Worldly Passions - Desire

                         Very soon at December's end, countries from all around the world will celebrate the coming of a new year.  The exact date may vary for some nations, but it’s still an occasion where people will mark the passing of 365 days of time with creative and quite unusual customs.

                      In Latin countries, twelve grapes are eaten, one for each month in the year. It is meant to bring good luck and fortune.

                      Thai people throw water on each other in hopes that it will bring rain for their crops. They also release birds from their cages and return fish back into streams for good luck.

                      In Japan, the bells in temples are rung 108 times. This is because Buddhism teaches that we have 108 worldly passions. These passions are said to be blind because we are entirely driven by them, causing us constant trouble and torment. So a New Year's tradition arose that striking the bell 108 times banishes all the worldly passions that caused us suffering from the passing year.

                     However, we know from the Law of Cause and Effect, little rituals that promise luck are not true. In order to receive good fortune, we must first plant the good seeds ourselves.

                      In the case of a bell dissolving all our worldly passions, this is also untrue -- no matter how many people still practice it. It may be fun to ring in the New Year, but believing anything will follow your action besides a loud "GONG!" noise is surrendering yourself to a false superstition.

Original Photo by MIKI Yoshihito available on Flickr.com

                      What is true is that we are made up of worldly passions and nothing else. Buddhism explains that worldly passions never vanish within us as long as we're living, and attempts to remove them don't even leave a dent.

                      You can think about it like a snowman.

Original Photo by islandjoe available on Flickr.com

                      If you take away all the snow from out of the snowman, what do you have?

Original Photo by mrsdkrebs available on Flickr.com

                      You don't have anything. Without snow, a snowman loses form and ceases to be what it is supposed to be. 

                       It's the same with us. If you remove all of our worldly passions, there is nothing left.

                      Sakyamuni Buddha used the number 108 to represent the idea that our worldly passions are seemingly countless. 

                      Yet within this large number of passions, there are Three Poisonous Passions which are the most dreadful of all. These passions reflect the very nature of all the other 105 worldly passions. They are DESIRE, ANGER, and IGNORANCE. 

The Three Poisonous Passions

DESIRE -   

It's the constant longing we have to get something. 

If we don't have it, we really want it. If we have it, we want more of it. 

And no matter how much we are satisfied, we will still have new cravings arise within us.

There is no end to our limitless desire.

Original Photo by Ani Carrington available on Flickr.com

Our desire can be compared to the deep, blue sea. 

Our wants come to us like waves, one after another.

The deeper the water, the deeper the blue becomes in color.

If we always get what we want, we can endlessly drown in our own greed.

ANGER -  

It's the fury within you of being denied anything you think you deserve. 

We can yell at people we love or curse strangers over the slightest offense.

Our anger can spread uncontrollably and become unpredictable.

The more we feel betrayed, the angrier we become. 

Original Photo by wwarby avaialble on Flickr.com

Anger can be likened to a fire, because it burns at high heat.

Flames span outwardly scorching everything it touches quickly.

We turn red when we're mad because our blood is boiling.

 Left unchecked, it can torch everything in our life like a wildfire.

IGNORANCE -

It's the venomous feeling we harbor deep within us.

We secretly envy our superiors, curse those who cross us, and delight in others' misfortune.

Everyone else is to be blamed for our misfortune, and we resent them for it in our minds.

Not taking responsibility for our own fate is defiance of the Law of Cause and Effect.

Original Photo by Darco TT available on Flickr.com

Ignorance leaves us totally blind to the truth, and so it can be said to be pitch black.

These ugly feelings are dirty and filthy and spread like a disease or pollution. 

We distort the world with our own private, warped views.

The nature of ignorance is dark and ugly, because it is so hard to see clearly within ourselves.

               Now, let's take a look at the first worldly passion.

Desire

               Buddhism teaches that Desire can be further broken down into five categories. 

               They are Food, Wealth, Love, Fame, and Sleep. 

                They are known as the Five Desires.

The Five Desires

FOOD -

Original Photo by elsie.hui available on Flickr.com

 It's the pleasure we get from eating a delicious meal.

We love to eat at restaurants and have home-cooked meals.

People enjoy fad health diets or binge on holidays like Thanksgiving.

Even with dessert, we'll still be hungry for more.

WEALTH -

Original Photo by epSos.de available on Flickr.com

It's the urge to stockpile money and not pay people back.
We want to brag about our new smart phones and cruise in our new cars.
Whether we're rich or poor, we revel when funds rise within our bank accounts.
There is no amount of cents that decreases our desire for more money.

LOVE -

Original Photo by kainr available on Flickr.com

It's the wanting intimacy from another man or woman physically and emotionally.
We watch attractive people on the street and get excited when we get to talk to them.
There's an intense feeling that burns to be near the person we love.
Our heart beats expectantly for the next burst of romance and passion.

FAME -

Original Photo by Gareth.D.Jones available on Flickr.com

 It's the thrill of being praised and honored by someone special or a large group of strangers.

