David Webster explores the notion of desire as found in the Buddhist Pali Canon. Beginning by addressing the idea of a ‘paradox of desire’, whereby we must desire to end desire, the varieties of desire that are articulated in the Pali texts are examined. A range of views of desire as found in Western thought are presented as well as Hindu and Jain approaches. An exploration of the concept of di tt hi (view or opinion) is also provided, exploring the way in which ‘holding views’ can be seen as analogous to the process of desiring. Other subjects investigated include the mind–body relationship, the range of Pali terms for desire and desire’s positive spiritual value. A comparative exploration of the various approaches completes the work. David Webster is lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Gloucestershire. THE PHILOSOPHY OF DESIRE IN THE BUDDHIST PALI CANON ROUTLEDGECURZON CRITICAL STUDIES IN BUDDHISM General Editors: Charles S. Prebish and Damien Keown RoutledgeCurzon Critical Studies in Buddhism is a comprehensive study of the Buddhist tradition. The series explores this complex and extensive tradition from a variety of per- spectives, using a range of different methodologies. The series is diverse in its focus, including historical studies, textual translations and commentaries, sociological investigations, bibliographic studies, and considerations of religious practice as an expression of Buddhism’s integral religiosity. It also presents mate- rials on modern intellectual historical studies, including the role of Buddhist thought and scholarship in a contemporary, critical context and in the light of current social issues. The series is expansive and imaginative in scope, spanning more than two and a half millennia of Buddhist history. It is receptive to all research works that inform and advance our knowl- edge and understanding of the Buddhist tradition. A SURVEY OF VINAYA LITERATURE Charles S. Prebish THE REFLEXIVE NATURE OF AWARENESS Paul Williams ALTRUISM AND REALITY Paul Williams BUDDHISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS Edited by Damien Keown, Charles Prebish, Wayne Husted WOMEN IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE BUDDHA Kathryn R. Blackstone THE RESONANCE OF EMPTINESS Gay Watson AMERICAN BUDDHISM Edited by Duncan Ryuken Williams and Christopher Queen IMAGING WISDOM Jacob N. Kinnard PAIN AND ITS ENDING Carol S. Anderson EMPTINESS APPRAISED David F. Burton THE SOUND OF LIBERATING TRUTH Edited by Sallie B. King and Paul O. Ingram BUDDHIST THEOLOGY Edited by Roger R. Jackson and John J. Makransky THE GLORIOUS DEEDS OF PURNA Joel Tatelman EARLY BUDDHISM – A NEW APPROACH Sue Hamilton CONTEMPORARY BUDDHIST ETHICS Edited by Damien Keown INNOVATIVE BUDDHIST WOMEN Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo TEACHING BUDDHISM IN THE WEST Edited by V .S. Hori, R.P. Hayes and J.M. Shields EMPTY VISION David L. McMahan SELF, REALITY AND REASON IN TIBETAN PHILOSOPHY Thupten Jinpa IN DEFENSE OF DHARMA Tessa J. Bartholomeusz BUDDHIST PHENOMENOLOGY Dan Lusthaus RELIGIOUS MOTIVATION AND THE ORIGINS OF BUDDHISM Torkel Brekke DEVELOPMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN BUDDHISM Michelle Spuler ZEN WAR STORIES Brian Victoria THE BUDDHIST UNCONSCIOUS William S. Waldron INDIAN BUDDHIST THEORIES OF PERSONS James Duerlinger ACTION DHARMA Edited by Christopher Queen, Charles Prebish and Damien Keown TIBETAN AND ZEN BUDDHISM IN BRITAIN David N. Kay THE CONCEPT OF THE BUDDHA Guang Xing THE PHILOSOPHY OF DESIRE IN THE BUDDHIST PALI CANON David Webster THE NOTION OF DI TT HI IN THERAVADA BUDDHISM Paul Fuller The following titles are published in association with the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies conducts and promotes rigorous teaching and research into all forms of the Buddhist tradition. EARLY BUDDHIST METAPHYSICS Noa Ronkin THE PHILOSOPHY OF DESIRE IN THE BUDDHIST PALI CANON David Webster I~ ~~o~;~~n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2005 by RoutledgeCurzon 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2005 David Webster Typeset in Times New Roman by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd, Chennai, India The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 13: 978-0-415-34652-8 (hbk) Published 2018 by Routledge This book is dedicated to the memory of Diana Trainor, 1941–2002. Angels ( to the memory of Diana ) History will record that among us walked certain angels whose wings wove patterns of laughter in the air whose songs salted the humdrum of our days whose dance lifted us made our lives lighter History will record too late our indifference to their difference: all these strange odd, eccentric ethereal angels who once walked among us . . . Cecil Rajendra CONTENTS Acknowledgements xii List of abbreviations xiii Introduction: desire, morality and approaches 1 Introduction: you cannot always get what you want 1 The paradox of desire 2 But what is ‘desire’? 