There is an idiom called “Seven Emotions and Six Desires,” which refers to the various emotions and desires of humans.
Many people can say this idiom, but if asked to specify what “Seven Emotions” and “Six Desires” refer to, they might not be able to explain clearly.
“Seven Emotions and Six Desires” is a phrase composed of “Seven Emotions” and “Six Desires.”
The origin of “Seven Emotions” comes from the Book of Rites (Liji) in the section on the “Great Learning”: “What is human emotion? Joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire; these seven are innate and do not require learning.” This means that what are human emotions? They include happiness, anger, sadness, fear, love, hatred, and desire. These seven emotions are innate and do not need to be learned; “do not require learning” means they are known from birth.
However, different schools have various classifications for expressing “Seven Emotions.”
“Joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate (wù), and desire” is the perspective of traditional Confucianism.
In TCM theory, “Seven Emotions” refers to “joy, anger, worry, thought, sadness, fear, and shock.” Excessive agitation of these seven emotions can lead to imbalances of yin and yang, and disruptions of qi and blood, resulting in various diseases. “Desire” is not included in the TCM “Seven Emotions.”
Buddhism considers that “Seven Emotions” refers to “joy, anger, worry, fear, love, hatred, and desire.”
The Three Character Classic states: “Joy and anger, sorrow and fear. Love and hate, the seven emotions are complete.”
The term “Six Desires” originates from the Book of Lord Shang (Lüshi Chunqiu) in the section on “Valuing Life”: “What is meant by complete life? It is to have all six desires appropriately fulfilled.” In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Gao You annotated it as: “Six Desires are life, death, ears, eyes, mouth, and nose.”
Later generations summarized “Six Desires” as: visual desire (sight, craving for beautiful sights), auditory desire (hearing, craving for beautiful sounds and praises), olfactory desire (smell, craving for pleasant aromas), gustatory desire (taste, craving for delicious food), tactile desire (touch, craving for comfort), and mental desire (mind, craving for fame, wealth, and love).
Today, “Six Desires” typically refers to:
Desire for survival, which is the desire to strive to live.
Desire for knowledge, which is the curiosity to understand and know everything.
Desire for expression, which is the desire to share one’s experiences, thoughts, and feelings with others and gain their recognition.
Desire for performance, which is the desire to compete in a crowd, to show one’s uniqueness and authority, and to gain respect and obedience from others.
Desire for comfort, which is the desire to make oneself feel as comfortable as possible.
Desire for intimacy, which refers to the six innate desires humans have for the opposite sex.
However, Buddhism has a different view on “Six Desires.” In the Buddhist text Great Wisdom Treatise, “Six Desires” refers to the desires for physical beauty, appearance, demeanor, speech, smoothness, and human form, positioning “Six Desires” as the six innate desires of ordinary people for the opposite sex, which is what modern people often refer to as “intimacy.”
In fact, the “Seven” and “Six” in “Seven Emotions and Six Desires” are both general terms, indicating many, and are not limited to specific types. “Seven” and “Six” signify that humans are born with a rich variety of emotions and desires.
Seven emotions and six desires, a myriad of flavors.
Life requires wisdom, emotions need harmony, so that life can proceed steadily and far.