“Desire is the root of suffering.”
When I first learnt of Buddhism I read the Buddha’s quote that “Desire is the root of suffering.”
At a glance, you could see that this makes some sense. But under more inspection, you begin to have some questions.
For example, I could be hungry and desire food. Does that mean that I am suffering? Not necessarily.
As a matter of fact, people have gone on hunger strikes to protest an injustice they saw in the world. So despite the physical pain of not eating, the person on the hunger strike isn’t suffering because it was what they were choosing to do in an attempt to improve the world.
Religious texts are always questioned when it comes to translation and the Pali canon where this quote comes from is no different. “Desire” has been translated to mean thirst, attachment and acquisition.
But I would say that any of these terms could explain what the Buddha meant depending on the context in which you talk about them. Here’s why.
As I said before, I could desire something but still not suffer. I could even be in physical pain but not suffer. I could even try to acquire something and not necessarily suffer. But if I desired a specific thing in a specific way, if I was attached to a certain outcome or if I was trying to acquire a particular result, suffering is the…