4 Desire as problematic 7 Scope of this study 8 Approach and method 1: chapter outlines 8 Approach and method 2: key concepts 12 Approach and method 3: sources and textual issues 16 Conclusion: aspirations 16 1 Desire in Western thought 18 Introduction 18 An ancient lack 22 A striving after wind: Ecclesiastes and Judaeo-Christian thought 25 Shakespeare: love, death and desire 27 Surveying desire: Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke and Hume 29 Schopenhauer: the will and the world 30 Nietzsche to Deleuze: desire, will and power 35 Hegel and Butler 42 Sartre – desire and nothingness 43 The purification of desire: Theosophy 44 Mind-made desires 45 Conclusion 46 ix CONTENTS x 2 Desire in non-Buddhist Indian religion 49 Introduction 49 Desire in the Veda Samhit a s 52 Desire as the enemy of the spiritual 57 Desire in the Bhagavad G i t a 70 Sex, love and desire: the K a ma S u tra 76 Jainism and desire: the calm fight against karma 81 Conclusion 86 3 Buddhism and desire: the varieties of desire 90 Introduction 90 Which Buddhism? 91 The redirection of desire 91 Desire and nibb a na 94 Desire and the Buddha 97 The varieties of desire 98 The three roots of unskilful action (akusalam u la) 100 Terms from the lobha list at Vibha k ga 361–2 105 Terms not in the lobha list at Vibha k ga 361–2 112 Some minor terms illustrative of desire 127 Ta j h a : craving and desire 129 Conclusion: landscapes of desire 140 4 Buddhism and desire: the dynamics of desire 143 Introduction 143 The nature of pa t icca-samupp a da 146 Desire and pa t icca-samupp a da 151 The mind–body relationship 158 The status of views: a structural analogy? 165 The problem with views 168 No-view or right-view? 171 Samm a -di tt hi – the nature of ‘Right-View’ 173 A paradox of views? 179 Desire and views: craving and ignorance 180 Reason and desire revisited 182 Conclusion 184 CONTENTS xi 5 Conclusion: desire and the transformation of living 187 Introduction 187 Western perspectives 188 Brahmanic views: desire and ontological necessity 190 Buddhism and desire: an emerging position? 191 Roads to freedom 192 Desire and reason: challenging a bi-polar distinction 193 Desire and ‘lack’ 194 Desire and goodness 198 Desire and death: seeking the end of the world? 199 Desire, passion and love 200 Desire and contingency: change and craving 202 Desire and power: the creative craver 203 Desire beyond the person: cosmic desire 204 Lust for life: desire and skilful living 204 Glossary 206 Notes 208 Bibliography 255 Index 263 xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the huge and patient efforts made by Peter Harvey, Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Sunderland, to support me in the production of my PhD thesis, which formed the basis for this book. His assistance has always been prompt, useful and thought-provoking. Dr Dermot Killingley, as ever, was helpful and worryingly encyclopaedic in his knowledge of Hinduism and Sanskrit. I would also like to thank my wife, Anna, for the shouldering of numerous burdens – domestic, financial and emotional – that the presence of this book in our home has placed on her over the last five years. Our children, Holly and Jack, have accepted my distractedness and grumpiness during this project with a cheery stoicism for which I am more grateful than I might appear. A number of people have had a less direct influence on the content of the book – but their friendship and support has sustained me over the aeons it seems to have taken to produce it. With this in mind, my parents, Jim Brewster, Dr Paul Fuller, Matthew Green, Ted Haynes, Richard McMahon (and his Dionysian entourage), Ivan Bergquist and my Bristol quiz night/book group associates (Mike, Noel and Julian) should all consider themselves duly thanked. Thanks, also, to Cecil Rajendra for permission to reproduce the poem ‘Angels’ in the dedication. I also wish to acknowledge the assistance of the Theology and Religious Studies staff at the University of Gloucestershire, particularly Professor Melissa Raphael and Dr Peter Scott, who have provided support during the last two years of this project, besides listening patiently to my complaints and doubts. xiii ABBREVIATIONS Works detailed here are not listed in the bibliography at the end of the book. Pali texts Note: Unless otherwise indicated, references are to Pali Text Society edition volume and page numbers. Pali text cited in the book is from the CSCD version – which was checked