Lust

[sonamdhargey]

Osho - When lust is transformed and you enter into the city of love, you enter unattached. Remember, that is their definition of love. If love has attachment in it, it is lust, If love has no attachment in it, only then is it not lust. When you are in lust you are not really thinking of the other, thinking of your beloved or lover. You are simply using the other for your own ends. And of course, attachment is bound to be there, because you would like to possess him, and you would like to possess him or her forever. Because tomorrow also you may need, the day after tomorrow also you may need. You need a lover and you want to possess him.

LOVE is a gift. You give; you need not be worried about whether tomorrow he will be there to receive or not. Because a lover can give to the trees, to the rocks. A lover can give to the emptiness of the sky. A lover can simply flower and send his fragrance to the winds, even if nobody is there. Just think: Buddha sitting under his Bodhi tree, alone, full of love, overflowing.... Not that somebody is there to receive, but God is always there to receive, in so many forms, in so many ways.

Lust is greed, lust is attachment, lust is possessiveness. Love needs no possession, love knows no attachment, because love is not greed. Love is a gift. It is a sharing. You have found something; your heart is full, your fruits are ripe. You hanker that somebody should come and share. It is unconditional; who shares does not matter. But you are so full of it that you would like to be unburdened -- as when clouds are full of rainwater, they rain. Sometimes they rain in a forest, sometimes they rain on a hill, sometimes they rain in a desert, but they rain. The fact of where they rain is irrelevant. They are so full they have to rain. A lover is so full he becomes a cloud, full of lovewater; he has to rain. That raining is spontaneous.

Source - Osho Book "The Beloved, Volume2"

[Tenzin K]

Buddhism encourages renouncing sensual pleasures. Sensuous lust is considered one of Buddhism's five hindrances. The Buddha taught that lust is a result of desire, which must be abandoned to reach enlightenment. The Buddha formulated 5 precepts of Right Conduct One of these is: "I undertake to observe the precept to abstain from sexual misconduct." Buddhists interpret this precept in different ways, but most believe that consensual sexual relations between a couple are okay, and that sexual misconduct would include adultery, rape, incest, and other sexual abuse.

Many Buddhist texts explain these teachings on lust. The "Discourses of the Buddha" states, "The pleasure and joy that arise in dependence on the eye: this is the gratification in the eye. That the eye is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change: this is the danger in the eye. The removal and abandonment of desire and lust from the eye: this is the escape from the eye."

The Dhammapada teaches, "Those who are infatuated with lust fall back into the stream, as does a spider into the web spun by itself. This too the wise cut off, and wander, with no longing, released from all sorrow (Dhammapada 13)."

Other Buddhist texts go further, to say that lust is evil. The Itivuttaka states, "Monks, there are these three roots of evil. What three?

"Lust is a root of evil, hate is a root of evil, delusion is a root of evil. These are the three roots of evil."

And as Buddhaghosa wrote in the Visuddhimagga, "Of the divine state of love the near enemy is lust, because, like love, it sees good qualities. It is like a foe lurking near a man. Quickly it finds access. Hence love should be well protected from lust."

[dsiluvu]

I think LUST is being confused with LOVE so often... yet most often we get it all mixed up and think it is love... hence we focus 70% of our energy, unknowingly for this craving to be fulfilled. Like a thirsty spirit that keeps quenching one's thirst with salt water.

However, it is amazing how Buddhism has identified this neurosis as one of the 3 poisons. Poisons because as per what everyone has posted already. Why is it such a poison one may ask... it is because we're in this desirous realm where everything we do, from the way we dress, talk, fb, wear our hair etc... all comes from the desirous mind of wanting tactile sensation from copulation subconsciously.

The feeling one gets from tactile sensation is what we call lust to my understanding. It becomes lust because our brain cells tells us this is a good feeling and we want more and more of it and until we become obsessed by it and we put so much effort in it to get it...even if it means hurting others along the way, disappointing others along the way... this is what makes lust poisonous...

[Big Uncle]

That explanation by Osho is very insightful. I think for us to have real love for our husbands, wives or lovers, we need to love in a big way. In a way that encourages their spiritual development and not just for our own selfish needs. Hence, the saying, if we truly love someone, we do not need to keep them by ourselves all the time but we are willing to set them free.

