Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

The Joke

A Buddhist monk tells a woman, "The origin of suffering is desire." She responds, "Yeah, but desire is the origin of spaceships and vibrating dongs." The next panel shows them zooming through space in a spaceship with a big "WOOOOOOH!" -- apparently having been convinced by her argument.

The Humor

The comic pits Buddhist philosophy against hedonistic materialism. The monk states one of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism -- that desire (tanha/craving) is the root of suffering -- which is meant to encourage detachment and inner peace. The woman counters with a gleefully crude rebuttal: yes, desire causes suffering, but it also produces amazing things like spaceships and sex toys. The punchline is that the monk is apparently swayed by this argument, as the final panel shows them both joyfully rocketing through space. The humor comes from the juxtaposition of profound spiritual wisdom with deliberately lowbrow counterexamples, and from the monk abandoning his philosophy so quickly when presented with the fun side of desire. It suggests that while Buddhist philosophy has merit, the products of human desire are pretty great too.

References

• The Second Noble Truth of Buddhism (Samudaya) states that the origin of suffering is craving or desire (tanha).
• The comic playfully contrasts ascetic Buddhist philosophy with the technological and hedonistic achievements of desire-driven human civilization.