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4x Truths - Second - Tanha

INTRODUCTION | FIRST | SECOND | THIRD | FOURTH
if only i could

be different 		This truth (the cause of suffering) has, like dukkha, a simple, universal human experience as its springboard - feeling [see: 5 khandha  §  dependant origination  §  and key terms  § ]. Briefly, there are three felings - pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. We seek the pleasant, shun the unpleasant and are bored with the neutral. This is not unnatural but the dynamic is usually based on desire - to get, or to get rid of - and desire has the inherent qualities of agitation and restlessness. Neither are peaceful states of mind. There is an underlying dissatisfaction with the way things are and an agitation for life to be different than it currently is. Of course we always imagine that the effort is worthwhile and that when the difference has been reconciled, life (my life) will be OK - fine and dandy - just as it should be. You betcha mr boss man!

There are two serious limitations with this theory.
• Firstly: desire is insatiable, it can NEVER be truely satisfied. Why is this? Because...
• Secondly: things are always in a state of change. The world in which we live is not static, it is in a constant process of transformation, evolution [see: 3 conditions  § ] So, even if we do bring about the change we desire, what we get - both the actual 'thing' and the accompanying emotional/perceptual state - is unreliable It will change!
The 'thing', the object, or the 'state of affairs' mutates into something else. As well as this, our world view is also subject to the same law of change. What we currently see as 'good' or desirable - relative to our views and opinions, our likes and dislikes, our preferences, our aesthetic, etc. - will also change. Fashion is a wonderfully fickle example of this. I finally get the chic stripe suit that I always wanted - only to find that polka dots are now 'in.'

is there


any point? 		One question naturally arises here: "Is there any point in making any effort?"
This will be looked at later down the page but first, to help with the answer, let's more closely define this second noble truth: desire - the cause of suffering. We can begin by looking at the definition in the Dhamma Cakka Sutta...
"Now this, monks, is the Noble Truth of the origin of dukkha. It is the craving, the desire that conditions renewal of being, which is accompanied by sensual pleasure, seeking ever fresh delights; now here, now there, in this and that object. The cause is namely: (1) craving for sensual pleasure, (2) craving for becoming, (3) craving for non-becoming."

between the two

confused 		Desire is usually thought of in relation to sensuality and we do see tanha = craving, desire, sensual pleasure and fresh delights. The real key here though is the term "renewal of being." Tanha is summarised at the end of the quote in three ways. The first is 'kama tanha' = sensual (pleasure) craving. The last two extend the term 'renewal of being.' The Pali word is bhava and 'becoming' is a reasonable one-word translation. Item 3 is vi-bhava tanha, a negation - the reverse of 2. Bhava has the suggestion of birth* but means being born as, or becoming a 'person' - as a perceptual existence. There are endless conditions in the world. Choosing to identify with or trying to create myself in relation to this or that condition is bhava - and it is the cause of suffering. This is not denying the existance of conditions, but is pointing to the relative nature of (self) identity. In the first truth we encountered "the grasping of the five groups (khandhas)" as the summary definition of suffering. Here we are looking at the creation of identity through becoming the khandhas as the cause of that suffering. The whole 'I am' question is underneath all of this. For myself, I see that when I am with my mother - I am a son. When I am with my son - I am a father. When I am with them both at the same time - I am confused :) Who am I? It depends. There is nothing fixed, nothing substantial. Not becoming - just being.
man becoming?

or woman un-becoming?

The three factors of the summary occur simultaneously. Eg., in wanting to become rich, I want to un-become being poor - because I imagine I will become happy (pleasant feeling). "Being" wealthy is just a condition - it is very relative and very unreliable.

Bhava is one way of viewing rebirth. Not as regards the body but the momentary, perceptual births and deaths we experience on a 'personality' or 'me' level. For example: I am happy. Somebody calls me an idiot. The happy me dies and the angry me is born - I become angry. Why? Pleasant feeling is always my aim. Being intelligent is pleasant, it makes me feel happy. When that perception is threatened my sense of being (and my happiness) is threatened. Do a few words of abuse change me in any essential way? They ridicule my big ears. My ears are just the size they are. If I have no desire (for them/me) to become otherwise, do 'I' have a problem? Nope. But... I could save up and get the operation!
Indeed. So, when do we move forward and when do we accept? On what basis do we make effort in relation to the conditions of the world? A well-known maxim: "May I have the courage to change the things I can, the patience to bear with the things I can't - and the wisdom to know the difference." And there lies the answer - wisdom. It is the opposite of ignorance [see: Dep. arising  § ]. Every circumstance has different conditions but the less we hold to a sense of 'self' - the less selfish we are - the more space there is for wisdom to arise. The less energy we give to becoming, the greater is our capacity to appreciate the full breadth of conditions in any situation. There is compassion. Is there a point in making effort? Yes. There is joy, there is freedom. More on this in the third truth.

* The literal word for birth in Pali is 'jati'; covering the process from conception to parturition.

INTRODUCTION | FIRST | SECOND | THIRD | FOURTH