Lao-tzu on Desires

In this episode Enlightenment Today we will explore the desires of the eye and the desires of the belly that Lao-tzu mentions in the Tao Te Ching. The desires of the eye are the artificial needs created by society, which keep up chasing and hunting a life that is not ours and this in turn maddens our hearts, to use Lao-tzu's words. These desires are insatiable and practically infinite. The desires of the belly are our basic needs, which are very simple. These desires of the belly are what nature gave you and they are quite modest needs. If our natural needs are quite modest than our starting off point to be a sane and healthy individual is oriented in the wrong direction. But if we reorient our lives towards the desires of the belly we will realize that human beings have a simple nature and are easily satisfied. We only mess with this simple nature when society creates artificial desires and as a result we want more than we naturally need.



 



Recommended Reading

Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy http://amzn.to/2EgVpTN

Tao Te Ching (Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English translation) http://amzn.to/2z6w7V3

Tao Te Ching (Philip J. Ivanhoe translation) http://amzn.to/2iCs0tU

Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation) http://amzn.to/2hPV6IX

I Ching http://amzn.to/2zWMSW7

Trying Not to Try http://amzn.to/2z6l0eU

Tao: The Watercourse Way http://amzn.to/2zZGn2N