Transcending Human Desires, a Low-Level Form of Pleasure

(Minghui.org) I had an impulse to clean and tidy my house in preparation for the Chinese New Year. Then, I took people’s advice and washed the curtains too. The beads and tassels on the curtains fell off and clogged up the washing machine. I had to clean the machine, and hire a repairman to fix it.

I made a big mess. I asked Master (Falun Dafa’s founder) for help and looked inward, “Was this trouble the result of seeking comfort and material enjoyment?”

During the Chinese New Year holiday I was consumed by the desire to shop for New Year’s items. I bought a four-piece tableware set, a quilt, a fleece blanket, and gifts and clothing for my child.

I wanted to buy myself a watch to wear for the New Year, so I checked out major shopping malls. I shopped non-stop and finally noticed my strong desire for material things! I already have three watches so I don’t need another one, but I wanted to buy one because I liked it. And the more I looked, the more I wanted to get an expensive one.

I studied the Fa one day and read Master’s teachings,

“So then for a human being what’s the meaning of life? It’s to experience the feeling you get from being attached to self-interest and enjoying the course of a human life soaked in emotion. Think about how pitiful that is, and what kind of feeling that really is. They’re happy when they get something and miserable when they lose it; when they eat meat they find it tasty, and when they eat candy they find it sweet… but in the human world there is also bitter, biting, and painful things, there are the feelings young people have which come from emotional attachments, and then there are the feelings people in different social strata have as they chase after, gain, or lose things over the course of their lives—even though those gains and losses aren’t something that really come from effort. That’s how people are when they live in this world. People are so pitiable! And yet people just can’t see through this so-called “reality,” nor do they want to.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Practitioners,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume VI)

Pursuing Feelings of Pleasure and Happiness

It dawned on me that people just pursue “feelings,” and what they pursued with all means was this “feeling.” So why did I want to shop non-stop? Wasn’t it merely to feel happy and satisfied when buying or owning something new? Wasn’t I getting a “feeling of happiness?” Besides material desire, there is also the desire for financial gain, lust, food, and drink. They all exist to fulfill the “feeling” of pleasure and satisfaction.

“Material desire” means wanting to obtain expensive items such as luxury cars, mansions, and goods, to small things such as clothing, shoes, and daily necessities. People feel happy and satisfied with new things, or feel lost and miserable if they cannot obtain what they desire. “Financial desire” can propel one to make more money, save more money, thus gaining satisfaction when seeing savings go up. “Desire for food” means wanting to eat one thing or craving another, to satisfy the taste buds. As far as “lust” and “sexual desire,” one only gains short-term satisfaction.

No matter which desire one is after, it is all about enjoying short-term satisfaction. One feels happy after obtaining it, or pain if one doesn’t. The material thing or object becomes meaningless once the feeling of satisfaction disappears. The “feeling” of satisfaction is real to humans, yet it is also illusory and ethereal. Moreover, so many desires are inextricably linked to money.

It occurred to me that some relatively accomplished ordinary people do not pursue happiness brought by such low-level desires, nor are they influenced by them, because they have spiritual pursuits. As a practitioner though, I cannot follow non-practitioners as models for cultivation, but I was ashamed to discover that I had not yet transcended different kinds of human desires.

When I saw my attachments, my desire to shop disappeared, and I didn’t want to buy anything anymore, as Master removed that bad substance for me. Thank you Master!