The source of all suffering [in Buddhism] would be desire…all desire, even ones we may think are good or noble.
I think this is a misunderstanding. Since first-hand sources will best illustrate this:
“Another common misunderstanding of the Buddha’s teaching is that
all of our suffering is caused by craving. In the Discourse on
Turning the Wheel of the Dharma, the Buddha did say that craving is the cause of suffering, but he said this because craving is the first on the list of afflictions (
kleshas). If we use our intelligence, we can see that craving can be a cause of pain, but other afflictions such as anger, ignorance, suspicion, arrogance, and wrong views can also cause pain and suffering… To make the sutras shorter and therefore easier to memorize, the first item on a list was often used to represent the whole list. The word ‘eyes,’ for example, is used in many sutras to represent all six sense organs… If we practice identifying the causes of our suffering, we will see that it is sometimes due to craving and sometimes it is due to other factors.” (Thich Nhat Hanh)
“The Pali word [for craving] is
tanha, and it suggests a state of incessant, never-ending thirst-- a craving that won’t quit. Because all of us consistently desire, hunger, and thirst for various experiences and different things, we continue to suffer. It’s not that we have to get rid of the things we desire. The objects are not the problem. It is our attachment and our identification with what we crave that causes suffering. Tilopa, a wandering tenth-century yogi, sang, ‘It is not the outer objects that entangle us. It is the inner clinging that entangles us. People who misinterpret the Buddha’s teachings often worry that if they rid themselves of craving, they will no longer be able to love or live with passion. Quite the opposite is true. We will still have all our
healthy desires, but now they won’t be contaminated and misdirected by insatiable craving. The Buddha never taught that we shouldn’t feel love. In fact, he preached universal love and compassion… What the Buddha taught is that we shouldn’t try to own each other, nor should we become so identified or attached to anything… that we lose sight of reality…’” (Lama Surya Das)
I hope this helps.
nirvana is not a god, nor God. It is more of a state.
To be clear, I did not say that Nirvana is a god. I said Nirvana is the nearest thing in the Buddha’s teaching to what we Christians would call God. To reduce Nirvana to a state (or result, or goal) is also a misunderstanding. In Buddhism, Nirvana is the “Absolute Truth” or “Ultimate Reality.” The liberated experience it, but human words cannot adequately describe it, which is why most of the language used to describe it is apophatic, e.g. “not this, not that.” It is not reducible to a state. As one Buddhist scholar puts it: “Truth is not a result or an effect. It is not produced like a mystic, spiritual, mental state… TRUTH IS. NIRVANA IS.” Thich Nhat Hanh, similarly, calls Nirvana the “ground of being.”
just playing around of course.