Meaning of "Eating, drinking, and love for men and women are the greatest desires of man's existence; old age, sickness, death, and poverty are the greatest evils of man's existence.

Origin: From "The Book of Rites. The original text is: "Eating and drinking, men and women, are the greatest desires of mankind. Death and poverty are the greatest evils of man. Therefore, desire and evil, the heart of the great end also. People hide their hearts, and they cannot be measured. Beauty and evil are all in the heart, but not in the color. If you wish to exhaust them, how can you give up the rites?"

Translation: But these desires and aversions are hidden in the depths of people's hearts and cannot be seen on the surface, making it impossible for people to gauge them, so in order to truly understand and control these desires and aversions, apart from restraining them with "rites", what else would be more appropriate?

The "Eating and drinking, men and women, the great desires of mankind are present" concept

The phrase "Eating and drinking, men and women, the great desires of mankind are present" doesn't mean that we should go to enjoy eating and drinking and enjoying men and women, but it tells us to do whatever we want. It tells us that desire is the root cause of all suffering, and that people's greatest desire is to eat and drink, and to keep it hidden, and that to control these desires, we need to use "ritual" to restrain them.

Whether it's food or sex, appetite and sexual desire can be controlled; it all depends on whether one's will is strong or not, but this desire is strong and equally difficult to stop, so learn to control yourself.