ETHICS CLARIFIED

The first, and negative, principle in the Buddha's ethics requires strict non-indulgence in the cravings, desires that clearly produce suffering.  Any form of desire whose indulgence entails misery is to be overcome. 

But how is one to know that the desires he is indulging in are of this sort?  The first three of the Four Noble Truths provide the criterion:  Where life becomes miserable, the misery is always the result of partaking in some sort of desire, hence such misery-producing desires are to be abandoned.

The Buddha, however, does not condemn all desires.  Salvation obviously cannot be attained by negative means alone.  Hence, the second, and positive, principle in the Buddha's ethics states that by the attainment of the right or truly joy-bringing desires, one can transcend completely, and erase from consciousness, the kinds of desires that produce suffering. 

The fourth of the Four Noble Truths therefore asserts that desires whose indulgence will not result in an increase of misery, but rather in the decrease or elimination of it, are the desires leading to salvation. 

The ultimate goal is that all desires will be swallowed up in the complete peace of no-desire.