How can one function in society (as a householder) without actively arousing (possibly strong) desire, or aversion
Upvote:-1
Absolutely agreed that desires and aversions are needed for survival in the world. Although indifference and equanimity are different things but we need to differentiate between not having enough to eat and not hungering for a feast.
However, all these desires/aversions/unwholesome states do have their issues. Suppose one day, our neighbour come along and show us the new Lamborghini SUV that they just bought and we go, “Hmmm…”. Then a friend of ours invited us to their house-warming at their big house in an uptown area and we go, “Hmmm…”. Or we go, “What!” when the government announced that they are going to impose or increase the consumption tax next year.
But all these are minor stuff compared to the big ones. Suppose one day, we saw lovey-dovey messages on our partner’s mobile and it’s not from us. Or the boss just called us into his office to hand over a retrenchment letter. Or the doctor informed us on the follow-up that the throat pain we've been suffering for weeks originated from a malignant cancer somewhere else.
Prince Siddhartha was brought up learning the skills to govern a country. One of the things he probably learned is you need to take care of the biggest and most important issues first then the rest will be easy. And the biggest issue he realized is that of old age, illness and death. If he could solve this problem then he would have all the time in the world to indulge in almost all of his desires.
If we can solve this same problem and we don’t have money for a new car or a bigger house, we have now to eternity to earn all the money we want. If we can’t find the love of our life, we have all the time to switch partners till we hit the right one. If we don’t like the government of the day, we have all the time to influence and change their policies. But do we?
Our life is like a candle, it burns away until it eventually extinguishes. As a result, we struggle to prioritize the most important things and resources in our limited life. What are our most important goals? How much time should we spend to accumulate the resources to fulfil those goals? And all the while as we are busy working to complete these goals, the clock goes “tick tock, tick tock” and the candle burns lower.
Upvote:1
Buddhism refers to two types of desire:
- Ignorance desire called 'tanha' ('craving').
- Wise desire called 'Right Intention'.
In Buddhism, we perform our necessary duties guided by wise intention.
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