Are we really challenging the force of desire or adapting it to western consumerism?

Christopher Titmuss

The Buddha’s teachings on desire are radical and uncompromising. Their purpose is to make a devastating impact to liberate consciousness. In general, Western Buddhism resists coming to terms with the Buddha's teachings on the direct relationship of desire to suffering.

Instead of keeping faith with such direct teachings, Western Buddhists are dividing desire up into good and bad desires, or claiming that desires are not the problem but the problem is dependency on results. Others talk or write about being open to desires. We live in a consumer society, obsessed with satisfaction of desire, to reinforce 'I' 'me' and 'mine.' Ensnared in personal desires, we become timid in terms of directly challenging the entire spectrum of our preoccupation with self interest.

It is a great pity that the Buddhist world, especially in the West, resists an all out questioning of desire within ourselves and society. The Buddha encouraged his dharma students to regard themselves as warriors and make war on desires. Are we watering down the liberating power of the Four Noble Truths of suffering, desire as a primary cause for suffering, its resolution and the way to resolve it? Are we really taking to heart these teachings?

You might have a doubt if you read the recent section on desire in the summer 2004 issue of Tricycle Magazine, a Buddhist publication, based in New York. On one page in the magazine in large type, it said quoting one Buddhist authority ‘desires can contribute to lasting happiness as long as they are not tainted by craving and grasping’ Such views sound ominously like yet another watering down of the Dharma until the radical voice of the Buddha has become subordinated to the American (and others) way of life, namely living in the entrapment of desire.

It seems the high priests of Western Dharma are adapting the teachings to the West, instead of demanding that the West changes its self-centred ways dramatically and lives in accordance with the Dharma. Until we engage in a full on exploration and criticism of the force of desire and its consequences, we will continue to see the savage destruction of people and our natural resources.

Those given the responsibility of offering the Dharma to others, whether teachers, editors, scholars, authors or organisers have a particular responsibility to challenge the force of desire so that it is utterly and unrecognisably transformed.

Desire is a single force within and it manifestations are many. There is desire in all forms of greed, aggression, fear and confusion

The Buddha states that there are three kinds of desire.

1. Desire for Sense Pleasures
   Consumer culture is obsessed with desire for sense pleasures, with the endless obsession to satisfy all the senses, to get what one wants, and to maximise the feel good factor. Desire for money, goods, sex, energy, the fashionable, the new and expensive, exploit people and environments worldwide and brutalise land, water and air. The purpose of all pervading advertising in our homes and on our streets is to stimulate desire. It is the responsibility of Dharma practitioners to ruthlessly question this desire for pleasure, desire for stimulating sensations and the consequences of it for all species of the Earth.

2. Desire for Existence
   There are desires to satisfy demands of the ego. This desire for existence of shows itself in the desire to be somebody, to have a position, to be respected. There is the desire for the existence of continuous health, beauty, energy, profit. There is the desire for security. There is the desire to win, to be competitive, to control and hold onto. We want all these things to exist and we want to keep them in existence. We want to be winners thus making others losers. We push ourselves on to get what we want. Our political masters desire to impose the two party State, corporate control over all natural resources and consumerism on other nations of the world whether they want it or not.

3. Desire for non-existence
   The desire for non-existence shows itself from suicidal thoughts and actions to desire for non-existence of ageing and death to getting rid of debts. There is the desire for non-existence of unhappiness and despair by escaping into alcohol, obesity, drugs and addiction to television. There is the desire for the non-existence of roles, activities and forms of behaviour. There is the desire for the non-existence of pain, trauma and abuse from the past and desire for the non-existence in the future of actions relating to the past and present. There is the desire for the non-existence of individuals, organisations and governments labelled ‘evil.’

The collision of two desires, namely the desire to get things complete (for the existence of) and fear of not getting things done (non-existence of) is the recipe for stress, burn out and sleeplessness and an utter inability to function wisely and respectfully.

Let us not grasp onto the consumer driven interpretations of desire by our Western Buddhologists. The Dharma is about dissolving the three forms of desire, knowing the pointlessness of desire and seeing the emptiness of desire. The Dharma points to the complete eradication of desire, not about offering a defence of it or entering into a heady and narcissistic mix of so-called good and bad desires.

These three kinds of desire can be uprooted. We can live without desire and engage in a full participation in the world. We don’t need desire to go to the toilet, make love, realise liberating insights or serve others. Arising through believing in the separateness of existence and non-existence, desire is a warped perception that is utterly insubstantial and false.

Be passionate, fearless and desireless through liberating wisdom and natural happiness. Never forget it. We live a fictionalised life through living in desire making us a shadow of authentic being. Never forget that either. Keep the faith.