Is It Necessary for a Buddhist to Eliminate Sensual Desires?

Getting rid of sensual desires or kāma rāga (including sex, craving for food, etc.) is not necessary for a Buddhist in the beginning and even up to the Sōtapanna stage. Sotapannās still have cravings for sensory pleasures.

September 28, 2018; revised February 19, 2023; rewritten November 2, 2024

Introduction

1. I saw the above question raised in a discussion forum (with a different title). The questioner stated: “Eliminating sensual desire as a lay follower doesn’t seem possible, or reasonable, especially if one plans on being in a relationship or having motivation at work. .”.

  • It is a critical question. Most people do not understand that one must follow the Noble Path of the Buddha sequentially.
  • Getting rid of sensual desires or kāma rāga (including sex, craving for food, etc.) is unnecessary in the beginning and even up to the Sōtapanna stage.
  • Getting to the final stage of Nibbāna (Arahanthood) is a step-by-step process.
  • I recommend reading the post first. After that, explore the links provided to get more information.
Following the Path Is a Step-by-Step Process

2. The necessary INITIAL steps involved are:

  1. Be moral and observe the mundane five precepts (abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, outright lying, and getting intoxicated), gossip, slandering, and harsh speech; see “2. The Basics in Meditation“.
  2. Understand the correct “wider worldview” of the Buddha, and get rid of the ten types of micchā diṭṭhi; see “Wrong Views (Micchā Diṭṭhi) – A Simpler Analysis.” Such wrong views include not believing in rebirth and rejecting the existence of a manomaya kāya (gandhabba).
  3. Learn about Buddha’s “deeper worldview.” Buddha Dhamma is Paṭicca Samuppāda. Tilakkhana (anicca, dukkha, anatta nature) characterizes this world based on Buddha Dhamma; see “Buddha Dhamma – Noble Truths, Paṭicca Samuppāda, Tilakkhana.” Those scientifically oriented may want to read the section “Origin of Life.”
  4. Removal of kāma rāga can be accomplished with relative ease once one gets a good understanding of Paṭicca Samuppāda. Then, one will be able to see that craving for sensual pleasures is a “mind-made illusion”; it is also called “distorted saññā” or “saññā vipallāsa.” See “Fooled by Distorted Saññā (Sañjānāti) – Origin of Attachment (Taṇhā).” 
  5. Step (iv) is not necessary to attain the Sotapanna stage but could be helpful. However, step (iv) is essential to remove kāma rāga and attain the  Anāgāmi stage.
  • Those steps must be followed in that order.

3. When one starts to understand the “anicca nature” (anicca means much more than impermanence) of this world, one becomes a Sōtapanna Anugāmi. When that “correct vision” about “this wider world of 31 realms” sinks into the mind permanently, one becomes a Sōtapanna.

  • One does not need to think about removing the desire for sex or any other sensory pleasure until one reaches the Sōtapanna stage. But one must abstain from IMMORAL deeds like sexual MISCONDUCT. That is a critical point that most people do not understand.
The futility of Starting at the End

4. Therefore, many people waste precious time by trying to suppress sensory desires and, in some cases, by trying to eliminate the innate sense of “me” or “a self.”

  • However, just like one cannot learn algebra or advanced calculus without first learning how to do addition, those people will not make any significant progress. It is impossible to do so.
  • Furthermore, while breath meditation may temporarily relieve the “stresses of day-to-day activities,” it will not provide the long-term release from suffering that the Buddha explained. See “Attaining Nibbāna Requires Understanding Buddha’s Worldview.”
  • Until one begins understanding Paṭicca Samuppāda and Tilakkhana (which explain the Four Noble Truths), one will never get to the Sōtapanna stage.
A Sōtapanna Has Not Given Up Sensual Pleasures (Kāma Rāga)

5. Even during Buddha’s time, many lay followers attained the Sōtapanna stage and continued to live “householder lives,” too. They were married and had regular jobs. There was no need to avoid sensory pleasures, including sex.