against the PTS edition. Any discrepancies between the CSCD and PTS versions of the text are noted in the book. A A k guttara Nik a ya CSCD Cha tt ha Sa k g a yana CD-ROM, Version 3. The Pali Canon on CD-ROM. Vipassana Research Institute, Dhammagiri, India. www.vri.dhamma.org D D i gha Nik a ya Dhp Dhammapada Dhs Dhammasa k ga j i It Itivuttaka ; It. references are to sutta number Khp Khuddakap at ha M Majjhima Nik a ya Mil Milindapañha Nett Nettipakara j a Nidd Mah a niddesa Pa t is Pa t isambhid a magga Pe t Pe t akopadesa S Sa Å yutta Nik a ya Sn Sutta-Nip a ta ; Note: Sutta-Nip a ta references are to paragraph number, rather than volume and page number Ud Ud a na Vibh Vibha k ga Vin Vinaya Pi t aka Vism Visudhimagga Translations CDB The Connected Discourses of the Buddha . Two Volumes. Bodhi, Bhikkhu (Trans.), Wisdom Publications, Massachusetts, 2000. [A translation of the Sa Å yutta Nik a ya .] DP The Dhammapada . Narada, Thera (Trans.), Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, Taiwan, 4th edition, 1993. LDB The Long Discourses of the Buddha . Walshe, Maurice (Trans.), Wisdom Publications, Massachusetts, 1995. [A translation of the D i gha Nik a ya .] MLD The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha . Ñ aj amoli, Bhikkhu and Bodhi, Bhikkhu (Trans.), Wisdom Publications, Massachusetts, 1995. [A translation of the Majjhima Nik a ya .] NDB Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: An Anthology of Suttas from the A k guttara Nik a ya . Thera, Nyanaponika and Bodhi, Bhikkhu (Trans.), AltaMira Press, Maryland, 1999. Pi t The Pi t aka Disclosure . Ñ aj amoli, Bhikkhu (Trans.), Pali Text Society, Oxford, 1979. [A translation of the Pe t akopadesa .] PoP The Path of Purification Ñ aj amoli, Bhikkhu (Trans.), Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 1991. [A translation of the Visudhimagga .] QKM The Questions of King Milinda . Two Volumes. Davids, T. W. Rhys (Trans.), Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1965. [A translation of the Milindapañha .] SNip The Sutta-Nip a ta . Saddhatissa, H. (Trans.), Curzon Press, Surrey, 1994. TBA The Book of Analysis . Thi tt ila, Pa t hamakyaw Ashin (Trans.), Pali Text Society, Oxford, 1995. [A translation of the Vibha k ga .] TPD The Path of Discrimination . Ñ aj amoli, Bhikkhu (Trans.), Pali Text Society, Oxford, 1997. [A translation of the Pa t isambhid a magga .] Ud-It The Ud a na & The Itivuttaka Ireland, John (Trans.), Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 1997. Dictionaries and reference works PED Pali–English Dictionary . Davids, T. W. Rhys and Stede, William (Eds), Pali Text Society, Oxford, 1995. ADP A Dictionary of Pali . Vol. I, A-Kh. Cone, Margaret, Pali Text Society, Oxford, 2001. SED Sanskrit–English Dictionary . Monier-Williams, M. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1963. Note: In citations from the SED, slightly different diacritical marks are given, in line with the usage of the SED. This is rare, and fairly obvious, but worthy of note here. EPD English–Pali Dictionary Buddhadatta, Mah a thera A. P. Pali Text Society, Oxford, 1995. ABBREVIATIONS xiv Other abbreviations WBR Western Buddhist Review. Available at www.westernbuddhistreview.com PTS Pali Text Society JBE Journal of Buddhist Ethics (on-line journal). Available at http:// jbe.gold.ac.uk/ JPTS Journal of the Pali Text Society ABBREVIATIONS xv All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire; this also is vanity and a striving after wind. 1 Introduction: you cannot always get what you want Why begin a book on, primarily, Buddhism with a quote from the Bible? While Buddhism, as found in the Pali Canon, is my prime interest, I wish to state from the outset that my horizons here are broad. I will offer the rationale for this shortly, but let me make clear that what I am interested in here is desire. The Buddhist material is here because I have come to the view that it offers one of the best ways of moving towards an understanding of desire. Anything else that I have felt may do the same has therefore come into the orbit of my concerns. But why ‘ desire ’ ? I believe Buddhist thought – as found in the Pali Canon – offers a profundity of insight on this topic. Further to this, it is a concept we all, on some level, have daily familiarity with; while, at the same time, often giving it little or no sustained attention or reflection. Desire is both familiar and strange to us. Buddhism offers a model of desire that is distinct from, but finds echoes in, Western philosophy (and to an extent psychology). It also is related, in various ways, to the Brahmanic traditions which existed prior to, alongside, and beyond the composition of the Pali