Outwardly, the ever changing, painful, and unstable in man desires that which, in various forms, is ever changing, painful, and unstable. And so it makes sense to say that if man seeks an escape from such he must take a different road desiring, instead, the eternal, blissful, and stable within the depths of himself. In doing so, he must set aside, as much as he can, unwholesome desire for the ever changing, painful, and unstable.
Said again, unwholesome desire must be exchanged for wholesome desire. This exchange or setting aside, it is important to underscore, is what makes up the inner life of the moral man, i.e., the Buddhist. It is at the apex of human morality, in fact. Accordingly, we are to be judged by our ability, or lack thereof, to reign in unwholesome desires that if left unchecked will lead, eventually, to spiritual neglect and moral turpitude.
Of course the Buddha’s reason behind avoiding as much as possible unwholesome desire was based on his enlightenment. He realized the strength of desire occludes the mind in such a way that it is virtually impossible to see mind’s true nature (cittaprakriti) which is pure, animative (prabhâsvara) and incorporeal. Hence, the need to control desire and at least turn it to wholesome desire.
What we should draw from this is that morality is not an end in itself. Right morality is about cutting down on the amount of desire for the ever changing, painful, and unstable so as to make possible mind’s liberation which frees us from rebirth and suffering.
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