Nichiren spoke of earthly desires being used as fuel for the flame of wisdom. Buddhism teaches the converting of personal ambitions and desires, even base ones, into good traits like wisdom through altruistic living.
A Buddhist doctrine that earthly desires are enlightenment indicates that greed, anger (violence) and egocentricism can be transformed into altruistic traits like compassion, trust and nonviolence.
The underlying delusions that drive our desires—including the desire for the development of science and civilizations—can be essentially transformed in a way that changes selfishness into altruism, violence into nonviolence and suspicion into trust.
~ Daisaku Ikeda
The Search For Enlightenment 
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