it's important to note that saying "I'm Buddhist" is as diverse as as saying, "I believe in God"~ and within Buddhism, there are multiple inconsistencies, and repudiations, between various schools on 'the way things are'. TLDR Buddhism is incredibly diverse

One warning before proceeding: I taught in the Gelug tradition for many years (tibetan, madhyamaka prasangika)~ and I grew to see an especially impossible type of confusion born from ‘ecclecticism’, (believing an assortment of different things, often from incompatible sources): and to the person, they were all stuck in their head, trying to filter the teachings down to their heart, but stuck in what ever insoluble hodgepodge belief system they'd concocted. Remember when Commander Data created that Paradox Koan to destroy the Borg? The effect is similar. don’t do that. But DO keep a light, inquisitive mind, until you find something that makes sense, then stick to it. Like bruce lee, you have to master kung fu before you change it. TLDR definition of terms is everything, know the source and lineage of instructions, and avoid the comingling of ‘ecclecticism’

SO NOW.

Q: Isn't seeking to "destroy" these things a willful, volitional action, and a karmic action? A: Definitely. 110%. Karma basically means ‘Action’: All schools of Buddhism believe in the 4 noble truths: True Suffering, True Origins, True Paths, True Cessations. Employing ‘True Cessations’ along ‘True Paths’ to destroy ‘True Origins’ of ‘True Suffering’~ is universally acknowledged to be the entire name of the game. (though definitions do vary considerably). • Q: How does one "seek" Nirvana? Isn't seeking born from wanting? • A: Of course! You need to want it. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting a good thing. • Q: How does one "seek" Nirvana? Isn't seeking born from wanting? A: again nothing wrong with wanting to be happy, and free from identified causes of suffering. • Q: How does anyone take an action (starting meditation, following the eightfold path, etc) that isn't motivated by some wanting, tanha, whatever? Doesn't any motivation come as a reaction to some impulse or perceived need? A: yes. It is also universally agreed that there is no “attachment” as it pertains to one’s wish to become enlightened. One of the more Beautiful definitions in all of the Lorig, is that “inappropriate attention”: inappropriate attention is born from the 3 poisons:confusion, and precipitates both hatred and desire. Inappropriate attention, without looking it up, is: A mental factor, that engages An appeared object to mind, determines it to be either bad or good (respectively), then perverts either those bad or good qualities until they are the sole understanding of the engaged object, then (the mind) cannot rest until it is rid of, or ‘glued’ to that object. • The important Point in all of that, Is that through the force of inappropriate attention, through our force of concentrating on our fundamental wish to be happy and free of suffering, we grasp at wrong causes of happiness, then obscure objects we come into contact with, to the point where we are only dealing with reflections of our own mind. When I read that I started crying. If you even get .005% of the peace I got from hearing that, this was probably the best thing I'll do today. of course, I'm still in bed, so that's not saying much, haha. xoxoxo