The Three Kinds of Desire

The Three Kinds of Desire.

“Oh, good man! There are three kinds of desire, namely: 1) evil desire, 2) great desire, and 3) desire for the sake of desire. We say ‘evil desire’. A Monk may gain greed in his mind, become the leader of a great mass [of people], make all the priests follow him, lead all four classes of Buddhist Sangha to make offerings to him, respect, praise and encourage him, make him preach to all the other first, before the four classes of the Sangha; make everyone believe in his words, make kings, ministers and rich people give him respect, so that they give him plenty of clothes, food, drinks, bedding, medicine and the best types of accommodations. These are desires for the temporal life of birth and death. These are the 'evil desires’.

What is 'great desire'? For example, there is a Monk who gains greed in your mind, so that he makes himself known among the four classes of the Buddhist Sangha as one who has attained the stage from the first until the tenth (abode), the unsurpassed Bodhi, the Arhatship, or such others stages as Srotapanna, the four dhyanas, or the Fourfold Unhindered Wisdom - all this merely for the sake of profits. This is ‘great desire’.

A Monk may desire to be born as a Brahma, as Marapapiyas, as an Isvara, a Chakravartin, a Kshatriya, or a Brahmin, so that he can have unrestrictedness. As this is only for profit, this can well be called ‘desire for the sake of desire'.

If a person is not despoiled by these three (types of) evil desires, such a person is someone with little desire to possess. By desire is meant the 25 cravings. If a person does not have these 25 cravings, such a person is called one who has little desire to possess. When a person does not seek to possess what it may expect to have in the days to come, we call this seek little to possess. The person gains, but does not cling. This is feeling satisfied. Not seeking to be respected is seeking little to possess. A person may obtain things, but if it does not seek to accumulate them, this is feeling satisfied.”

Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 33, on the Bodhisattva Lion's Roar 1.

three kinds of desire.mp3