Canon. The texts of early Buddhism offer us a way to execute radical interventions in the mechanics of our desiring. These interventions, via a self-initiated transformation of consciousness, can lead us, it is claimed, to live less harmful and more satisfying lives. Our lives can become such that our interaction with sense-objects is not invariably tainted by an impossible and damaging chase after mind-constructed ideals of permanence and substantiality. In this introduction, I set out the concerns that I shall follow up throughout the book, and I have also felt it necessary to address a small number of themes, such as the translation of kusala as ‘ skilful ’ , and the problems of addressing particularly ‘ spiritual ’ 2 topics in language. INTRODUCTION Desire, morality and approaches 1 The paradox of desire It is an oversimplification of the Buddhist position to assume that it seeks an end of all desire. Such a view, however, is not uncommon. 3 Many see desire in Buddhism as a single thing – not seeing the subtle range of types of wanting which are at play in the texts (and Buddhist practice). It is worth keeping this in mind when we consider the notion of a ‘ paradox of desire ’ : If I desire to cease desiring then I have not ceased all desire after all; I have merely replaced one species of desiring by another. The paradox of desire points to the practical contradiction or frustration involved in the desire to stop all desiring and states simply that those who desire to stop all desiring will never be successful. 4 The piece from which I take this quote, and the set of articles in the subsequent issue of Philosophy East & West that replied to it, were the starting point for my initial thoughts about the nature and status of desire in Buddhism. In the end I have come to the conclusion that these articles are, to a large extent, undermined by a misconceived view of the actual Buddhist position, but I will come to that shortly. Initially I want to explain why this topic piqued my interest. In my student days studying Buddhism, I was aware of a general negative attitude to desire in Buddhism. Or so I thought. What I was actually cognisant of was a description of Buddhism as having such an attitude in secondary Western literature on Buddhism. Then, when I came to consider the topic for this present study, I began with an examination of the Four Noble Truths. In reading around this topic, I became preoccupied with the second truth – that of craving ( ta j h a ) as the basis of suffering ( dukkha ). It soon became clear that there was a lot more to this topic than I had realised. This drew me to the Philosophy East & West articles, and in the end to the production of this book. To return to this notion of a paradox of desire, it is most easily seen in the sense of ‘ if I desire to end desire, I can never do so ’ . A. L. Herman ’ s approach, in the piece cited above, is to contrast the desire for desirelessness with the notion of ‘ letting-go ’ He draws on his reading of M a dhyamika Buddhism to claim that the realisation that desire can never take us beyond desire, is the basis for achieving that very goal: That is to say, seeing that there is no way out of the paradox of desire, understanding that, as M a dhyamika Buddhism puts it, there is no way to nirv aj a, no goal to be desired or achieved, then one ‘ lets go ’ of the way and the goal. And that ‘ letting go ’ leads to, or is, nirv aj a. 5 There are numerous things here that deserve comment. First, Herman goes beyond the type of Buddhism that I am interested in here, so I make no assessment of the accuracy of his portrayal of M a dhyamika thought. INTRODUCTION 2 Second, as I discuss in Chapter 3, there do seem to be types of desiring that Buddhism does not condemn as unskilful (akusala – this term is discussed later in this Introduction). The assessment of desire in his piece is too straight- forward – there is little sense of qualitative distinctions between types of desire. Third, does he not fail within even his own terms of reference? How do we get to ‘ letting go ’ ? Do we have to desire this letting-go in order to achieve it – or is this is as doomed as desiring nibb a na ? He does offer a graduated path to the letting go, the key stage of which is the realisation of the paradox of desire. He sees Zen Buddhism as the final culmination of this trend – but I am not sure this is accurate. Further, the whole approach is based, on my reading, of a rejection of the Canonical injunctions regarding desire in general, and ta j h a in particular. If Buddhism con- sists of something other than the overcoming of at least certain types of desire, why do we find so much of the tradition recommending that we