What Do You Think We Call Them "Animals" For?

Desire is part of the condition of all sentient beings. And any sentient being that reproduces via sexual reproduction has sexual cravings, and animals indulge in these sexual cravings without shame or self-consciousness, often to the chagrin of pet owners.

In humans, we have the ability to be aware of our desires, and see how our desires and craving can cause suffering both to ourselves and to others. We're also subject to shame and neuroses over our desires and cravings, sometimes because of the awareness of the suffering they cause, and sometimes because of repressive, societal influences. There is, however, nothing inherently wrong with desire. To be without desire is not only not to be human, it is to be non-sentient.

So if being sentient gives rise to craving, and craving gives rise to suffering, then suffering must be the ultimate condition of sentience.

No surprise there. Even the simplest interpretation of the four noble truths states "Life is suffering. Suffering is caused by desire. We can stop our suffering by stopping our desire. The way to stop our desire is the Eightfold Path."

The trouble with this simplest of interpretations is that anyone can see that life is not constant, non-stop suffering. In zazen, we can clearly see that there is always some level of pain and suffering present, but that life also has joyous, blissful and extremely pleasurable moments which cannot be denied.

And can we really say that all desire leads to suffering? The desire for awakening, for example, the arising of bodhi mind, leads to enlightenment, not suffering. And if the first two truths are not always so, the second two cannot always be true either.

To be mindful is to be aware of both pleasure and pain. But in looking carefully, one can see the pain in pleasure and pleasure in pain.The Middle Way, to me, is to live a life of neither asceticism nor indulgence. We can recognize our desires as they arise and see them for what they are - our preferences only, and not a mandate that things must alway be as we desire. To constantly give in to our desires is to be a slave to craving; to always suppress our desires is to be a slave to dogma.

This is not to deny the four noble truths. Life DOES contain suffering. This suffering DOES come from our desires. Recognizing these truths DOES lead to the cessation of this suffering, and the Buddha way IS the path leading to this recognition. But life following this recognition still contains craving and still contains suffering.

What I'm trying to say here is that given the choice of being an animal, constantly trying to satisfy its desires, and being a robot, living without any desires, I choose the Middle Way and to be human, and accept my actions and their consequences without equanimity.