Desire is an impulse towards an object. It is kept alive by imagination of the object such as 'Oh, how beautiful it is,' etc. It is an earnest longing for attaining some object or goal. It is a wish to enjoy an object. An urge to attain something is desire.
Desire or tanha in Pali is an important thing to understand.
We can contemplate desire in any of its three forms:
Desire or tanha in Pali is an important thing to understand.
We can contemplate desire in any of its three forms:
- Kama tanha (the desire to have..)
- Bhava tanha (the desire to become..)
- Vibhava tanha (the desire to get rid of..)
Kama tanha is very easy to understand. This kind of desire is wanting sense pleasures through the body or the other senses and always seeking things to excite or please your senses - that is kama tanha. You can really contemplate: what is it like when you have desire for pleasure? For example, when you are eating, if you are hungry and the food tastes delicious, you can be aware of wanting to take another bite.
Notice that feeling when you are tasting something pleasant; and notice how you want more of it. Don’t just believe this; try it out. Don’t think you know it because it has been that way in the past. Try it out when you eat. Taste something delicious and see what happens: a desire arises for more. That is 'kama tanha'.
Next is Bhava tanha. We contemplate the feeling of wanting to become something. We can be caught in a realm of ambition and attainment - the desire to become. We get caught in that movement of striving to become happy, seeking to become wealthy; or we might attempt to make our life feel important by endeavouring to make the world right. So note this sense of wanting to become something other than what you are right now.
Listen to the bhava tanha of your life: ‘I want to practise meditation so I can become free from my pain. I want to become enlightened as a lay person. I want to have a wife and children and a profession. I want to enjoy the sense world without having to give up anything and become enlightened too.’
The third is Vibhava tanha. When we get disillusioned with trying to become something, then there is the desire to get rid of things. So we contemplate vibhava tanha, the desire to get rid of: ‘I want to get rid of my suffering. I want to get rid of my anger. I’ve got this anger and I want to get rid of it. I want to get rid of jealousy, fear and anxiety..I have to kill the Devil and get rid of my greed - then I will become....’Notice this as a reflection on Vibhava tanha.
Bear in mind though that these three categories of kama tanha, bhava tanha and vibhava tanha are merely convenient ways of contemplating desire. They are not totally separate forms of desire but different aspects of it.
‘Desire should be let go of.’ This is how letting go comes into our practice. You have an insight that desire should be let go of, but that insight is not a desire to let go of anything. If you are not very wise and are not really reflecting in your mind, you tend to follow the ‘I want to get rid of, I want to let go of all my desires’ - but this is just another desire.
However, you can reflect upon it; you can see the desire to get rid of, the desire to become or the desire for sense pleasure. By understanding these three kinds of desire, you can let them go. It is not about identifying with desires in any way; it’s about recognizing desire.
We need to realize that desire is conditioned into the mind. It is impermanent. Desire is not what we are but it is the way we tend to react out of ignorance. But we need not continue to suffer. We are not just hopeless victims of desire. We can allow desire to be the way it is and so begin to let go of it. Desire has power over us and deludes us only as long as we grasp it, believe in it and react to it.
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