encounter and overcome our desirous nature? In response to Herman ’ s piece, Wayne Alt argued that there was no paradox – as the desire to end desire evaporated once successful: hence leaving us with no desire, by means of desiring this state: Suppose I desire1 6 to eliminate desire2. If I satisfy desire1, that is, if I actually manage to eliminate desire2, then desire1 will thereby be elim- inated. For the satisfaction of any desire is tantamount to its elimination. So it appears that desire1, like any other desire, can be eliminated after all. Someone might reply that desire2 cannot be eliminated, and hence desire1 can never be satisfied. But it could not be argued, as Herman suggests, that desire2 cannot be eliminated because desire1 cannot be eliminated. That would simply beg the question. Hence, we are led back to the central question of this article: Why would it be paradoxical or otherwise logically absurd to suppose that human desire can be completely eliminated? 7 Is this any more satisfactory than Herman ’ s account? Possibly, but the problem here is that the desires here seem to be distinguished only by the nature of their object. If so, is not desire1 – once initiated – then also a component of desire2? There is still lacking a clear understanding of what desire is . Alt partly concedes this, and closes with the words: Perhaps in the future someone will attempt to clarify the concept of ‘ desire ’ . This would be an interesting philosophical project and an obvious contribution to Buddhist studies. 8 I am not at all sure whether I have fulfilled his remit here, but it is clear that his view is based on a very simplistic understanding of the nature of desire. In a brief response to Wayne Alt, John Visvader – while in general agreement with Alt ’ s claim that desire can lead to the end of desire – wishes to maintain INTRODUCTION 3 the existence of a paradox: It is na ï ve to think that my final desire to give up desires will just disappear when I have gotten rid of the other desires, for from the Buddhist point of view I have really not gotten anywhere by merely eliminating particular desires if I still have the desiring mind, that is, the mind of ignorance which has been expressing itself the whole time in the desire to desire to give up desires. 9 Visvader here sees something underlying individual desires – the desiring mind. This could be taken as indicating some notion of a diffuse form of desire that lies beneath its individual manifestations. This idea is one we shall see much more of. He sees paradox as less problematic though – seeing it, in line with his preference for a Zen-like approach – and possibly useful for helping to ‘ pry the student out of the desiring mind ’ 10 Herman wrote a reply to these responses, and in it moves some way to recognising some of the issues that form part of this study when he claims: ‘ The desire to end desire is of a different order of desiring, and it leads to no cessation of desire as the Buddhists themselves have been at some pains to point out. ’ 11 The first part of this comment is useful and interesting – though it is not as clear what he means by the second portion, and he does not elaborate. In the end, this series of articles and responses ends with Herman when he states: ‘ I agree with Alt when he suggests that the attempt to clarify the concept of desire (and desirelessness) would make an interesting philosophical project. ’ 12 I mention this not as a rationale for this volume, but rather as it seems like an admission of defeat. It seems to have become clear to the participants in this debate that a much more detailed examination of the Buddhist understanding of desire is needed. In this project I do not base the study on this notion of paradox. To do so would be to begin with a preconception: that such a thing exists. To have based it around deciding whether or not there was such a paradox also seems limiting; for I wish here to examine desire itself, not a self-referential form of it alone. The idea of a paradox was an important spur to my examinations, but does not dominate the thrust of my investigations. But what is ‘desire’? Now we come to the consideration of definitions. I do not here, however, offer a definition of desire in a Buddhist context. In the English language the word ‘ desire ’ is one with a broad range of senses, if not meanings. Mrs Rhys Davids notes, when looking at Buddhism in translation: a comparison of the translations made by such scholars as Burnouf, Foucaux, Max Muller, Fausboll, Oldenberg, and Warren with the originals, discloses the striking fact that the one English word ‘ desire ’ is made to do duty for no less than seventeen Pali words. 13 INTRODUCTION 4