Re-evaluation. Buddhist perspectives

The re-evaluation of the weak and the re-evaluation of the strong.

Here, as I see it, are two major possible motivations for beginning a Buddhist path:

One is the result of ‘weakness’. This is the person who cannot achieve (some desire) in an area of his life. Buddhism (his interpretation of Buddhism) offers this person a re-evaluation of the desire. For example, if he cannot find a partner he interprets Buddhist thought as meaning this end has no value and is only destructive in its effects. This re-evaluation then makes it much easier to live alone, without the benefit of a partner. Typically, if he is ‘weak’ in other areas of his life, then he will carry through this ‘understanding’, deciding , for example, that wealth and possessions are, in themselves, of no value.

The other motivation is the result of ‘strength’. This person achieves everything he wants in his life. He is attractive and successful – seemingly satisfying his every want. He then experiences the result of this sort of living. He becomes attached to his possessions and his desires escalate from constant arousal. He then realizes that his ‘strength’ does not bring him happiness. He may start to value the ‘simple life’, and also, again, to decide that wealth and possessions are, in themselves, of no value. This person may become a ‘spiritual materialist’ – a person who collects ‘spiritual literature’, looking for a way to escape his misery; but, unprepared to give up his possessions, he believes spiritual unhappiness is impossible for him.

It is important to realize though, that Buddhism, as I interpret it, understands the mental states of craving and aversion as causing unhappiness, and not the object of desire itself. Buddhism offers a ‘middle path’ and doesn't propose ascetic living (except perhaps only temporarily, as a aid to meditation and to help understand the nature of suffering). It may also be useful to know where you fit in. Most likely you experience a combination of these two ‘causes’ of misery – sometimes achieving what you want, and sometimes not achieving what you want. It is useful to remember that the goal of dhammic living is equanimity in the face of the ups and downs of life – staying unattached to the results of success and not generating craving towards that which you can’t have.

And perhaps if your motivation is continually based on this type of delusion, the delusion that unhappiness consists in external things rather than internal mental states, you will compromise the goal of your meditation: you experience a craving to escape the objects of desire instead of working towards experiencing equanimity towards them.