Letters

The Buddha was not a renunciate—the monks were renunciates, Siddhartha the seeker was a renunciate but when Siddhartha became the ‘Awakened one’ he ceased renunciation. It’s often said the Buddha’s liberation was a ‘transcending of desire’ (including the desire for pleasure), but the Sanskrit word used often translated as desire (tṛṣṇā) actually means ‘thirst’. It’s…