these subtle,
almost noble, desires are bhava tanha.
Then there is vibhava tanha in spiritual life, which can be very self-righteous: 'I want to
get rid of, annihilate and exterminate these defilements.' I really listened to myself
thinking, 'I want to get rid of desire. I want to get rid of anger. I don't want to be
frightened or jealous any more. I want to be brave. I want to have joy and gladness in
my heart.'
This practice of Dhamma is not one of hating oneself for having such thoughts, but
really seeing that these are conditioned into the mind. They are impermanent. Desire is
not what we are but it is the way we tend to react out of ignorance when we have not
understood these Four Noble Truths in their three aspects. We tend to react like this to
everything. These are normal reactions due to ignorance.
But we need not continue to suffer. We are not just hopeless victims of desire. We can
allow desire to be the way it is and so begin to let go of it. Desire has power over us
and deludes us only as long as we grasp it, believe in it and react to it.
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Harry Pollard
Henry George School of LA
Box 655
Tujunga CA 91042
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel: (818) 352-4141
Fax: (818) 353-2242
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