We want to have fans like a movie star or be held in high regard like a president.
Deep down we secretly just want everyone to think we're cool.
No man is an island; we always have the desire to be liked.

 

    SLEEP -

Original Photo by Matt Erasmus available on Flickr.com

It's that yearning to sleep in, relax on the sofa, and just be plain lazy.
We hit snooze to escape going to school briefly or take a sick day just to stay in bed.
All we want to do is just chill out and take it easy.
The longer we are awake, the stronger our need for sleep.

                      At the mercy of these five desires, we slave to them in some form or another. We will to go to such great lengths just to get satisfaction, even if it causes to pain those around us.

                       Now of course we should do serious soul-searching if we sense that we are greatly troubling others with our desires. Self-reflection can sometimes catch when we are being too lazy in our studies or when we've been taken over by the luring idea of an illicit affair. We may even overcome the temptation of stealing the last bite on the plate at the family dinner, but our worldly passions will keep flaring up despite our best efforts. They remain as a filter by which we perceive all of our experiences for every moment we're alive... up until our very last breath.

                        In the next post, we will take a look at the second poisonous passion, Anger.

The Reality of Mankind -- Symbols Explained

     First of all, Sakyamuni Buddha referred to the traveler as each and every one of us as human beings. It wasn’t only the Buddha who said it in this way. Many sages and wise men of old described life as a journey, and people as being travelers.

                Our life is like a journey. Last year’s journey has ended and this year’s journey has begun. When this year’s journey ends, next year’s journey will begin. So it continues.

                If a person is a traveler, there is something he must always bear in mind. It is the direction in which he must travel. In other words, he must know the destination of his journey. Likewise, we too must know the purpose of life.

                What is the objective of living? We call this the purpose of life, but people are not aware of this are travelers who travel without a definite destination. And that just doesn’t really make much sense.

                The traveler was trudging all alone in the autumn dusk. It represents the solitary state of our life. Why is human life so lonely? Sakyamuni Buddha indicates the condition of human life as, “Alone we are born, and alone we die. Alone we come, and alone we depart.”

                We were born alone in this world, so we will die alone. Our journey is all alone from beginning to end. Even though we may have company for our physical body, there is no company for our soul. No matter how many people you are surrounded by, there is still no one who can understand your soul completely.

                A vast wilderness represents the history of our True Self. This physical body will die within the span of a hundred years or so. However, Buddhism teaches that our life is eternal. Our physical body can be compared to a bubble on the surface of a great river. A bubble forms and disappears instantly, without even bothering the flow of the river.

                The white bones represent the death of our family, friends, acquaintances, and people we know. We are shocked whenever we see or hear about their deaths. That feeling of shock is referred to as having seen the white bones. It includes the panic or pain we feel when we observe natural disasters and tragedies on the news. Come to think of it… we have been trampling over such scattered bones – the deaths of others – for all these years.

                The huge, hungry tiger is compared to the Wind of Impermanence, or put simply – death. There is nothing in this world with shape that does not crumble. Therefore, the physical body of man will have to die one day. There is no means by which those that have been born can avoid death. Moreover, since death is the most fearful thing of all to human beings, it is compared to the hungry tiger. At the time of Buddha it was considered to be the most ferocious creature in India.

                The ferocious tiger is also known as the Tiger of Impermanence. It is stalking behind each one of us from the time we are born. Tonight might be the very night we’re bitten by it.

                The man running away from the tiger in this parable shows how hard we try to escape death by running to the doctor or taking various herbal remedies when we get sick. As a result of such precautions, the average human life span has increased. Many years ago it was 50. Today it is roughly about 80 years. It is possible to prolong life to a certain extent, but there is no way of escaping death.

                The things we rely on daily – money, wealth, fame, position – are compared to the pine tree.

                No matter how many of these things we may possess, we cannot escape from reaching the grasp of the Tiger of Impermanence. No matter how much material wealth you have, it cannot shield you from dying.

                What is the significance of the wisteria vine, to which the traveler was hanging to? The wisteria vine is compared to our lifespan.

                If you hear that “all living things die,” you will agree with it at once. Deep in your mind though, you are still counting the time you have left. “I’m not going to die for another ten or 20 years,” you may say. But it’s shorter than you think.

                For evidence, recall your past ten years. Were they long… or were they short? They must have gone by before you knew it. If that is so, the next ten years will be just as short.

                Also a wisteria vine is very thin and brittle, and so are our lives. We think our vines are strong like an iron cable, but it can snap on us in just an instant. Even still, we just refuse to accept this idea.

                The two mice represent day and night. Day is bright, so it is the white mouse. Night is dark, so it is the black mouse. Day and night are taking turns shortening our lives. To have lived one day today means we went one step forward to the day of our death.

                Death plays no favorites. Whether it is at a wedding or on a New Year’s Day, the mice keep on chewing and the vine is bound to be cut eventually. That very moment is death… the end of one’s journey. So what happens when one dies?

                Find out more about the role of the afterlife in the next post on the Reality of Mankind series. You can learn about the meaning behind the symbols of the bottomless blue ocean, the three dragons, and the drops of honey.