Hence, I think if we are in Dharma and we truly love someone, we would encourage them towards the Dharma by being a good example and inspiring them towards becoming better individuals themselves. Hence, in that way, our relationship that was born from lust can blossom into something beneficial. Also in Tantra, desire of which lust falls under is one of the most powerful tools from which to work on. Tantric practices allows for working with the quality of desire and using it to transform them into enlightened qualities in meditation. More specifics would require one to be initiated into the mysteries of the Tantra.

[RedLantern]

Lust is a form of longing,and since longing is the source of suffering,Buddhism teaches that fostering lust is fostering our own suffering.So ,it is not that lust is bad or good,but that it shows a lack of skill in dealing with life.The same could be said for extremes in any form,including hunger or thirst.
Buddha taught the middle path,that we shouldn't eject love from our lives,but neither should we be so consumed by it that it affects our life in a negative way.

[Jessie Fong]

Lust is a feeling of intense desire.  It may take many forms such as

- lust for knowledge
- lust for sex
- lust for power
- or simply lust for food

It produces and intense want for something, an object or a circumstance to fulfill the emotion.



How to tell the difference between love and lust.
Published on August 15, 2011 by Judith Orloff, M.D. in Emotional Freedom
SIGNS OF LUST

You're totally focused on a person's looks and body.
You're interested in having sex, but not in having conversations.
You'd rather keep the relationship on a fantasy level, not discuss real feelings.
You want to leave soon after sex rather than cuddling or breakfast the next morning.
You are lovers, but not friends.

SIGNS OF LOVE

You want to spend quality time together other than sex.
You get lost in conversations and forget about the hours passing.
You want to honestly listen to each other's feelings, make each other happy.
He or she motivates you to be a better person.
You want to get to meet his or her family and friends.

[Manjushri]

What a brilliant piece of writing by Osho. Great defination in pinpointing the difference between love and lust.

Lust gives rise to great attachment. If you look for lust, you will be attached to maintaining your looks, so that you can attract a partner. You will be attached to looking good, spas, make up, clothes, bags, materials, just to keep up the looks to attract. And even after, you will be attached to maintaining the lusty relationship, because you want to satisfy the lust. You will be attached to keeping your partner, you can feel jealous, angry, insecure, fragile because all your energy is put into wanting to keep your partner to satisfy your lust. Your lust will be your greatest "pleasure", yet your greatest attachment and selfishness, that will only be temporary.

Love, on the other hand, assists you to develop equanimity. You can have someone near you or someone you don't know but love both the same nonetheless. Love pervades the person, genuine love has no biasness or selfishness. It won't drag you down, but can only increase your positive traits.

[Midakpa]

What would Buddha do about lust? In the Sutta Nipata 110, the Buddha mentioned the story of "an older man who brings home a girl with breasts like fruit. He was so jealous he couldn't sleep and this led to his downfall." He worried all night about how to keep the girl to himself. We see examples like this everywhere. What do these couples have in common? Their lust for pleasure. The specifics of pleasure do not matter to Buddha. What matters is the misery we feel when we pine for pleasure, when we lose pleasure or miss it, even when - like the man here - we have pleasure but suffer as we struggle to keep it. Buddha would tell us to live with what we have and accept both its coming and going.

[Dondrup Shugden]

Love with Agenda and with the intention to possess and craving for it to be permanent can be termed as Lust.

However love without agenda with all creativities to make the other happy and without the need to repay you is then love without lust.

The contributions by the authors in this article are very clear and it is interesting to read so that we can have loving kindness and compassion in our hearts. 

[Kim Hyun Jae]

Lust is wanting or desiring someone and its geared towards sexual orientation to get the person and longing. Lust is self created delusions thinking that feeling or desiring someone and wanting them can give them happiness. The more they lust, the more they become attached and wanting or craving for more to fill the emptiness. How sad. This stems from satisfying own desires only and selfishness. How deluding this cycle is.

[cookie]

When we are reborn in the realm of desire (which we are now), the only way to be out of lust is to adopt the life of the Vinaya, hold the vows steadfastly, practice sincerely and work towards Nirwana or Enlightment.

[Dondrup Shugden]

I like Cookie's solution against lust.  Very true way of getting out of this realm of desire.

Deeper to not being lustful is renunciation.  To adopt the life of the Vinaya is the best way to live our lives.

I totally agree with Cookie and first find way to renunciation.