Harry Pollard wrote:
>
> Brian,
>
> 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.
[snip]\
> 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.
Nexst time I meet the Buddha in the road and he is bleeding
to death, especially if I am trained and qualified as a
doctor to save his life -- a training which in
The West, instills the desire to treat illnesses and
try to prevent persons form dying --. when I, as
a master physician meet the Buddha in the road dying
to death and there is noone around except me
and he cannot save himself, I will practice not
desiring anything, and IU will probably just
start quietly intoning "Ommmmm" as I continue walking
down the road of maybe I won't, since
I won't even desire to intone "Ommmm".
This will be good practice for not desiring innegal drugs,
sex, etc. An outsider, looking on, will wonder how I
keep breathing, even, but the answer to that
is simple: if I cease to desire sufficiently
to stop breathing, if I pass out, antonomic
[unconscious] neurological processwe will start
me breathing again unless I have trained myself to
bring these normally unconscious processes under
conscious control -- but why would I desire
that?
The person who no longer desires probably does not
write email, either.
As a Zap comix cartoon cover has it: Woman is
gripping the arms of her chair in high
anxiety, while facing the television. Either
she asks her husband who is looking
abstractedly out the window, or he asks
her: "Let's see if there is anything good on
tonite", to which the other responds: "Why bother?"
Here we see one person whyo still desires and one
person who has achieved enlightenment.
If the Buddha has no desires, how come he is on the
road in the first place, unless he has Alzheimer's
disease?
He who desires enlightenment clearly is not
enlightened. He who has lost consciousness
has -- for onlookers although not for him or her
self!!! -- achieved a state of no-desire.
And those who have no desires because their
self-interest has become one with the
general interest (parents, teachers, bosses, etc.), say:
"Bradford McCormick! You know that's not what we *mean*,
and you don't mean it either. Don't
be a literal minded impolite child!
Don't sass your elders, and especially not
The Enlightened One (His Name Be Praised!). You know
you don't believe any of that nonsense which
you are saying just to annoy us!
Stop it! What's wrong with you? You ingrateful
selfish brat! Didn't anybody teach you manners?
Why don't you listen?
"This is going to hurt us more than it hurts you,
but we love you too much to let you spoil
your life this way...."
As Nancy Reagan said:
Just say no
\brad mccormick
> >
> > 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.'
[snip]
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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