We do not really understand what desire means. In the West, desire seems to refer to sense gratification. However, in the Buddhist view, desire is not a craving of the sense, but the mental concepts and projections that we build upon an object, thereby bringing us problems. Desire misinterprets and distorts the object; we then hallucinate and drive ourselves crazy.

Lama Thubten Yeshe, In the Presence of Masters by Reginald A. Ray