From: Toshi Takeuchi <tt@wag.caltech.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Giving up some "trivial" desires
Date: 7 Jan 1993 17:33:54 -0800
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: gap.caltech.edu
Summary: Meditation as a means of going beyond the cycle of suffering.
Keywords: addiction,pleasure

prh2s@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Patrick Ray Harrison) writes:

	Verily, not for the sake of wealth, my dear, is wealth loved,
	but it is loved for the sake of the self.
					(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.5)

...Of course I'm not advocating hedonism as the path to self-realization.
I merely offer a suggestion that the verse "You are what your deep
driving desire is" could mean that our deep driving desire is good,
is our true Self, and that this desire cannot be satisfied with the
meager offerings of a consumerist society.  We crave more for we are
more.

Patrick


	I think we all search for some form of fulfillment in
	our lives.
	
	--We may try to achieve some goal of wealth in order to
	  to gain happiness.  We may think that having a certain
	  job, marriage, or family will keep us satisfied.

	However, being soc.religion.eastern readers, we may have
	already caught a glimpse of something beyond these
	fleeting material and financial goals.

	What I'm getting at is that we do live in this modern society,
	and so we will try to satisfy these desires.  However, as these
	desires are/are not satisfied, we may come to realize that
	what we truly desire cannot be "satisfied with the meager 
	offerings of a consumerist society."

	--I push for meditation as a method for going beyond
	  this cycle of desires and suffering.

	Meditation can be a very useful tool because it can open up
	new levels of awareness and thinking and being.

	For example, when I first started to meditate, I drank coffee
	like crazy.  I drank perhaps 6 cups a day (which is alot for me).

	Now, your mind might say:  Toshi, drinking that much coffee is not
	good for you; I must stop this cycle of getting up in the morning
	and drinking coffee all day long.

	As some of you may know, even though the mind knows what is better
	for you, the body doesn't care!!!

	I literally could not function without the coffee, so I had to
	drink it.

	--After meditating for a few months, I gradually lost the "need"
	  to drink coffee.  The desire just fell away.  Now, this was
	  great to me because I really didn't want to drink alot of
	  coffee.  However, many more troubles occur when you don't
	  want to give something up!!

	Here's a quote from the Dhammapada to put things into perspective:

		The deluded, imagining trivial things to be 
		vital to life, follow ther vain fancies and
		never attain the highest knowledge.  But the
		wise, knowing what is trivial and what is vital,
		set their thoughts on the supreme goal and 
		attain the highest knowledge.

		-From the Twin Verses, 11-12.  The Dhammapada

	--Notice the line:  "imagining trivial things to be vital to
	                     life"

	My response is:  I do alot of trivial things in my life, but they
	                 are vital to me because they give me fulfillment
	                 and pleasure.

	--Suppose I like to drink alcohol.  Okay, so it might
	  be trivial, but it may seem vital to me because I obtain
	  PLEASURE from drinking it and it is an activity that I
	  get to share with my friends.

	--NOW, suppose you meditate for a while and your body starts
	  to tell you, I don't like to drink!  You have to stop drinking.

	 My mind responds NO, NO, NO, I like to drink and I have fun
	 doing it with my friends!

What happens now????

	  1.  I am being taught through meditation to GIVE UP some 
	      pleasurable activities because I am being shown what IS 
	      really vital in my life.  I gradually accept my loss of 
	      pleasure in this activity and move on with my life the best 
	      I can (a little idealistic eh?).

	or 2. I may actually run away from meditation!!!  It probably
	      happens at some point in our lives to most of us.
	      You may think to yourself:   This is BS!!!  I am going to
	      go back to being the way I LIKED to be and stop meditating.

	  --Indeed, you may stop meditating, but in a couple of months,
	    years, or lifetimes, you may realize that what you were
	    learning may indeed be what is best for you...

Let's stop and think about meditation retreats or extended seminars that
you may have gone to.

	The retreats that I go to are often filled with intense emotions
	and struggles brought about by changes in my being through 
	meditation.

Indeed, we have strong aversions to giving up things that are PLEASURABLE to
us and strong aversions to remembering bad experiences and healing ourselves
of that experience.

Remember, it may help to ask for help and healing in that process.
If nothing else, it gets your mind off of the troubled subject, but
in my experience, I get shifts in my awareness as I ask for help and
healing of my being.

Good luck.  I hope your path is easier than mine :)

Toshi
tt@wag.caltech.edu