Expert: Laurie McLauglin - 4/15/2009

Question
hello,

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I understand that ceasing one’s desires contributes to their enlightenment, or someone who is enlightened does not have any desires. This is where I become confused. If someone were to have no desires, then wouldn’t that person just sit where he is until he dies? What would compel him to eat to stay alive? Or to put on a sweater if cold?

Another concept that I found to be somewhat hazy was the idea that nothing exists because everything is just the seamless Whole. I understand this part, except wouldn’t this say that something does “exist” and that that something is the always changing Whole?

I think I understand that Buddhism is all about seeing things as they are moment to moment. Does this mean see every single thing around you? If, so I do not understand how this is possible. At any given moment there could be a line of people each wearing different clothes, and cars driving by, and a creek next to you with many different types of animals. Am I correct with the idea of seeing everything?

Thank you, Joey

Answer
Thank you for letting me answer your questions, Joey.  You ask many interesting questions. I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

When you speak of desire – From how I understand the Buddhist teachings it is possible to confuse the term desire with the term desirous attachment. For example, it is all right as I understand it to desire, for example, to become a Buddha – or desire to reach the state of Buddhahood.

However, it is not beneficial to have desirous attachment. We can desire things which are beneficial as long as we do not have any emotional attachment to those things we desire.  This is why Geshe Chekawa gave advice when studying the Buddhist path to “Abandon all hope for results.” It is auspicious to desire to study the Dharma or Buddha’s teachings in order to become a Buddha but do not attach to any outcome that might arise from studying it.

Part of studying Buddhism is also to reduce the number of our desires; to stop desiring things of this world as that will only serve to keep us in samsara, or the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.  Once we stop desiring things which cannot lead to the cessation of suffering, then eventually we can be free of suffering entirely as we reach Nirvana or Buddhahood.

Desiring a new car or a new spouse, etc. tends to keep us in samsara, as we experience what is called changeable suffering.  If we desire a new car, we are unhappy till we get it.  Then when we get it we are happy, until we get into our first fender bender, then we are unhappy.  Then when we get it fixed we are happy.  But when our neighbor drives up in his new car we are unhappy because his car is newer and cooler than our car.  The we become less and less happy with our car as we have to fix it more and more the older and older It gets.  So then we desire a new car and we are unhappy till we get a new one and the cycle starts all over again. Buddhist believe that there is really nothing in samsara to desire because nothing here in this world can be the source of true happiness. No matter what it is, eventually it will change and bring us suffering.

So, instead of desiring anything in this realm, Buddhists believe in putting faith in the teachings of Buddha which cannot do anything but bring happiness if understood and practiced correctly.

According to the Mahayana Buddhists, one would have the desire to eat and stay alive and keep warm as you say in order to learn and practice the Mahayana Path which is the path where we develop the qualities of and eventually become Enlightened as a Buddha in order to return to samsara to be of benefit all sentient beings who are still suffering.

It is true, Someone who is enlightened would have no desires because desire implies that something is missing and you desire to have it.  Buddhas are not missing anything so there is nothing to desire.

I am not sure where you get the term “seamless whole”.  It is not one I am familiar with. When you say “nothing exists” that is not what the Gelugpa Mahayana Buddhists are taught. We are taught that there are two kinds of existence; conventional and ultimate. Conventional existence is constantly changing moment by moment.  It is the existence or “reality” that we live in day to day and take to be real. Ultimate reality or existence is what gets people confused and thinking that nothing exists.  

Ultimate reality means that things do not exist as we think they do.  Ultimate reality means that things are empty of inherent or true existence.  You are right when you say things change moment by moment.  And because they are continually in a state of change although they exist conventionally, they cannot be truly existent.
 
For if something truly exists it would follow that it would truly exist the exact same way for all times.  So, if you think that an apple pie for example is truly existent because you can see it and taste it and smell it, according to the teachings of the Gelugpa Mahayana Buddhist path, you would be mistaken. If the apple pie truly existed, then it would never change. It’s inherent nature would be forever an apple pie.  So following this to its logical conclusion, you could never eat it, because it would always have to truly exist as an apple pie and even if you swallowed it, it would never digest – it would truly be an apple pie always.  But we know that that is not the case.  So, the apple pie does not truly exist. Same with the car or anything else we can see in samsara.

Another way to know that things do not inherently or truly exist is because they can be broken down into their parts and they exist at all due to causes and conditions that brought them forth. For example we realize that the pie came into existence due to causes and conditions that made it so.  It was made by a person who got the ingredients from a store who got the ingredients from the truckers who brought it to the store who got the ingredients from the growers who grew the ingredients which came from the earth due to the sun and the rain and the soil being just right.  

As you can see, an apple pie has a myriad of causes and conditions that must be present in order for you to eat it.  The apple pie does not truly exist from its own side. This is what we call dependant arising.  Things arise due to their causes and conditions, abide and then due to causes and conditions pass away.

Someone made the first apple pie and had to call it something so it is merely labeled “apple pie” and exists conventionally as an apple pie.

You are right, Buddhism is about seeing things as they are and being present in the moment. But it does not mean seeing everything all at once. At least not until one becomes a Buddha.  Then one will be able to perceive a great many things all at once. Buddhas are omniscient.

But as a normal practitioner, we do not work to see everything at once.  We seek to understand our mind and how it works and how to control it in order to improve ourselves in order to become wiser and happier humans as we work on attaining Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings.

Don’t hesitate to ask any further questions. Take care.