Thirty-Six Eight-Diagram Arrays: The Array of Desire

Xuefeng

The more you eat, the more you crave; the more you sleep, the lazier you become. The more you steal, the itchier your hands get; the more you gamble, the more avaricious your heart becomes. Habits become second nature, and this second nature obscures our true nature. Things always naturally develop in the direction of habitual tendencies, and in the end, we lose control, sinking deeper and deeper, making it difficult to escape.

Everything can become addictive: smoking, drinking, eating meat, using drugs, gaming, seeking pleasure, making money, fighting, holding positions of authority, frequenting bars, even using the internet.

Negative emotions like jealousy, resentment, comparison, criticism, blame, lies, laziness, selfishness, greed, and arrogance can also become addictive. Once a person becomes negative and develops an unhealthy psyche, pessimism becomes the theme of their life. They may become isolated, obstinate, stubborn, rigid, and eventually suffer from depression.

Why does this happen? This is due to the Eight-Diagram Array set up to maintain a certain number of lives in each level of existence. It is called the Array of Desire. It is like a nose ring on a bull, leading people back and forth in the desire array, making it impossible to escape from a certain space of LIFE.

There are eight major desires: appetite, affection (sexual) desire, desire for pleasure, material desire, desire for reputation, desire for life, desire for possession (control), and desire for excellence. These eight desires form the desire array.

Normal needs are not considered desires; anything beyond normal needs is considered a desire. For example, constantly craving delicious food, indulging in delicacies, is called desire for food; constantly thinking about establishing emotional relationships with someone or constantly fantasizing about sexual relationships with different people, rather than going with the flow, is desire for affection or sex; always seeking leisure activities or indulging in comfort is desire for pleasure; working tirelessly to earn money to buy property, land, goods, and equipment is material desire; going to great lengths to maintain a good reputation is desire for reputation; taking extreme measures for health, consuming supplements, practicing meditation, and living in a state of intoxicated oblivion, is desire for life; racking one’s brains to control resources, people, or positions is desire for possession; striving with every nerve, enduring hardships to stand out from the crowd, seeking magical powers or supernatural abilities to make others envious, is desire for excellence.

Once trapped in the desire array formed by the eight major desires, one’s life becomes one of suffering, without hope or a bright future. It’s a life destined for pain, exhaustion, frequent disappointments, and without the joy, happiness, freedom, and bliss one desires. It’s a life destined to float and sink in the cycle of reincarnation.

How to escape the desire array?

Follow the way of the Greatest Creator! Follow the way of nature.

Regarding food, take things as they are, eat until you’re full, don’t deliberately pursue taste at the expense of slaughtering animals.

Regarding love and sexual desire, associate with others by following naturally come-and-go relations, don’t pursue it deliberately, nor avoid it deliberately.

Regarding pleasure, take advantage of opportunities as they arise, avoid high-end pleasures that waste energy and money as much as possible.

Regarding material pursuits, be content with what you have, prioritize simplicity and practicality, avoid extravagance and excessive possession.

Regarding reputation, don’t seek lasting fame or infamy, let things happen naturally, don’t worry too much about people’s opinions and judgments, just keep your conscience and morals intact.

Regarding health and life and death, leave your LIFE to the Greatest Creator’s arrangement, let your life be governed by Tao, don’t deliberately focus on health, accept life and death as fate, neither craving life nor fearing death.

Regarding possession and control, the more you have, the more worries you’ll have, the more you control, the more mental labor you’ll have. It’s better to pursue the state of “possessing nothing yet owning everything,” to feel content no matter where you are or what you are doing.

Regarding excellence, act according to your nature, everything is born, grows, is punished, and is finally exterminated by nature. Everything is under the arrangement and running of Tao. Don’t pursue excellence excessively. If you don’t have a good singing voice, trying to excel in singing will be futile. Just express your talents and personality to the fullest; why bother pursuing excellence?

Once you escape the desire array, the world will be vast and boundless. Without desire, you can fulfill desires; without selfishness, you can fulfill selfishness