Lzh Mg Bu Pm Ss 4Encouraging Someone to Serve One’s Desires
Pāli / Sanskrit:Attakāmpāricariya
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The Sutta on Encouraging Someone to Serve One's Own Desires (Attakāmpāricariya)
Background
This sutta is found in the Vinaya Piṭaka, the collection of texts governing monastic discipline in Theravāda Buddhism. The Vinaya Piṭaka is not merely a compilation of prohibitory rules; it is also a profound educational document concerning human psychology and the pitfalls encountered in the course of spiritual practice. The context of Attakāmpāricariya (encouraging oneself to serve one's own desires) reflects a common situation: a practitioner, upon encountering difficulty or temptation, instinctively seeks reasons to justify their own lapse. This is a psychologically dangerous phenomenon, for it conceals the nature of the underlying tendencies (anuśaya—latent defilements).
The Vinaya Piṭaka records specific instances in which monks convinced themselves that the pursuit of sensual desires was justified. Such arguments appear reasonable on the surface, but are in substance a form of intellectual self-deception.
Main Content
In the context of the Vinaya Piṭaka, "encouraging oneself to serve one's own desires" (attakāmpāricariya) refers to the act of generating one's own reasons and personal philosophies to justify the pursuit of those things which one already knows to be contrary to the path of practice. A monk might persuade himself thus: "Sensual desire is not a serious matter so long as I maintain mindfulness," or "These small pleasures do not affect my progress toward liberation."
Such self-invented philosophies typically arise from underlying ambitions (chanda), weakness of resolve, or confusion regarding the Dhamma. The sutta teaches that this conduct is exceedingly dangerous, for it turns oneself into both the deceiver and the victim of the deception. It obstructs the development of wisdom (paññā), since the practitioner no longer sees clearly the nature of the suffering (dukkha) latent within these actions.
The Vinaya Piṭaka affirms that one who is genuinely committed to practice must acknowledge the fundamentally opposing nature of sensual desire (kāma) and the Dhamma (dhamma). No "reasonable" justifications whatsoever can obscure this truth.
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