Born lacking a desire for pleasure?

LostLight

Ever since I was little, I never practiced or indulged in pleasurable activities. I never had a desire to engage in promiscuous sexual activity, or a desire to party and get drunk/try drugs, nor the most common act of master....well you know. People have always found me strange for preferring to relax/meditate in quiet than engage in the previously mentioned activities.

Is my strange behavior possibly an effect of the previous life? I have ALWAYS been like this. And to this day, I have not engaged in any sexual activity, drunken an alcoholic beverage or tried any mind altering substances. I'm a college student, so the look on some people's faces when they find out is priceless. Also, I love socializing and having fun with people. It's not like I'm an outcast and never had the chance. I have the opportunity every time I'm at a get-together when everyone else drinks. I just go against what everyone else is doing.

(Not trying to show off. I don't think I'm better than anyone else because of this.)

Sabre

Is my strange behavior possibly an effect of the previous life?

Could be, but I wouldn't call it strange for I know quite a lot of people who behave in such a way.

Metta!

driedleaf

You have avoided a lot of unnecessary drama. What a blessing!

betaboy

Ever since I was little, I never practiced or indulged in pleasurable activities. I never had a desire to engage in promiscuous sexual activity, or a desire to party and get drunk/try drugs, nor the most common act of master....well you know. People have always found me strange for preferring to relax/meditate in quiet than engage in the previously mentioned activities.

Is my strange behavior possibly an effect of the previous life? I have ALWAYS been like this. And to this day, I have not engaged in any sexual activity, drunken an alcoholic beverage or tried any mind altering substances. I'm a college student, so the look on some people's faces when they find out is priceless. Also, I love socializing and having fun with people. It's not like I'm an outcast and never had the chance. I have the opportunity every time I'm at a get-together when everyone else drinks. I just go against what everyone else is doing.

(Not trying to show off. I don't think I'm better than anyone else because of this.)

Residual karma from previous births. You're lucky. All you have to do is continue this, and Buddhahood will be the inevitable result.

how

You do indulge in pleasurable activity. Your pleasurable activity is your love of people and the resulting socializing. Everyone's different. Most try not to be. The toughest job for most humans is just fitting in comfortably with who they really are.

Sabre

Ever since I was little, I never practiced or indulged in pleasurable activities. I never had a desire to engage in promiscuous sexual activity, or a desire to party and get drunk/try drugs, nor the most common act of master....well you know. People have always found me strange for preferring to relax/meditate in quiet than engage in the previously mentioned activities.

Is my strange behavior possibly an effect of the previous life? I have ALWAYS been like this. And to this day, I have not engaged in any sexual activity, drunken an alcoholic beverage or tried any mind altering substances. I'm a college student, so the look on some people's faces when they find out is priceless. Also, I love socializing and having fun with people. It's not like I'm an outcast and never had the chance. I have the opportunity every time I'm at a get-together when everyone else drinks. I just go against what everyone else is doing.

(Not trying to show off. I don't think I'm better than anyone else because of this.)

Residual karma from previous births. You're lucky. All you have to do is continue this, and Buddhahood will be the inevitable result.

The 8-fold path is a little more than not indulging in sensual activities.

enko

Everyone's different. I personally dont believe that sex in a loving context, a bit of alcohol and experimentation means anyone is any more or less.

Context. Craving. Attachment. This are the things to remain mindful of.

isa

I highly recommend the book by Susan Cain: QUIET. Just read it and I wish I had read it years ago because I was asking the same questions as you.

People have always found me strange for preferring to relax/meditate in quiet than engage in the previously mentioned activities.

Relaxing, meditating ARE pleasurable activities. I remember she says in her book that: "Quiet people, shy people...are the artists, engineers and thinkers of tomorrow..."

So whether these traits are part of your previous life or not, enjoy them NOW. Your behaviour is not at all strange but quite normal and refreshing given the world today.

federica

If you were not practising Buddhism, and knew nothing of it, what would you say about yourself? How would you describe yourself then?

Would it be in a negative light? Would you be self-conscious and worried about being 'different'? would you fear being judged as 'weird'?

Shakespeare wrote, "There is nothing either bad or good but that thinking makes it so."
In a different light, what you feel are appropriate and mindful behaviours, would in a different mindset, be considered as decidedly anti-social, or outside the norm, to say the least.

See, these are all just labels.
Because everything that you currently view as a commendable virtue, is descriptive of my current existence too.
So.....

...What?

I personally have never associated it with something from a past Life - it simply is what it is - but I sure as jellybeans know, what I think say and do now - and the mind-frame I'm in - will carry me through to the next one....
Lay aside all description.
Just 'be' the best you you can be, and keep walking.

LostLight

Thanks for all the responses. I was basically just curious how much past lives affect the behavior of the current, but I ended up getting a lot of interesting responses. They will all be helpful.

caz

The Karma of the past makes us who we are today. If you are without these Samsaric attachments it will be very easy for you to engage in Buddhadharma, Perhaps even become ordained in the future as you may have been in the past.

federica

If you wish to know what you are, in the present life, look at your body, now.
If you wish to know what you will be in a future life, look at your mind, now.

Cinorjer

If a person was born without the ability to feel pain, would you consider that good or bad? You say that you don't feel sensual pleasures, and you asked if this is because of your previous life? If you believe in past-life karma, the answer to such a question is always yes, no matter what you're asking about. Literally everything you are, do, or have happen to you is seen as a result of your past lives.

The problem is, you should be focusing here and now for causes. Since the sex drive in particular is tied to normal body functioning, are you suffering from any problems there? If not, then you're just on one end of a sliding scale of human behavior, opposite from people obsessed with sensual pleasure.

Jeffrey

In my experience drugs always upset the emotions. Sex for me never seemed like a bond in my relationships, just lust. I guess I am an ass!

And my sexual relationship is now karma from this lifetime. I have a negative attitude towards sex as I had a consuming relationship that culminated in hurt feelings.