  • For example, Vishākā (or Visākā), who was the leading female lay disciple at the time, attained the Sōtapanna stage at age seven and went on to get married and have twenty-plus children.
  • Many others were regular lay people with families who attained the Sōtapanna stage and continued to live that way.
  • Of course, those who desired higher stages of Nibbāna tried to eliminate the craving for sensory pleasures. Most of them became bhikkhus who abstain from sex and other sensory pleasures.
Only at Anāgāmi Stage One Will Lose Kāma Rāga

6. One will abstain from sensory pleasures only after becoming an Anāgāmi. Even a Sakadāgāmi still enjoys sensory pleasures, even though he/she would not have the desire to “own” things that provide sensory pleasures.

  • For example, a Sakadāgāmi would still enjoy some sensory pleasures but would not desire to own “things that provide sense pleasure” (houses, cars, etc.).
Losing Carving for Sensory Pleasures Comes After a Deeper Understanding of Tilakkhana

7. One CAN NOT just give up sensory pleasures by sheer willpower and become an Anāgāmi. One must comprehend the “anicca nature” at a higher level than a Sōtapanna, and those desires will NATURALLY disappear.

  • That may be hard for most people to understand: how the desire for sense pleasures will naturally disappear. One should follow the Path SEQUENTIALLY, one step at a time.
  • By the way, the sense of “me” or ” a self” will go away only at the Arahant stage! It is unnecessary to worry about that before the Sotapanna stage.
It is Necessary to See the Harmful Consequences of Sensory Indulgences (Kāmasukhallikānuyoga)

8. However, it is also important to realize that one must avoid excessive sensory pleasures (kāmasukhallikānuyoga) and extreme ascetic practices of completely avoiding normal comforts (Attakilamathānuyoga.) The Budha recommended the “middle path,” where one would live a simple, comfortable life without going to extremes.

  • Therefore, one cannot become a Sōtapanna while enjoying sensory pleasures to the full, i.e., maintaining a “playboy type” lifestyle.
  • When one starts comprehending the anicca nature, one’s life WILL become simple.
  • Even before one reaches the Sōtapanna stage, one will start feeling nirāmisa sukha due to lessened mental stress due to this simple lifestyle.

9. Of course, one can speed up the process of the Sōtapanna stage by giving up sensory pleasures. Those who take this path become bhikkhus. They voluntarily give up most sensual pleasures, including sex.

  • If one is to attain jhāna, one must at least SUPPRESS all sensual desires. For example, in “Paṭhamajhānapañhā Sutta (SN 40.1):” “‘idha bhikkhu vivicceva kāmehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi savitakkaṁ savicāraṁ vivekajaṁ pītisukhaṁ paṭhamaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.”
  • That means one needs to have all thoughts of sensory pleasures and akusala kamma removed from one’s mind when getting to a jhāna. 
  • That statement appears in every sutta describing jhāna.
The Wider Worldview

10. Buddha’s teachings are more of a “previously unheard worldview” than a religion in the conventional sense; see “What is Unique in Buddha Dhamma?“

  • According to the Buddha’s “wider worldview,” there are 31 realms in this world. Suffering in those realms decreases as one goes from the lowest four realms (apāyās), where the suffering is intense, to the human realm (where suffering and happiness co-exist). There is increasingly more happiness (or less stress) in the 6 Deva and 20 Brahma realms. However, those existences also have finite lifetimes.
  • The peaceful feeling one experiences in a jhāna is the same sensory experience by Brahmās in the corresponding realms. But getting to jhāna has nothing to do with getting to magga phala, even though jhāna can provide a better mindset for insight meditation.
  • None of those realms can provide permanent happiness because a lifetime in any realm is finite. Even though the Brahma realms have very long lifetimes, one would eventually die and be reborn in any realm.
  • If one’s goal is permanent happiness, one must eventually reach the Arahant stage of Nibbāna. However, if one can reach the Sōtapanna stage, one is guaranteed to reach the Arahant stage within a few subsequent births.
Difference With Other World Religions

11. That is the main difference between Buddha Dhamma and other religions. Christianity and Islām promise permanent happiness in Deva realms (meeting the Creator God), and Hinduism promises lasting happiness in a Brahma realm.

