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I havent read Scotts response, but I appreciate what you have said Nexus.
Desire is a hindrance to ultimate awareness. Just to clarify that I have not passed this information otherwise differently, awareness, where I use the word, is the returning of the mind to the absolute present, not a second in the future nor a second in the past.
Perhaps I should have mentioned, since in my own personal mind, the times of the day whereby my mind is in the total present, in awareness is 0.000001% on average if not less....(not mathemitically determined I might add), I therefore use the "desire" of awareness to attain this awareness... :) But ultimately, when my mind is in the present, I do not see the desire or can be attached to this desire. This is simply the nature of the mind (perhaps my mind), to attain awareness, one must first drop the desire, else the mind is not in the absolute present.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Imagine this.. If the buddha did not have the desire to see peoples suffering diminish, would he have shared his teachings at all?
Did he suffer from his desires to see people be well? Of course he did!! That is the primary reason he discovered the 'Way' of enlightenment, not for the sake of having "complete awareness."
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First of all, regarding this, I shall not speak on behalf of Lord Gautama. I havent been taught otherwise apart from, attaining total awareness, total equanimity and enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. Also, been taught, it is naive to save another being whilst both are drowning in the same illusion. In order to save one being, you must first attain the wisdom mind for yourself, same reason. I might even go as far as saying this be the reason Lord Gautama chose the solitary life to sit in meditation, and also the reasons many sanghas leave loved ones in search for a higher calling for the benefit of other beings... but first they have to find their own. (another case in point, of BodhiDharma, 7 years in fron of a wall. This is the Boddhisattva vow... you are accurate in that Buddha attains englightenment for the benefit of all, and without a hint for oneself.
I sure do hope others are not mis-led by the use of my careless and poor words.
Recognise the vivid blue lights of Lord Vairochana.
Recognise the blinding white lights of Lord Aksobhya.
Recognise the brilliant yellow lights of Lord Ratnasambhava.
Recognise the fiery red lights of Lord Amithaba.
Recognise the pure green lights of Lord Amoghasiddhi.
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yay
I have very few desires. With out the help of meditation or qiqong (spent alot of time in my room grounded, i.e. solitary confinment). My ex-girlfriends would tell you that I'm lazy and a slacker. My friends would say that I'm WAY too "laid back". But why fight the flow? I think it first hit me when I was 12-13 and I found my dad's copy of the I Ching.
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laziness != no desires
I just want to quickly point out that being "lazy" or a "slacker" is most certainly NOT evidence of having no desires. In fact it is precisely the opposite -- you have the extreme desire to do nothing at all. That is still a desire, and in some ways, one of the worst to fall victim to.
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"You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They KNOW it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt."
- Robert M. Pirsig in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
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..of man's desiring..
desiring is ego-based is of course a natural facet of the human and it's nature to the point of everyday concious thinking. But it is said that that the primordial mind is without desiring and therefore to become natural in one's existence one can do without desiring in order to function,grow and enlighten. Now these thongs sound nice and all, but it's **** difficult to abstain, because by its nature itself deciding to not-desire is a desire itself. That's why Prof. Cheng Man-ching's addage of "..Invest in loss" is so practical.Don't desire to lose out in life as much as not to gain in life, tread the middle path. But if all else fails then there is always comfort int he words of the 16 th century Taoist Huanchu Daoren in his "Root Vegetable talks" when he says" Desires do not hurt the mind as much as opinions do...", travel safe now!!!