In Defense of Desire: A Buddhist Rebuttal to Puritanical Misconceptions

I recently came across a striking comment in a Buddhist group:

It is the ego that persuades us to believe that sexual desire is something healthy or normal. In truth, sexual desire arises from perceiving another person merely as an object of beauty meant to satisfy one’s own cravings. It is closely tied to greed, as no one can find lasting contentment through ongoing desire for a single being. At its core, desire reflects a base-level attachment to form and identity — absent of true connection, understanding, or love. Moreover, we rarely examine the roots of this desire, which often stem from childhood experiences, exposure to pornography, media fantasies, deception, or even suppressed anger.

Frankly, this statement struck me as more puritanical than Buddhist. Even conservative religious communities today tend to exercise more nuance. Having spent decades among Chinese Buddhist circles, I’m no stranger to the adage, “Of the ten thousand evils, lust is foremost.” Yet I’ve also witnessed how such rhetoric, when taken literally, instills guilt and shame, distorting our relationship with a deeply human part of ourselves.

Let me offer a respectful rebuttal — a clarification of several critical misunderstandings embedded in that assertion.