Does the Buddha's talk of letting go conflict with our desires?

What you said is correct. The key is that we have not clarified the concepts of "desire" and "letting go". Desire, in our secular view, is an instinctive and uncontrollable physiological instinct, and Buddhism believes that this instinct contains two meanings, one is primary and delusional, and the other is inner nature, which is what we want to pursue. It is our illusion that we are so troubled and even depressed. Buddha said that each of us is a Buddha. Why there is a difference between cleverness and stupidity is caused by our different degrees of delusion. The more delusional we are, the less Buddha nature we have, or even no Buddha nature. If we want to gain wisdom and health, we must let go of delusion, separation and persistence.

To let go is to let go of your persistent differences, greed and ignorance, and to let go of your reason, instead of letting go of things and doing things according to them. Intellectually, there should be no persistent delusion, and things should be natural, that is, natural. So there is no conflict.

Desire and desire are different. Desire is the nature of the heart, and the true "I", that is, Buddha's nature, has no delusion. Desire is the delusion of our six roots (eyes, nose, tongue, body and mind), which is the difference, persistence and delusion of what we usually call "think", "study" and "think". As long as we can put aside our differences, persistence and delusion in the face of facts, we can get rid of or reduce the temptation of "having money, eating and sleeping". Seeing through is a kind of wisdom, and letting go is an ability. As long as we practice according to Buddhism, this wisdom and ability will gradually grow.