Welcome to Craving Aversion

Craving Aversion is a blog by Michael Zhao. It explores the search for meaning and the cultivation of presence and awareness in all its forms.

The name refers to the Buddha’s diagnosis of the source of human suffering: Craving things we don’t have and being averse to the things we think we can’t tolerate distracts us from living in the moment and experiencing the world as it is in all its beauty, complexity, and horror. That these words contain both “raving” and an anagram of “rave” in them feels serendipitous, if a bit unserious.

Not all (or perhaps even most) of the topics I cover will be about raving or Buddhism—although those wells run particularly deep. At its core, much like meditation, raving is about pushing the physical and mental limits of the body in order to become open to the present as it is. To that end, activities like long-distance running, creating art, and even gardening have more to do with the practice of raving than putting on a little outfit and going for a night of dancing. It’s all about intention.

Maybe this feels like a stretch right now, but hopefully, it will make more sense the deeper we go. I look forward to sharing this journey with you all.