A.K. wrote:
"I like lkw’s story about trimming your desires. Enlightenment is a never ending process.
Stephen was right. Our desires are intimately linked with our instincts, or life impulses. In the animal world, it is fairly straightforward. Desires are instincts, without which life would be impossible. But human is a more complex animal. Besides our animal instincts, we also have our human needs which evolve over tens of thousands of years and are deeply influenced by culture and conditioning. Not only do we live a life governed by our animal instincts but also a life governed by man made concepts and language.
So when we talk about desires, we are referring to both our animal needs as well as cultural conditioning. For example, human beings are prone to excessiveness and addictiveness which are not prominent features in the animal world. It is these human qualities that land us in trouble. Our need for more, which underlies greediness, is definitely a human quality, and it is a double-edge sword. It allows us to build up excess capital which makes culture possible, but also becomes a human vice if left unchecked.
I sometimes feel that the Ch’an practice of seeing our original face seems to be talking about reclaiming part of our animal nature.
A.K."
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