Rather than trying to outright disprove it based on pop cultural summaries of Buddhism. Quite the contrary. Does this sound like a recipe for being happy? This page has been archived and is no longer updated. If one can be happy without feeling any desire during meditation, it must be possible to be similarly happy for longer durations when desire is subdued. very life, and who live having realized it with their own insight due (MN 141). With so much suffering in the world today on an individual level as well as nationally and globally wouldnt it be wonderful if someone could discover and point out to us the actual CAUSE of all suffering so that we could eliminate the cause and thus perhaps eliminate suffering itself, making the world a much happier and more peaceful place in the process? In fact, to quote again from the Dhammapada, The end of desire is the end of suffering and When desire leaves you, never to return, suffering has left you, never to return.. 2. The elusive truth is that we can only witness and not change things. For example, if I am upset with someone, I may try and placate myself by thinking that there have been times when that person has been good. In actuality, Theravada Buddhism is the outcome of the Buddhas public and exoteric teachings while Mahayana Buddhism is the outcome of his esoteric teachings which he confined to his closest inner circle and Arhats. If one refuses to try, he will forego what could be the most powerful way to master the mind. He gives up all his, They indeed, possessed of many wants, will. These things are of course the very antithesis of Buddhism and the teachings of its Founder and no-one who has read Buddhas teachings for themselves (or who know anything of his life story) could fall prey to such delusional and even dangerous notions. "Tanha" is uwnwholesome. Buddhists find it neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but realistic. The abandoning of tanha is for those who seek Nirvana. May I continue likewise to remain Essentially, the Buddha was saying that one's need for a specific outcome is the root of suffering. results in future pain?And so they live committed to practicing All the suffering that will arise in the future will be rooted and sourced in desire. Do new devs get fired if they can't solve a certain bug. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Repentance is something many people dont understand. In this, a person tries to rise above the level of thinking that generates desire or anger. Relapse was a part of my journey, too. There are three types of craving (tanha): craving for sensual pleasures, craving to become something (that makes someone have ambition) and the craving to not become something (that makes one suicidal or withdrawn). More desires strain our health, impair our concentration, and often cause us to become angry or envious. I have written about my take on Mahabharat in this article and on on Ramayan here. Pointing to desire as the root for suffering isn't necessarily the answer but it is the start to answering the question. "Desire is the root of all suffering." The attachment to people, objects, or places causes suffering. It is ignorance, lack of knowledge, of our own real nature, of the real nature of things, and of the real nature of existence itself, that causes us to desire things. Inaction and lethargy are recipes for creating future misery well in excess of that created by desire-driven action. Vietnamese Buddhism shows both a strong Mahayana and Theravada influence and cannot really be definitely categorised as either. 128 Likes, 33 Comments - _. (@unknown._.slvt) on Instagram: "attachment is the root of all suffering,avoid being consumed by it.practice de-attachment it" The stupa ("stupa" is Sanskrit for heap) is an important form of Buddhist architecture, though it predates Buddhism. 2. If you desire to follow the Buddha's path, then desire is something you must confront within yourself. The woman who is suffering emotionally because her romantic relationship came to an endher suffering is ultimately the result of the desires she had for love. And, I will anchor the exploration to the same texts that bring us the teachings shared under the earlier question above. The cause of suffering is diseire desire to eat or drink, you no longer want it nirvana which. People can interpret words in any way without words assisting in achieving arahantship words don't really have any value. Attachment is an affectionate bond toward a person, object, animal, idea. 2,600 years ago in India, someone did discover and point out clearly and repeatedly the actual cause of all suffering and the way to freedom from suffering. What is the root of your misery is quite a mouthful to wake up to. Desire is only the cause of suffering, if it remains a desire. Every business that is built is motivated by a desire. And we should continue to act nonetheless. Sowhen I find myself feeling out of balance, stressed, or not myself, I seek to align myselfas best I canto Gods will again. Becoming is a process of gradually emerging (and supporting already emerged) sense of individual narrative, the story of "my" life. Published Mar 3, 2023. According to Gita, instead of acting as we do under desire, it is better to act as one should and not care so much about the success or failure of outcomes. To drive away the sorrows of the world. the buddha says that chanda is bad because it is the source of what is like or disliked and what is liked and disliked is the source of ''jealousy and stinginess'' which are bad. We choose, through our agency, to stop resisting Gods plan for us (His plan=our best life!) We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. Next, we come to the question of how to dethrone desire inside the mind: Broadly speaking, we can use three strategies to actively3 deal with desirer or the anger flowing from it: suppression, deflection, and transcending. The idea of anyone actually being able to be free from all personal desire sadly seems impossible and extreme to many spiritual people today, whereas even more extreme and impossible sounding teachings such as manifesting a gigantic mansion for oneself through the power of the mind are often readily and unquestioningly accepted as being plausible and worthy of attention. When what doesnt exist is there no jealousy and Everything else comes back to this central human flaw: men desire things. Tah (Pli; Sanskrit: t IPA: [tra] ) is an important concept in Buddhism, referring to "thirst, desire, longing, greed", either physical or mental. For example, Ive spent the past few years contemplating the words, Desire is the root of all