3 June. Desire.

For the past week, each night, my son asked me to meditate with him. We use guided meditations for kids on Buddhify app. So we sit on his bed, our elbows and knees touching, eyes closed, the attention placed on the breath in the body. He really enjoys it. He says it makes him feel good and relaxed. And sleepy.

I thought about human vs. animal intelligence yesterday. That there is nothing supernatural about human consciousness and intelligence. Nothing at all that would justify divine intervention. Animals have as much intelligence and consciousness as it is required by their environment and anatomy to allow them to thrive.

When I was doing shopping on Friday, I observed arising of sensual desire. It made me feel miserable. But then I realised that it was simply due to the fact that I have the body of a man in his thirties. Nothing special, unexpected or personal about it. But I still felt bad because there was nothing I could do to stop those unpleasant longings. And suddenly, between frozen fish and frozen pizzas, a thought struck me – I was focused on the wrong thing entirely: on achieving dispassion towards the object of desire rather than dispassion towards desire. I won’t be able to stop my body from experiencing desire anytime soon, but I can make peace with it. I can try to experience desire just like I experience breath.

Here is a quote I have discovered through Zen Studies Podcast:

When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bahiya, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of stress. [Bahiya Sutta]