Desire in Meditation

Whether one speaks of seeing "God" or of attaining such things as the counterpart sign in meditation, samadhi (concentrated, purified, stilled mind), absorption, insight, or enlightenment -- desire is both necessary and an obstacle. Balance in the solution.

One must persist, but one cannot be needy. One must want it for the right reasons not to aggregate it to the ego. Therefore, in that sense, there must not be "wanting," a sense of lack, or a hope for fulfillment. Paradoxically, one must both desire (chanda) and not desire (serenity, coolness, acceptance of what is).

Unfortunately, the story of the Buddha's great enlightenment is told as a story of will, effort, and intense striving that if that were in fact representative of all he did, Siddhartha would not have seen the light. And anyone who takes the tale literally, believing that is ALL effort and exertion, will emulate the story and fail. The story should be retold more accurately as a delicate balance that in Sanskrit is called sthira-sukha: effortful-ease, hard-softness, strength-relaxation, or "yin-yang," if you will.