Emotion & Desire · Mind & Practice

With demons in the heart, everyone looks like a ghost

Turn the heart toward Buddha

Evil is in the flesh

Good intentions are in the soul

But the soul’s goodness cannot defeat the flesh’s evil

The two provoke each other

Not complacent, yet content: happiness. Complacent, yet discontented: suffering.

Humanity’s most frightening invisible killer is “falseness,”

One word: “pretending”!

The more you pretend, the faker you become; the faker you become, the more you pretend. In the end, you very truly become a false person. Truth is not realistic; reality is not true. To escape falseness, delete every illusion and enter the root and essence. Liberation now, flowing now.

Without good news, where does “joy” come from? How can we find “joy”?

“Joy”! It is not found outside. Before doing something, simply:

Find its sense of value;

Prepare for the worst,

And enter the present. Energy instantly fills you, taking you straight into “joy,” as if divinely helped. The more you live, the more beautiful you become; the more beautiful, the more “alive.” Your state, wisdom, and feeling return one by one.

Life is coming to earth to “have a little fun”!

Unrealistic expectations or wishes may become desires you cannot control, and such irrational desire will lead you toward destruction.

When people lack self-awareness, they are one with the surrounding world, without any freedom, but with a sense of security, togetherness, and attachment

* An enticing goal

* Effortless progress

* The tension of unfinished things (the Zeigarnik effect)

**Seven emotions:** joy, anger, worry, thought, sadness, fear, fright

**Six desires:** eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind

The seven emotions in the Book of Rites are joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, aversion, and desire. The Confucian account likewise gives joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, aversion, and desire; the Buddhist account gives joy, anger, worry, fear, love, hatred, and desire; physicians give joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, aversion, and desire.

Book of Rites, “Evolution of Rites”: “What are human feelings? Joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, aversion, and desire: these seven are possible without learning.”

Three Character Classic: “Joy and anger, sorrow and fear; love, aversion, and desire complete the seven emotions.”

In traditional Chinese medicine, the seven emotions are “joy, anger, worry, thought, sadness, fear, and fright.” Excessive arousal of these seven states may cause imbalance of yin and yang and disrupted circulation of qi and blood, triggering various illnesses. It is thought-provoking that Chinese medicine does not include “desire” among the seven emotions.

According to Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals, the six desires arise from life, death, ears, eyes, mouth, and nose. Buddhism names desires for color, appearance, bearing and posture, speech and sound, softness and smoothness, and the thought of a person. Another account lists the desires to survive, know, express, perform, be comfortable, and love sexually.

Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals, “Valuing Life,” first proposed the six desires: “What is called complete life is when all six desires receive their due.” Eastern Han philosopher Gao You annotated this: “The six desires are life, death, ears, eyes, mouth, and nose.” Later generations summarized them as the desires for seeing (vision), hearing (hearing), fragrance (smell), flavor (taste), touch (touch), and mental desire.

The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom identifies the six desires as desires for color, appearance, bearing and posture, speech and sound, softness and smoothness, and the thought of a person. It essentially situates the “six desires” as six innate desires ordinary people have for the opposite sex—what modern people commonly call “sexual desire.”

Do the right thing, and you will never be wrong

Do not care too much about anything. Without desire, one is strong.

With more experience, some things no longer cause immediate panic. Knowing there is room to handle matters and that present pain may not last long makes it easier to stabilize action. I value this calm and hope it comes from understanding and experience.

A calm appearance does not prove an absence of feeling. Disappointment remains disappointing; regret remains painful. Someone may arrange things well and still need time to process emotions: that too is a complete response. Hiding pain will not automatically remove it.

When negative events occur, first separate two parts: what needs handling now, and what am I feeling? Do urgent tasks first; express feelings needing explanation at a suitable time. Leave order for action and an outlet for yourself.

Stability deserves practice, and feelings deserve respect. Gradually becoming calm through understanding differs from continually demanding no emotions of oneself. Facing the real self creates more room to face real matters.

First observe emotions and desires, then decide whether to let them become action.

Desire can provide motivation, but also needs boundaries, rhythm, and awareness of consequences.