{"id":31425,"date":"2021-04-08T18:01:09","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T22:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=31425"},"modified":"2021-04-10T19:15:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T23:15:06","slug":"buddha-on-desire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/buddha-on-desire\/","title":{"rendered":"Buddha on Desire: Accept It but Don&#8217;t Be Ruled By It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What does Buddhism say about desire? Is Buddhism an anti-pleasure and anti-desire religion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/buddha-journey\/\">Buddha<\/a> never said that desire is wrong or that it makes us bad people. Buddha merely urges us not to be ruled by our desires. We should meet desire with Radical Acceptance so we can live freely in spite of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading for more information about Buddhism and desire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Radical Acceptance of Desire<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s Buddha&#8217;s take on desire? <strong>The key lesson is that desire is not inherently wrong or sinful, and experiencing desire doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re bad people.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a common misconception that Buddhism is anti-pleasure and anti-desire. People can come away with the impression that they\u2019re not supposed to want things, or to pursue those wants. In fact, Buddha\u2019s teachings were never about eliminating or ignoring desire.<strong> <\/strong><strong>As with all of our experiences, Buddha merely urges us not to be ruled by it.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we encounter desire in any form\u2014whether it\u2019s desire for food, companionship, a new gadget, or anything else\u2014we should meet it without resistance and without letting it possess us. We should meet desire with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/eckhart-tolle-meditation-mindfulness\/\">mindfulness<\/a>; in other words, with Radical Acceptance. In doing so, we\u2019ll find that we can experience desire but live freely in spite of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The writer D.H. Lawrence once said that people who just do whatever they want at the moment aren\u2019t free. On a superficial level it might feel like freedom, but their every action is being commanded by their desires. <strong>The Buddha\u2019s teachings about desire are really about avoiding that false freedom.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Desire Really Is<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Desire is natural and important. We want things because we have needs, ranging from basic survival to emotional and spiritual fulfillment. We naturally seek out things that fulfill those needs. <strong>Therefore, in its most fundamental form, \u201cdesire\u201d is the desire to be alive.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem is that no matter how fulfilling an experience may be, it\u2019s temporary. Everything from a good meal to a sexual encounter will fade away sooner or later, and take the feeling of satisfaction with it. When that happens, we once again find ourselves craving something.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-hedonic-treadmill\/\">cycle of desire<\/a> is closely related to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/feeling-unworthy\/\">feelings of unworthiness<\/a>, and the trance those feelings put us into.<\/strong> We constantly tell ourselves that if we could just get that one new gadget, get into a relationship with a particular person, or accomplish some life goal, it\u2019ll finally be enough.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We imagine that getting or accomplishing something will give us a lasting feeling of satisfaction, an escape from desire. However, because we focus on temporary experiences instead of the love and awareness at the core of our being\u2014our \u201cBuddha nature,\u201d as the Dalai Lama would say\u2014the gratification is equally temporary.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What does Buddhism say about desire? Is Buddhism an anti-pleasure and anti-desire religion? Buddha never said that desire is wrong or that it makes us bad people. Buddha merely urges us not to be ruled by our desires. We should meet desire with Radical Acceptance so we can live freely in spite of it. Keep reading for more information about Buddhism and desire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":31438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,12],"tags":[255],"class_list":["post-31425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-relationships","tag-radical-acceptance","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Buddha on Desire: Accept It but Don&#039;t Be Ruled By It - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Contrary to popular belief, Buddhism is not an anti-desire religion. 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