Cross-tradition readings
The diagnosis is shared — craving grows by being fed — and so is the surprising remedy: contentment is not the reward of getting what you desire but the skill of ceasing to be driven by it.
The passages below are quoted exactly from the translations in our Study Hall — each links to the verse in its chapter, where you can read what comes before and after. Curated by Keshab Chapagain; the texts speak for themselves.
He attains peace into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean which, filled from all sides, remains unmoved; but not the man who is full of desires.
Ceasing from self-indulgence is conscious mastery over the thirst for sensuous pleasure here or hereafter.
The thirst of a thoughtless man grows like a creeper; he runs from life to life, like a monkey seeking fruit in the forest.
He who overcomes this fierce thirst, difficult to be conquered in this world, sufferings fall off from him, like water-drops from a lotus leaf.
There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.
Who is content Needs fear no shame. Who knows to stop Incurs no blame. From danger free Long live shall he.
On death and mortality · On anger · On the restless mind · On work and duty · On impermanence · On knowing yourself · On happiness and peace
Read the full texts: Bhagavad Gita · Dhammapada · Yoga Sutras · Tao Te Ching · Meditations