suffering. I generally pride myself in my ability to reason, but the notion of ALL desire causing suffering had me confuddled. Indeed, we should learn to observe all happenings with a calm non-attachment. Once you know the cause, you can consciously choose a different course of action. The fourth Noble Truth, in which the Buddha set out the Eightfold Path, is the prescription, the way to achieve a release from suffering. vegan) just to try it, does this inconvenience the caterers and staff? He generates desire for the arising of unarisen The Buddha says the exact opposite of this: unfulfilled desire is the root of unhappiness and dissatisfaction, and the way to get rid of such suffering is to eliminate the craving or desireto pull out the root of unwholesome desire through renunciation. But when I have this question in mind, I learned the another teaching of Buddha, which is, - choose the 'Madhya Marga'(take the middle path) - It gave me the answer to my firs question. But the person who pursues and achieves moksha (liberation) just so he can be reabsorbed into the Absolute and never have to spare another thought for life on earth, is surely the most selfish type of person there is! In such trials, failure is not the misfiring of a spiritual breath that was unable to subdue emotions. BBC 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Our day-to-day troubles may seem to have easily identifiable causes: thirst, pain from an injury, sadness from the loss of a loved one. Bhikkhus, all is burning. The only aim and ambition that is really worth having in life is to help and to serve humanity. Illusion has become a popular buzzword today in many spiritual circles but it seems that many of those who go around saying that everything is illusion are still buying into the illusion themselves, as evidenced by the continuation of their personal desires and ambitions. four bases of iddhi power." to the ending of defilements, do so by developing and cultivating the Does a barbarian benefit from the fast movement ability while wearing medium armor? So say the spiritual teachings of the East. stinginess?, The liked and the disliked, lord of gods, are the source of jealousy Social help for needy, poor and depressed is always worthy. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs. Desire (Is Desire the Root of Suffering?). Desire is the root-cause of all human suffering August 2, 2020 Spiritual-Me There is a toxic tendency within us to reflexively never be satisfied and always want something more. However, in my experience, this is the most effective. Here are three questions that I would break this topic down to: To answer this, I will start by first attempting to define desire, as seen by Indian texts like Gita and Mahabharat (Yoganandas interpretation).1 Desire is what a person wants at any given moment. Similarly, if I dont get something I want, I may try and be happy with what I have and tell myself that I am already in a good place. And that difference is a BIG difference. Your only wish will be to help and to serve others. So now, there is a gap between the frequency you hold, and the frequency your higher self holds. Its what we add to desire that causes us pain. It is a state of profound spiritual joy, without negative emotions and fears. It truly is the finish line that you will never reach. The Four Noble Truths, which are the foundation of Buddhism, stress that "desire is the root of all suffering." Several religions-including Buddhism and Hinduism-reverence the lotus flower because it symbolizes transcendence from the pains and temptations of the material world. He generates desire for the maintenance of arisen Believing that we influence this reality through actions (karma) is the root cause of desire. Or if you want your children to do good things but your children refuse, if you suffer about this, this is due to your "desire" or "craving". This is the important point I would like to make. Heres what I have found: scientific experiments suggest that we are on to something. Yet all through primary growing up, I was taught that we dont have to suffer ifwe repent. In Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. It literally means "thirst". Or in other words, one's attachment to a specific . The struggle remains precarious. "I teach suffering, its origin, cessation and path. From AN 5.58: He always does his duty toward his parents; How is the "self" able to recognize the interplay between the cognitive process and "desire"? Once one has reached the opposite shore, one no longer needs the raft and can leave it behind. Resisting change. "Desire" is, as will soon be proven, a problematic word, for it lumps together two very different concepts. eliminate desire and you eliminate suffering" -a new teaching i just invented. He was describing a method for transcending suffering, and desire is the root of it. So you can never truly rid yourself of desire and you can never lie to yourself enough to convince yourself that you dont want what you want. It's part of the human condition. Powered by Invision Community. It involves using the full force of will power to restrain oneself from acting under the influence of desire or anger. Both religions present liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth as being the great goal and both religions state that this cannot be achieved without reaching a state of complete and utter desirelessnessbut Hinduism often tends to present all this as just being a way to escape from this earth, disappear forever, merge completely into Brahman, and never have to be bothered about earthly things again. It is the root of the drive that makes us hope for a better future. Developing the mental focus necessary for this awareness. You think and fantasize about it even when it's not there. Nope. