Desire

Wishes, cravings and inclinations all form part of conscious desires; these may or may not be admitted, as some are not generally acceptable (death wish, incestuous desires). Similarly in the unconscious there are what may be considered biological wishes or "urges" which strive to be expressed and which may be more or less acceptable to the conscious personality. Some systems consider wishes to be synonymous with [needs]

to the extent that when an individual says he "needs" something he frequently means that he desires it. Society has evolved in a manner which allows for an individual's conscious wishes to be gratified as long as this does not interfere with the wishes of others. According to most religious systems, however, a person develops when individual wishes and desires are controlled, and only the desire for truth remains.

One specific definition of desire is, for example, as one of the six [root afflictions]

. Here it is perceived as generating [suffering]

, in that it sees and seeks some contaminated phenomenon, whether internal or external, as pleasant. This may be what is generally considered unpleasant or perverse, or the most laudable and beautiful. It clings to such phenomena and is hard to separate from them. Thus it is attachment, whether to the Desire, Form or Formless Realm, and the cause of the cycle of birth and rebirth.

One of the five afflictions or causes of misery in yoga, one of the six root afflictions referred to in Buddhist teaching, also one of the seven tendencies or latent passions.