Bhuddism, Christianity, and The Hunger

The nature and origin of desire is a controversial subject; Buddhists identify desire as the origin of suffering in the Second Noble Truth, which states “it is craving which renews being and is accompanied by relish and lust, [...]: in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, and craving for non-being” (Samyutta Nikaya LVI 11, as qtd. In Sumedho 27). Desire, according to the Buddhist framework, is inherently characterized by suffering, and therefore should be avoided insofar as it constitutes or reinforces suffering. Christians, by contrast, have a more multifaceted perspective on suffering; it is viewed as an inherent part of life after the fall of man, and Jesus' suffering during the Passion is considered an ultimate instance of virtue. However, there is also a history within Christianity of repressing desires and passion, for example in the history of stigmatizing or demonizing various forms of sexual desire that are considered normal today such as being gay or masturbation. In either case, the system of morality is partly deontological, and partly resembles utilitarian ethics as well.

I believe that a relevant similarity between both systems is the distinction between craving and yearning. In her video The Hunger, Natalie Wynn writes a conversation between a fictional conservative evangelical influencer named Virginia and a left-wing influencer named Justine, where Virginia argues that sensual desires such as that for fornication are harmful. Justine counters that erotic love is not a desire for "aimless pleasure seeking", but "a longing for connection, for recognition, for wholeness; to traverse the lonely void that separates us from one another, to liberate repressed energy, to feel alive" (24:32). This indicates that the problem is not with desire itself, but with the framework that lumps all forms of desire together without attention to the substance of the desire. Justine goes on to state that "[eros] is not the flesh. It's not temptation. It's nothing like the urge to punch someone in the face [or] being an alcoholic. It's not a craving. It's a yearning. The desire for reunion with our other half, Aristophanes." This indicates that the problem with Virginia's worldview, from Justine's perspective, is that she's obscuring the distinction between craving and yearning by pointing to and demonizing the shared characteristic of sensual pleasure. Although erotic love may be pleasurable, what characterizes it as a yearning and therefore erotic is not the electrochemical or sensual aspect of it but rather the fact that it is a desire for union with the infinite. It is, to borrow the term from Levinas, a desire for the plenitude of alterity that is the Other. With regard to Buddhism and Christianity, both of these religious systems draw distinction between different types of desire; The word for desire used in the Second Noble Truth is most commonly translated as "craving," and few Buddhists would take issue with the yearning that leads a person to enjoy beautiful art or go on a journey. By the same token, Christians draw a distinction between worldly desires and the desire for union with God, delineating between craving and yearning via this distinction.


https://ibc-elibrary.thanhsiang.org/files/ebook/General/4nobltru.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTRT794IQBg

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