To live alone doesn't mean one rejects the world. The Buddha taught that one who knows the better way to live alone doesn't

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"Applying the Buddha's Teaching In Daily Life", Part 3: How to live alone?

To live alone doesn't mean one rejects the world. The Buddha taught that one who knows the better way to live alone doesn't necessarily live in isolation from society. On the other hand, to be away from society and to live in isolation is no guarantee of being alone.

The Buddha discussed the importance of living alone in many suttas such as the Migajala Sutta (SN35.63). In this sutta, a monk named Migalaja came to ask the Buddha:

To what extent, lord, is one a person living alone, and to what extent is one a person living with a companion?

The Buddha instructed Migajala that there are forms, sound, smell, taste, thoughts cognizable via the eye, ear, nose, tongue and mind --- agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing --- and a monk relishes them, welcomes them, and remains fastened to them. As he relishes them, welcomes them, and remains fastened to them, delight arises. There being delight, he is impassioned. Being impassioned, he is fettered (shackled / chained). A monk joined with the fetter of delight is one who is bound by them, and he is not alone. He is always living with a companion i.e. living with those objects.

The Buddha added, "Indeed, Migajala, if a monk is bound by any fetter like this, even if he lives in the forest, in a deserted place without others and without any external disturbance, he still lives with a companion. Why? Because he still has not gotten rid of the fetters that bind him. These fetters are the ones with whom he lives."

The Buddha taught Migajala that one who knows the better way to live alone is someone who lives at ease, not bound by the mental formations which are based on the objects of the six senses of eye, ear, nose, tongue and mind.

The Buddha concluded, "Migajala, if a monk lives like this, even in the centre of a village or town, with monks, nuns or lay people, with kings and royal ministers, with sectarians and their disciples --- is still said to be living alone. Why is that? Because craving is not his companion, and it has been abandoned by him. Thus he is said to be a person living alone."

One who knows the better way to live alone can see clearly, even in a crowded environment.

Summary:

Most bliss is contaminated with feelings of desire, from the sensations of pleasure that arise from being close to desired forms and objects. The pleasure is stimulated in the mind in response to contact with a desired form. Yet there are also karmic seeds / conditioning in the mindstream that establish the object as desirable in the first place. All the worldly pleasures we experience fall into this category and the pleasure is experienced in this manner; they are a distraction from mind development.

"There are both healthy desires and unhealthy desires
Know the difference. *(Know your own intention / will). * added
Then find freedom in their midst." --- Jack Kornfield

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