"Desire leads to Sorrows" - Do you agree with Buddha?

Samsara is an interesting concept, but I suspect you need to have been raised in a culture in which it is part of the fabric for it to really mean anything. As a westerner, I tend to see lack of desire as leading to the sorrows of boredom and or apathy. I'm closing rapidly on old age, and have poor health, so most of my desires have slipped away naturally, and the few that are left leave me feeling, at times, that I might welcome surcease. Lash

The idea make sense in a way, but it sounds too extreme. Stopping our desires is like stopping to live. Giving up on life and just exist instead of living. Even a Buddhist monk has desires. Saw a picture someone took of some Buddhist monks in a telephone shop. One of the monks was buying an iPhone. An Iphone! Why would a monk need an iPhone??! Anyway, the point is, even a Buddhist monk couldn't resist temptation of having worldly things, how do you suppose ordinary people like us can?

Yes desire can lead to sorrow but it can also lead to happiness. No desire and no emotions may lead to a peaceful life but it also leads to a life that learns nothing. I used to be a Buddhist years ago but I walked away because they kept telling me that only men could become enlightened. I was not interested in such nonsense when it was a culturally based belief not true. Personally I believe that personal growth comes through pain. You can teach people a whole range of ideas but some must be experienced and the greatest growth can come through pain but then that is why most people go through many rebirths on the wheel of samsara as they must experience all these things before they are ready for the path to enlightenment. At least according to the Buddhists. They are not completely wrong, but they are wrong that only men can do it. Even their own histories and religious texts show that women can and have become bodhisattva and achieved enlightenment. It was an example of a patriarchal cultural bias that was never purged from the teachings and should have been.

Ha ha ha. Quest for knowledge is what driving people to invent new things. No one invented nuclear bomb with a desire. It was invented by quest for knowledge. Desire leads to sorrow. I commend that you tried to understand the meaning behind it. But it is the fact. Also Buddhism is a great religion which needs much higher knowledge to understand it.

Hi navas4u, It works both ways, if you desire something, you have to really work hard to achive it, in life you don't get things for nothing, you have to work for it. Tamara

you know one thing that Buddha was a king before become buddha so you can uderstand that in what level of mind did he give this statement, yeah as far as my view is concern regarding this view , I am agree with this statment of Buddha , not fully because I don't have such level of mind currently :-) ,and I can understand the problem and your thinking but if you really wanne to understand then insipite of describe it by my self I would suggest you to go to literature of OSHO, please don't take it as a miss , but Its my sugestion only and if you are interested then go ahead , thanks :-)

I think this statement of Lord Buddha is specifically for the desires of sensuality. Because sensual desires are the root causes of sorrow. But in the broad sense, the term 'Desire' is not at all avoidable, since desire for human peace, progress and prosperity is always welcome by all great men of the past as well as present! So, 'Desire' in its broad applied sense is also the key of all human achievements and progress! Even I must say that seeking peace of mind is also a form of desire that every body must understand! Thanks for this nice discussion and have a nice and desirably good day!

No, Buddha is clearly wrong. It is not desire but merely attaching to much value to them. Even his statement betrays him implying he desired to be free of sorrow! all the best urban