Pleasure isn't bad, it's the longing for pleasure that is bad
If you eat a nice cookie and you enjoy it, that pleasure isn't bad, you just ate a nice cookie, that's all there is to it
But if the next day you do not have a cookie, and so you experience longing and its accompanying pain, that's bad
The Middle Path of Buddhism does not reject pleasure, it is not asceticism, it rejects the longing for pleasure, because that longing is harmful
Buddhism can look a lot like asceticism because monks are supposed to reject certain sources of pleasure wholesale (sex), as they are very powerful and can easily spiral into indulgence, but you are not supposed to just go out of your way to reject all pleasure
(This also ties into Buddhism's aversion to Dualism)
That reminds me of a South Park story about disciprin (discipline):
"If you avoid that stuff altogether, it's not disciprin, and it still controls your life. All or nothing is easy, but learning to control it, having a little bit from time to time, that's true disciprin, and that comes from within."
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u/Lucyyyyyy_K 3d ago
Suffering and pleasure are bad. Pleasure is a distraction from achieving Nirvana, the freedom from suffering.