The Virtues of The Five Desires

 

“Ananda! The virtues of the five desires are delightfulness, mindfulness, and fondness of our [conscious] minds and responding to the desirous [sensations] associated with the form. These modes consist of the eyes knowing the form, the ears knowing sounds, the nose knowing scents, the tongue knowing tastes, and the body knowing contact.” 

Madhyama Āgama, Vol. 49

「復次，阿難！有五欲功德，可樂、意所念、愛，色欲相應：眼知色，耳知聲，鼻知香，舌知味，身知觸。」

《中阿含經》 卷49

Remarks:

This scriptural section shows that the five desires (wealth, sex, food, fame, and sleep) are endowed with their own characteristic virtues. Ordinary people do not know the impermanent nature of the five desires or that such desires’ endowed characteristic virtues will serve as demerits for Buddhist practitioners, which will hinder their attainment of liberation. 

Oftentimes, practitioners do not know how to observe the taintless (anāsrava) virtues of no desire. Naturally, they do not know how to observe the notion of liberation derived from the total extinction of the five desires. As such, they also do not know how to observe the associated liberational virtues derived from eradicating the five desires. For these reasons, practitioners will not see the need to abandon their five desirous deeds to facilitate leaving these desires. Hence, the cultivation sequence to attain nirvana must include abandoning the attachment to the five desires.

In essence, if we can fully understand the foregoing and actually observe our impermanent five-aggregate self, we will find that the five irresistible desirous virtues are the original causes of suffering (leading to the endless stream of transmigration). Only after we actually observe, contemplate, and truly comprehend the sequential connections between the characteristic virtues of the five desires and their demeriting power, which draws us back on our cultivation toward liberation, will the five desires eventually become extinct. This marks the beginning of our attainment of liberation in our cultivation.

However, the scope of attainment pertaining to nirvana differs between the learners of the Two-Vehicle Path and Mahayana. The former do not comprehend the ultimate reality of nirvana. Although they can realize the remainderless nirvana, they cannot touch the apex of truth behind it. The latter, on the other hand, rely on the phenomenal world to realize the impermanence of the five aggregates and suffering, knowing that the five aggregates are all dharmas of dependent arising without an intrinsic nature, like the former in pursuing the Two-Vehicle Path. The difference is that bodhisattvas will subsequently foster the Buddha Bodhi’s true principle and realize that the dharma realm’s emptiness-nature co-exists with the five aggregates while Mahayana practitioners will attain awakening to the True Mind and eventually achieve Buddhahood and benefit all beings.

Thus, the notion of liberation for Mahayana practitioners is personally experiencing the True Mind to attain nirvana.

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