Spiritual Forums - Find the cause of suffering

Spiritual Forums (https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/index.php)

- Buddhism (https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=52)

- - Find the cause of suffering (https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=120946)

Gosh I am so grateful my Ancestor's had desires, I prefer to live in a house rather than a cave.
In Buddhism desires are not the problem, it's attachments to desires that cause suffering.

Attachment is “dö chag” in Tibetan, which means “sticky desire”. There is a stickiness, neediness, dependency, and self-centeredness associated with attachments. Desires can and do benefit others.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain95

It's funny seeing ancient writers struggle with communicating truths with language as I do but then I have no idea if this is a result of the ancient writers actually struggling or is it fully caused by really bad modern translations of ancient texts an ancient languages/words.

The translation I quotes from was by Shri Purohit Swami. From my copy:

Shri Purohit Swami was born into a religious and wealthy family in Badners, India, in 1882. He studied philosophy and law, received his LL.B. from Decan College, Poona, married and had three children. However, he did not practice law, and instead spent his entire life in spiritual devotion. He wrote in his native Marathi, in Hindi, Sanskrit and English – poems, songs, a play, a novel, a commentary on The Bhagavad Gita and an autobiography. He left India in 1930 at the suggestion of his Master to interpret the religious life of India for the West, and made his new home in England. It was here that he produced beautiful translations of The Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali’s Aphorisms of Yoga and – in collaboration with his great friend, the Irish poet W.B. Yeats – The Ten Principal Upanishads. He died in 1946.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidsun

:thumbsup:

The author of The Bhagavad Gita thought so too, though he (obviously) believed in a transcendental 'Self'. 'who' or 'which' he advocated relying on - that 'approach' doesn't 'work' for everyone, however:

"Arjuna asked: My Lord! Tell me, what is it that drives a man to sin, even against his will and as if by compulsion?

Lord Shri Krishna: It is desire, it is aversion, born of passion. Desire consumes and corrupts everything. It is man’s greatest enemy.
As fire is shrouded in smoke, a mirror by dust and a child by the womb, so is the universe enveloped in desire.
It is the wise man’s constant enemy; it tarnishes the face of wisdom. It is as insatiable as a flame of fire.
It works through the senses, the mind and the reason; and with their help destroys wisdom and confounds the soul.
Therefore, O Arjuna, first control thy senses and then slay desire, for it is full of sin, and is the destroyer of knowledge and of wisdom.
It is said that the senses are powerful. But beyond the senses is the mind, beyond the mind is the intellect, and beyond and greater than intellect is He.
Thus, O Mighty-in-Arms, knowing Him to be beyond the intellect and, by His help, subduing thy personal egotism, kill thine enemy, Desire, extremely difficult though it be.”

It seems cause of suffering or that which corrupts (defiles) is seen the same in Buddhism, but perhaps the approach to resolution is somewhat different, because we don't want a situation where we have aversion to desire, or IOW, desire there not be desire. Indeed the Buddhist approach examines the sensation and the aversion to discomfort and desire for pleasure but only by becoming conscious of that operating, and understanding it deeply. No attempts to kill desire are prudent for that indicates an aversion to desire. The reactivity which is aversion/desire is dissipated through the conscious awareness of its depth. The resolution is difficult non-the-less. Indeed willingness is often harder than willfulness.

Attachments to everything in human life make one suffer, to end suffering by letting go of attachments one will see things as they trully are. (my understanding of the 4 noble truths)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amanaki

Attachments to everything in human life make one suffer, to end suffering by letting go of attachments one will see things as they trully are. (my understanding of the 4 noble truths)

I think the basic cause of suffering is the attachment to the desire to have (cravings ) and the desire not to have (aversions).

I want and I want but I want it my way, kind of behavior.

Attachment to desire

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocean breeze

But isn't desire attachment? If you desire something, isn't there some level of attachment to it or to the results? Doesn't desire arise from attachment?

I'm very attached to my desires knowing suffering can happen as a result. Perhaps a cause for suffering is the fear of it.

—-

Desire is the source of action (can action be desireless?)...types of desire, whether self serving or altruistic should also be considered...
Attachment is to an anticipated outcome of the desire
If detached from outcomes, we do the doing as a non-doer, free & unfettered, equal in both victory & defeat... simply experiencing, observing...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

—-

Desire is the source of action (can action be desireless?)...types of desire, whether self serving or altruistic should also be considered...
Attachment is to an anticipated outcome of the desire
If detached from outcomes, we do the doing as a non-doer, free & unfettered, equal in both victory & defeat... simply experiencing, observing...

There's that oxymoron which seems to impress everyone who is 'into' non-ishess and/or doubts their capacity to know what's what and what's not ... again folks!

Everything else you say struck me as being 'wise', Bro.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidsun

There's that oxymoron which seems to impress everyone who is 'into' non-isess and/or doubts their capacity to know what's what and what's not ... again folks!

Speaking of non-isness (or do-ness! :smile] as a 'person', even Jesus got caught up in feeling 'weird' about just being 'himself' (IMO), as evdenced by his saying things like : "And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." - this despite the fact that he also thought and felt and so proclaimed "I and the father are one!"