Quote from The Spirit of the Buddha
The Spirit of the Buddha
by Martine Batchelor
Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut & London, England, 2010 179 pages
And what, monks, is Right Thought? It is the thought of renunciation, the thought of non-ill-will, the thought of harmlessness. This, monks, I call Right Thought. (Digha Nikaya, p. 22)
Right thought is often translated as right intention in order to make clear the difference between right view and right thought. Right view is about our cognitive faculty. Right thought or intention uses our ability to have a purpose, to have the intention to transform ourselves. So the thoughts that inspire us in right thought are thoughts of renunciation, of non-hatred and harmlessness. There are two types of renunciation. We can renounce out of restraint, by intentionally not doing something that we would like to do, or we can renounce something because we see no point in doing it any more.
The first renunciation involves becoming conscious of the consequences of one’s desires. This is an important part of the message of the Buddha, to question our desires, from wanting another piece of chocolate cake that is not going to help our digestion or our waistline, to wanting some material things that we cannot afford or that we already have in a different model, to feeling attracted to someone who is not attracted to us. What is the difference between a need and a desire? The Buddha thought that we need to breathe, to drink, to eat, to wear clothes, to have a shelter, and to have medicine when we are ill. We could also say that we need to learn, to work and to have some companionship. What would be the middle way in terms of these needs? What is the least we could need? What is the most we could want? How does it feel when we satisfy a need and move on? What is the thirst that is left when our desires feel barely satisfied? Our desires keep us fairly busy and frustrated. The intention of renunciation would help us to see simplicity as something to aspire to, so leading to peace and contentment. (pp. 36-37)
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