  • But the Buddha taught that nothing in this world is permanent. That holds for living beings and inert things in the whole universe.
  • Scientists (including Einstein) believed as recently as 100 years ago that the universe is in a “steady state.” Now, science has accepted that everything in our world is in constant flux. See “Aggañña Sutta Discussion – Introduction.”
  • Therefore, one born in any realm will die from there and be reborn in another realm.
There Is Nowhere in This World Where Suffering Is Absent (Anicca Nature)

12. The above sub-title summarizes the anicca nature of this world. One gets to the Sōtapanna stage by “seeing that.” When one first realizes the anicca nature of this world, one can immediately see the dangers of doing the strong dasa akusala. That realization will make one’s mind resistant to doing “apāyagāmi actions,” i.e., those that make one eligible to be born in the four lowest realms (apāyās.)

  • That understanding registers permanently in the mind of a Sōtapanna and is unbreakable. That is why he/she will never do such immoral deeds, no matter how tempting. Our minds (at the base level) operate like machines, yet we (humans) can take control. See “Mind Operates Like a Machine According to Nature’s Laws.”
  • At that time, one will have faith in Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha when one can see how valuable Dhamma is. Of course, the Buddha discovered that Dhamma. It can be conveyed accurately only by a Noble Person.
  • That is the reason for “unbreakable faith,” or “aveccappasāda” (avecca pasāda) in Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha; see #4 of “Sotapatti Anga – The Four Qualities of a Sotāpanna.”
  • One is also said to have “Ariyakānta sila” or “unbreakable moral conduct” as a Sōtapanna. That does not mean one will not do any of the dasa akusala. But one will never again do a dasa akusala with strong kamma vipāka, bringing rebirth in the apāyās. A Sōtapanna has permanently removed such a mindset.
There Are Dangers in Craving for Sensory Pleasures

13. Finally, one may think that all one needs to do is get to the Sōtapanna stage. Because then one would be free from the apāyās. That is true. However, when one reaches the Sōtapanna stage, one will only SEE (with wisdom) the sufferings in the kāma lōka, including the Deva realms. That is Sammā Diṭṭhi, or “correct view.”

  • It is a good idea to focus on getting to the Sotapanna stage first (and not worry about the higher stages.)
  • Still, one must start at least seeing the dangers of excessive sensory pleasures, even before the Sotapanna stage. As stated in the “Dhammika sutta (Snp 2.14)“:
  • Abrahmacariyaṃ parivajjayeyya,
    Aṅgārakāsuṃ jalitaṃva viññū;
    Asambhuṇanto pana brahmacariyaṃ,
    Parassa dāraṃ na atikkameyya.

Translated: A wise person would live a celibate life (avoiding sex), as one would avoid falling into a pit of fire. But if one is not yet at the stage of abstaining from sensory pleasures, one should refrain from sexual misconduct.

Summary

14. It is not necessary (or prudent) to try to abstain from sensual pleasures in the beginning. First, one must understand why and how such attachments lead to future suffering (in future rebirths).

  • Of course, that is impossible if one does not believe in rebirth. That is why learning the worldview of the Buddha is necessary. It is a “previously unheard worldview” (“pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu“), as the Buddha repeatedly stated in his first sermon, “Dhamma­cakka­p­pavattana­Sutta (SN 56.11).”
  • Also see “What is Unique in Buddha Dhamma?” and “Basic Framework of Buddha Dhamma.”
  • When one starts understanding this “new teaching/worldview” (especially by comprehending Paṭicca Samuppāda), one will have confidence in the rebirth process and other doctrinal foundations like the validity of the laws of kamma.
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