“Doing, Not Becoming” with Jean this Sunday at Minneapolis Insight

Dear Community,

Last week, Benjamin led us through an exploration of bhava, or the desire/craving to become something other than we are. He posed the intriguing question, “Can it be enough to just sit here?”

The desire to become something other than who we are in each moment is one aspect of what, in Pali, is called tanha (sometimes translated as thirst). Tanha includes the desire for pleasant sensory experiences, the desire for becoming, and the desire for non-becoming (of a particular aspect of ourselves or experience). It is motivated by ignorance of the true nature of things (impermanent, unsatisfactory, and absent a permanent self) and leads to suffering. As Benjamin pointed out last week, we can feel a sense of striving, of stress, in the body and the mind when caught in the pull of tanha.

Fortunately, there is a second kind of desire called chanda. Chanda is based on wisdom and a desire for well-being – our own and others’. It’s what motivates us to put in the effort to practice. Ajahn Jayasaro describes it as a “wise and intelligent desire and motivation… Taṇhā wants to get, wants to be, wants to become, wants to get rid of, wants to be separated from something. Chanda wants ‘to do.’” 

Please join us this Sunday for a continued exploration of desire, including wholesome desire, and the path to freedom. All are welcome! Zoom information available here.

With mettā,
Minneapolis Insight