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According to the book The Teaching of Buddha by,Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai: The root of passion is desire. And, of course, it is the goal of a Buddhist to strive for the absence of desire. But if we remove this desire, the concept of passion is removed as well. Now we look at the bigger picture. Without passion, how do we stay motivated? Without passion, how do we love? Does the removal of desire lead us to become unmotivated beings who can not fall in love?

Then what is all this that we are taught about desire? That it is evil... isn't that what Buddha teaches? And if we must overcome desire in order to attain enlightenment than we must also lose the desire to do so. So can one only attain enlightenment when they no longer want to?

I can't say that I have ever been taught that. In his book "Awakening the Buddha Within", Lama Surya Das makes a very clear distinction between desire itself, and the attachment to desire. In the Four Immeasurables the request regarding Equanimity is often translated as: "May all beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment, aversion, and ignorance." Attachment to desire, aversion to desire, ignorance of desire. Or attachment/aversion/ignorance to/of anything, really.

It's not the desire itself that's the problem, it's how we relate to it. Desire is inescapable. Attachment can be dissolved. It is the desire for all beings to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering the propels the work of the bodhisattva. It is the desire to have happiness and the causes of happiness that fuels the monk to become an arhat. If we rid ourselves of our desire to attain buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, then we would stop pursuing this path and we would simply sink back into samsara.

The desire to get rid of desire is an expression of aversion to desire. The thought that desire is evil/wrong/inhitory and that it must be dissolved before we can be happy. Equanimity toward desire. Neither attachment nor aversion to desire. No ignorance of desire.



Pema Chodron rocks the bebop. I completely agree with this advice. It demonstrates non-attachment to desire. Learning to appreciate what you have and practicing patience when we don't always get what we want. That is it exactly biggrin