[Buddha-l] Desire

[jkirk]

Yes, and another way to think about the meaning of the term 'tanha' is 
craving.
Self-centered desires are cravings for some entity--lovers, food, drugs, 
public esteem, fame, riches, children, a 6000 sq. ft. McMansion, endless 
video games, cyber-life, on and on.
Cravings dominate consciousness to the point that little that is beneficial 
can arise either in thought or in action, and mental cultivation would be 
impossible if one is so-ruled. Craving doesn't vanish unless one becomes 
aware of these psychological and cognitive operations, and then works on not 
being controlled by them.   The same process, as I understand it anyway, 
applies to the others of the three poisons: aversion (often glossed as 
dislike, anger, or hatred), and delusion (G.W. Bush comes to mind here). To 
the extent that these dominate thought and action, to that extent one 
doesn't have much of a chance on the bodhi path. Instead, one's life is 
dominated by the necessity to continually discriminate what I want, what I 
don't want or dislike, and what I could do if only I were--fill in the 
blank-- Napoleon?, or what they (the Others) might do to me (a.k.a. 
paranoia). Or worse: I am a Buddha because I ------------fill in the 
blank----.
Last night there was a PBS program on the 'Summer of Love" in San Francisco, 
1967. A lot of the young people who flocked there suffered from the delusion 
that they were enlightened or on the verge of it. The hippy movement and its 
various offshoots and combinations was mostly a kind of mass delusion.
Best, Joanna
=================================================
 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Zeuschner" <rbzeuschner at adelphia.net>


> The way I learned it is that the English term "desire" is not quite 
> correct. The preferred reading was "self-centered desires" or 
> "ego-centered possessiveness."
> The desires that come from someone who (consciously or unconsciously) is 
> self-centered are the ones to be eliminated.
> Perhaps those gifted in Pali or Sanskrit can help?
> Bob
> ===================================================
> Piya Tan wrote:
>> The unawakened runs on desires (like and dislike).
>>  The unawakened (based on my understanding of the early texts) run of 
>> compassion and
>> wisdom. When they are hungry they eat, when they sleepy they sleep,
>> and they never talk like Zen masters :) or behave strangely like Siddhis.
>>  I suppose if the layman remains an arhat, the might just waste away from 
>> lack of
>> desire , but this is one "mystery" still not answered fully yet. We have 
>> lost  a lot of
>> scripture thanks to the Turkish raiders during the 12th century.
>>  The Vinaya rules makes sure that the Arhats live on to benefit others.
>>  Piya Tan
>>
>
>
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