The Buddha solved the problem of physical existence by declaring the changeable nature of the living body cell as being impermanent and suffering-inducing. He declared both abject poverty and blatant opulance as being two sides of a complete theory of suffering. In this regard, pain and pleasure are interpreted as being the products of suffering – albeit in different dimensions of reality. Pain is suffering and pleasure (although preferable) is a disguised form of suffering. The Buddha understood that humanity was very proud of its temporary existence. He understood that this pride arose, in-part, from the voluntary acceptance of this unsatisfactory state of being.
Human society, premised as it is on the management of a fleshy body full of evolved organs, attempts to negate or otherwise placate the negative aspects of existence by emphasising the positive experience. Where possible, pain is avoided and pleasure emphasised whilst humanity experiences its temporary existence. The Buddha, understanding the inherent dangers implicit within being trapped in a limiting duality, took a different tact. He voluntarily discarded pleasure (opulence) and made his permanent home in the poverty aspect of reality. His body was poorly fed, poorly clad, poorly shod, and poorly housed.
However, whilst managing his body in this manner, the Buddha applied the science of meditation and stripped the mind of all aspects of greed, hated, and delusion. He uprooted the “asava” (ignorance, delusion, belief in self, and sensuality), and fully perceived the empty nature of the underlying psychic fabric of the mind. A body sustained through its minimal daily requirements was all the Buddha required – as no further karma was created via the operating of the desire mechanism. Desire (burning), by its very nature, is never ending, and can never be realistically fulfilled regardless of what experiences of comfort and material goods are amassed. Desire, by its very nature, always assumes that there is more to be obtained.
This is why the Buddha rejected desire (and the life of pleasure associated with it). A life of voluntary poverty generates the conditions for the development of the mind. Although bodily conditions are deficient, the mind becomes detached from this unsatisfactory reality. The mind becomes entirely free (in the Ten Directions) whilst inhabiting a limiting body that can be managed until it’s karmic sustaining force is used up and lived out. Until its demise, an enlightened mind manifests loving kindness, compassion, and wisdom through all actions and speech (thus enriching the lives of others). When the body eventually falls away – the enlightened mind carries on shining for eternity.
