Freedom from Desires

How does One Free Themselves from the Bondage of Desires:

The Buddha taught us that unfulfilled desires cause suffering. The more desires one has and wants to fulfill, the more one suffers when they remain unfulfilled. So this means that freedom from desire leads to freedom from suffering. While this certainly seems true, it doesnt seem possible to be totally free from desires. Suppose a person who has achieved enlightenment, is asked "Would you like some tea, or perhaps a cold beverage? Would the enlightened person reply. "I have no desires, so it doesn't matter to me." Such a reply would be quite strange. If an enlightened person enjoys tea, he or she would certainly say " I'd love some tea. Thank you."

It would be obvious here, to distinguish between two different types of desires: Lets call them Binding Desires and Non-Binding Desires. A Binding desire is a desire whose non-fulfillment causes you to suffer. A Non-binding desire is one whose non-fulfillment does not cause suffering. For example, a child looks in the kitchen cabinet for his/her favorite cereal – Cocoa Puffs. Even though there are five other boxes of cereal , if there are no Cocoa Puffs, the child will cry " Where are my Cocoa Puffs?" The child will suffer because of his/her Binding desire for her favorite cereal. You on the other hand, might go to the same cabinet, looking for your favorite cereal. If it were not there, you would simply choose another box without further thought because your desire was non-binding and you would not suffer when your desire went unfulfilled. If you were to have thousands of unfulfilled desires and all of them were non-binding like the desire for your fave breakfast, then you would remain perfectly content. But if you had just one Binding desire that was waiting to be fulfilled, that would be just enough to rob you of contentment and cause you to suffer. Therefore, freedom from suffering is gained when we become free from all Binding desires, even when non-binding desires are still present. The secret to overcoming suffering is not to become completely desire-less, but rather to ensure that all our Binding desires are transformed into non-binding desires.

It is essential for spitual growth to become free from the bondage of desire. Unfulfilled desires often make us miserable, and when we are miserable, we also make others miserable. Those who you caused suffering to, will in turn cause you more suffereing, and so on so fourth. It becaomes a vicious cycle, that way. We want contentment, but contentment remains vague and unattainable due to unfulfilled desires. Because of this, we must address this challenging question, "How can we become free from desires?"
First of all, let us all admit that we can never satisfy all our desires. When one desire is fulfilled, another arises. Desire is often compared to fire. A fire is always ready to consume more fuel; it is never satisfied. In the same way the fire of our desires can never be satisfied.

When food is served onto your dish, you will say "Enough." at some point. But several hours later, you will be hungry for more. All our desires are just like this – satisfaction is always temporary because other desires soon arise. Sometimes, we are told that we should willfully give up our desires. Whoever tells us to simply abrogate our desires never tells us how to do so. Suppose a person with a great attatchment to drinking soda decides to give it up for spiritual practices as sacrifice. All day long, he can willfully choose not to drink soda, but what would he be thinking about throughout the day? Soda! With will power, you can give up objects of desire, but will power cannot remove the desire itself. However, if you force yourself to continue this practice, the mind will begin to think about soda less and less each day. By abstaining from your habits, you will allow your subconscious to begin realizing that the desire was a foolish one. Then, your conscious will also begin to realize this. The same is true for any type of desire.

If we cannot satisfy all our desires or willfully renounce them, how will we ever become free from desires? In fact, we do not get rid of desires: we outgrow them. Recall a toy that you were very fond of as a child. How did you get rid of your desire for that toy? You outgrew that desire for the toy because you found a better one. This process – in comparison to outgrowing one toy when a better toy is acquired – continues into our adult lives. When a better, newer automobile is purchased, the desire for the old car ceases.
In this same way, you have outgrown many desires. As you matured, you outgrew all your childhood desires. As your Spirit matures, in the same manner, you will also outgrow all your wordly desires.