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. Desire causes you suffering when you do not understand that desire will never end. that is a good way to improve your mental state. If someone prevents you from getting the tasty food that you cling to, then you feel angry. From my personal observations and experiences I've concluded that painful feelings are the cause of suffering some what similarly to dependent origination: Painful feelings are not really the same as desire but can be associated. he promotes the welfare of his wife and children. However, we should first understand the types of desires before clearly understanding what Lord Buddha meant. Working on your hobbies, advancing your career, growing a business, developing a family, nurturing a child, improving your health through good diet and exercise, going on vacations, increasing your wealth, using your money for the enjoyment or development of yourself and others, raising your status in the world, attaining fame in society etc. This belief brings together actions and reality in the mind in a way that creates a push inside us to influence the reality we experience. My code is GPL licensed, can I issue a license to have my code be distributed in a specific MIT licensed project? Everything that you love about existence, from living in houses (instead of caves), to that perfect piece of chocolate cake, is available to you now because it was once the byproduct of someone elses desire. Theravada scholars bring confusion to Buddhism by their shortcuts about "desires". Obviously, Buddhism . hostility, and hate, they still have enmity, violence, hostility, and In one of the discourses from the Pali Canon, where the Buddha speaks about the steps towards the realization of truth he states: So why is it that thousands of people have experienced relief from supposedly ridding themselves of desire? I just try to make peace within, on terms set by ego, desire, and anger. Without desire nothing can be reached, but after having abound all desires there are no more limits in regard of help. Thus I ask, how can desire be the enemy? We arrive in the world as newborns and desire helps us to strive for what we need to survive, while attachment helps us to bond with those who can help us not only survive but also hopefully to thrive. For more information, please see our. And its effectiveness also comes from applying it during non-meditation time when we are facing the emotions we struggle with. The Ubhabrhmaasutta (SN 51.15) begins to explain that seeming paradox -- if the "goal" or "purpose" is "give up desire", how can you desire that? Desire is the source of what is liked and disliked., But what is the source of desire? Thought is the source of desire., But what is the source of thought? Concepts of identity that emerge It only takes a minute to sign up. It is also mentioned in MN 71 that only 1 ascetic in the past 91 eons went to heaven whereas many lay people do go to heaven so many of the lay peoples' practices are better than the ascetic's. The eye is burning, forms are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning. While self-awareness helps a person respond appropriately while in the moment, introspection helps with the post-incident reflection that aids learning and better responses the next time. That's why we should follow the teachings of Bhagavad Gita, which explains peace cannot be achieved unless we sacrifice the sense of I, which is nothing but the Ahamkara. It is desire that has lost its original quality, its natural quality. Realizing that worldly happiness would not last forever, he set out to find permanent happiness and eventually found it. It's sometimes described metaphorically as a wheel . DESIRE RESPONSE: You feel resentment, massive hurt, and confusion. The reason desiring causes suffering is because attachments are transient and loss is inevitable. body breaks up, after death, theyre reborn in a place of loss, a bad When he finds estrangement, passion fades out. There is subtle cause in each living being that who don't give up, are bound by law of karma to become again. Statue of Buddha, 1st-2nd century CE, Afghanistan, The Three Fires of hate, greed and ignorance, shown in a circle, each reinforcing the others. It has been variously interpreted as what compels someone towards the highest state of human nature or consciousness, as well as being posited as either something to be eliminated or a powerful source of potential. At such moments, many of us would feel vulnerable in the face of the raging desire or anger within. Desire is the root of suffering, and there is much suffering in the Realm of Desire. Since it is subtle, it is not easy to notice. As for suffering, whenever it occurs, there is craving. passion. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. What is the root cause of all sufferings? It also seems to me like there might be not any real arahants well-developed in the six higher knowledges that exist anymore because if they did they could easily explain the true purpose and see that Gautama was actually telling people to avoid things that causes painful feelings and embrace things that leads towards pleasant feelingsit was for the welfare and happiness of beings. It is cussed and can remain adamant for years or suddenly focus on something else. There are many in the West today who, either through ignorance or ulterior motives, present Buddhism as being a sort of anything goes path and even try to claim that Buddhas teachings are aligned with the so-called Law of Attraction teachings of today, which purport that desire is divine and that we can and should manifest our personal desires through positive thinking and visualisation, etc. 18 days ago. To address this, I will have to delve into the mental-spiritual plane which is usually a difficult territory to navigate. Far from it. I think that the Pali distinguishes two words: tanha -- "craving" or more literally "thirst". If you crave to be a billionaire and you achieve this, obviously there is no suffering about becoming a billionaire. This prevents us from being happy. In laymens terms, we will have become the best version of ourselves. Forgive me if they are a little cheesy: So maybe investigate what keeps you from really helping, being helpful. Attachment to stuff you don't need, use, or love. He benefits ascetics and brahmins, could all make you happy. And the worst trick desire plays on our mind is the destruction of self-awareness (as suggested byGita Verse 2.63). In other wordswe no longer have one. Can a Buddhist own and run a billion dollar business? 7. The Buddha taught that the root of all suffering is desire, tanh. They praise him here in this world from the proliferation of perceptions are the source of thoughts.. Buddhism, for example, saysthat desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. Your privacy is our top priority. fairiesand any of the other diverse creaturesso that, though they And the Buddha answered him: Lord of gods, the fetters of jealousy and stinginess bind the gods, The main essence of his teachings, and the very foundation of Buddhism, is encapsulated within what he called the Four Noble Truths. Thats so true, Holy One! 3. Eat when you are hungry, rest when you are tired. DESIRE RESPONSE: You yell back at your neighbor and feel justified in doing so. When their It's your duty. You are ready to commit to marriage, when suddenly they end the relationship.
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