Jeffrey Fredrick

Have u watched a friend get into Buddhism & then become passive, withdrawn, and boring? I think Western Buddhism is turning many of us into NPCs 😬 I suspect this is because of (a) a critical mistranslation and (b) failure to import a very important concept: chanda Firstly, we messed up big in the 19th century by mistranslating one of the Noble Truths as “Desire is the root of all suffering.” Wrong! This mistranslation NPCifies ppl. They start cutting off all forms of desire & then there's no motivation to do stuff Tanha – the key word here in Buddhist scripture – apparently *does not translate to desire.* It best translates to "craving" or "thirst" Secondly – and I think this is so important! – there is a concept of "wholesome desire": kusala chanda. (I'll call this chanda for short, even though chanda on its own just means something like zeal or intention.) Chanda is a form of desire that does not involve clinging and subsequently suffering. Why is this never discussed??? I barely find any mention of chanda amongst you tpot Buddhist types What happens if you release tanha (craving) but don’t transition to chanda (zeal), the cleaner fuel? You mostly stop living. It’s like taking medicine for a disease, going “yay, I’m cured!” when the symptoms are gone, and then just standing there forever. Granted, this is what some monks do, but you’re not a monk, bro, you’re here on twitter Now the key part: How do you tell the difference between tanha (which leads to suffering) and chanda (which can propel you healthily through life)? I believe you can *feel* the difference through simple phenomenological markers. I can't find any basis in the suttas for this, so now I'm just talking about my own experience, which is this: * Tanha (craving): tightness, restlessness, narrowness * Chanda (zeal): brightness, steadiness, spaciousness Chanda for me feels like a sort of upward angelic current through my bodymind. It feels impersonal, as if I'm "channeling" something According to a meditation teacher I spoke to (heavily paraphrased), tanha moves you toward a desire through control. With chanda, however, a desire arises, and then you surrender to "life," which can guide you to the desire by "noticing synchronicities" I’ve been making a practice of replacing tanha with chanda by (1) noticing whether my experience right now has qualities of tightness, narrowness, micromanagement. (2) If so, I relax that tanha, and (3) listen for chanda This switch to cleaner motivation is having very immediate benefits. Try it! --- Disclaimer: I AM NOT A BUDDHIST TEACHER OR SCHOLAR, I'M JUST A GUY INFORMALLY RESEARCHING HOW TO LIVE THE GOOD LIFE

CITCON Europe 2025 is September 26th & 27th! This is our 20th year and we will be returning to the city where we held the first CITCON Europe: London. Join us there?

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I haven't read the book in question, but I think presenting, "Japan should have just built 16 more carriers" as a serious argument, by either Goldman or VDH, should just immediately discredit the speaker from being taken seriously on modern conflict. 1/

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Me: Can you draw a very normal image? ChatGPT: Here is a very normal image depicting a tranquil suburban street scene during the daytime. Me: Not bad, but can you go more normal than that? (cont.)