Why does Buddhism teach the elimination of desire?

Answer 1

They try to save themselves by eliminating desire.Wrong desires lead to wrong actions, and wrong actions lead to suffering, so the theory goes that If anyone can eliminate desire then he will not do wrong. Thus suffering will be eliminated.

Hopefully, the Buddhist then achieves nirvana, i.e. stop existing. This is his only hope of getting free from the web of karma & samsara, i.e. the cycle of reincarnation comes to a full-stop for him.

Answer 2

Dersire is suffering because if we want something and can't have it we suffer or if we lose something we desire we also suffer, too. Also in some cases desire can lead to greed and other things. Desire is sort of one of the things that causes war...just think about it. One place desires to get back at another place for something they want in that place or something they desire to get rid of etc. Desire is what makes a lot of all the celebrities go crazy because they want a perfect body or they want to get attention. Just look at Lindsay Lohan going all crazy for plastic surgery at such a young age when there are plenty of people who would love to have her body. They are even people who have a desire for happiness and taking away all their pain, so they start doing drugs and lose everything they ever worked hard for. That is why Buddhism eliminates desire because it can lead to so many bad things.

Answer 3

I agree with protoplasmic... above.
You can't eliminate desire. Even hunger is desire, and you can see where the suffering comes in.
Desire is always for something else, something you don't have. Rather than trying to suppress desire, another approach is understanding it, that it's part of survival, individual and as a race. It's the driving force behind development, and yes, the desire to overcome desire is also a desire. It is possible to understand and accept this, to develop self awareness and self knowledge.
How? Through meditation and mindfulness.
With your mind you observe your mind and the understanding you gain can lead you to become free from attachment to your desires.
Freedom from suffering comes from the experience that the separate self is an illusion; breaking the attachment to your desires is a prerequisite for that experience.

Answer 4

It doesn't teach the elimination of desire, but the deluded mental factor desirous attachment. We need to distinguish clearly between the two. Desiring to attain liberation is an inner path to liberation. Without that desire, it is impossible to attain liberation simply because we follow our wishes and aspirations. Desiring to attain enlightenment is necessary for many reasons. Desiring to help others or relieve suffering. Desire is not eliminated even after enlightenment because Buddhas themselves desire to liberate all living beings, and it is this spontaneous wish/desire that moves them to act. Even desiring pleasant feelings isn't necessarily DA, especially if the pleasant feelings do not disturb our mind even subtly when experienced or parted from them. There are many layers of misconception regarding objects of mind such as those of desirous attachment that we need to identify and abandon. Without correctly distinguishing these things in our own experience, we will never abandon what is to be abandoned, or attain what is to be attained. That is why Buddha taught about our psychology so thoroughly.

Desirous attachment is uncontrolled desire for people, things, and environments past present and future. It is a delusion mixed with self-grasping that exaggerates the apparent desirable qualities of an object then feels glued to it. Such a mind, the spawn of self-grasping ignorance, is what is abandoned, and it is abandoned for many reasons some of which have been mentioned by others here.

Enjoyment is not the object of abandonment. This is obvious to anyone who understands the real source of happiness, especially if we read or practice concentration or the generation and completion stages of highest yoga tantra correctly. Supreme enjoyment beyond any agitation or suffering is the ultimate objective we give to others - the blessing of our own experience.

Answer 5

OK, i read all answers so far it is well known that not desire but USING DESIRE BADLY AND ILLEGALLY is cause of suffering and pain AIDS is enough,but 1)it was BETTER then that GOD created us without desire,but we are not angles,2) making laws for this desire is better,can we imagine mankind wit hot desire ,distinction,so making it lawful only through , marriage,when not married fasting , praying and not looking for what awaken desire will eliminate suffering, 3)where will be our test to go heaven resisting desire and following GOD laws according it or eliminate it completely. and finally4)how many persons who follow Buddhisms as a religion not polite philosophy can eliminate desire?

Answer 6

Because desire and ignorance is the root of all suffering.

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upasaka_ben, I think you desire to end ignorance first. Once you achieve wisdom, knowledge and intelligence, you would end the desire to end ignorance and with the wisdom, knowledge and intelligence you end desire.

Therefore the three steps would be,

The Percepts : Right perceptions and discipling, which will lead to meditation.

Meditation : Clearing the mind off evil thought, pondering on the suffering of human kind and the ending of suffering. Asking yourself questions and answer it, then ask the questions on your answer. This led to Wisdom

Wisdom : The use of Knowledge and Intelligence to the fullest. Which led to the diminishing of desire as one who had achieve great wisdom and knowledge knows the truth of the delusion of the world. This led to the ending of desire.

Just a simple logical dissection. Not authoritative though.

Answer 7

Because desires cause suffering. The Buddha saw that, and realized that we all suffer, and need to eliminate as much as possible. That's why he came up with the 8-Fold Path to get rid of desires.

Answer 8

As said above, desire could cause sufferings this life. Even if it doesn't, desire causes one to grasp likes and eliminate dislikes. The action then causes karma, and karma causes future rebirth, and rebirth causes age, sickness, death, and all sufferings. When desire is eliminated, the chain effect is broken.

However, desire is not the root cause of suffering. Delusion is. Delusion causes desire. Not understanding the law of causation, and grasping self (soul) is delusion. To completely eliminate desire, you have to eliminate delusion. Otherwise, you are just taming your desire. They are still deeply rooted in your consciousness, waiting to arise in future when conditions are right.

Thus, wisdom eliminates desire, not desire eliminates desire as wondered by others.

Answer 9

Buddhism : Desires leads to pain or apparent pleasure. Pain and pleasure are two sides of same coin, which is known as pain.

From Veda's perspective : Root of desire is our incompleteness (Alpagyata). If we accept ("This is so") our incompleteness then desire will not be there, which will eliminate pain and apparent pleasure.

Answer 10

desire = suffering
Think about it, when we want something real bad and we don't get it, we suffer. Same goes with love and all that jazz, desire can only lead to suffering.

The goal is to lead a healthy happy life and avoid suffering by eliminating our desires.