2. Genuine Renunciation Makes Practice Much Easier
This may not sound like anything profound, nor does it involve sophisticated terminology. Yet in real spiritual practice, this is exactly what it comes down to. It is not about piling up technical terms. If you can gradually observe yourself in the course of practice, that itself is the best practice.
Once strong renunciation (nekkhamma) truly arises, you will naturally be able to get into meditation—actually be able to “enter” your sitting. You might ask, “But I already have renunciation. Why can’t I settle into meditation?” What you have is not renunciation; it is merely the concept of renunciation. Your mind is still occupied with the the guy next door, or with your stocks. Many of our male practitioners are still caught up in all kinds of romantic fantasies With all these things lingering in the mind, how could you possibly settle into samādhi (meditative concentration)? So you sit there, and thoughts keep bubbling up endlessly. After too many thoughts arise, you start feeling sleepy. Either you sink into dullness or you become scattered. You cannot even sustain meditative concentration.
Usually, when we say someone’s mind is settles into calm and clarity, it simply means that there is very little clutter inside. When there is less internal chaos, the mind naturally becomes clear. One direct result of renunciation is that we genuinely let go of all that mental clutter. Once you let go, the mind becomes pure. When the mind is pure, entering meditative concentration becomes much easier. With this foundation, listening (śravaṇa), contemplation (cintā), and meditation (bhāvanā) will rise to another level. Then you will begin to understand the true significance of renunciation in relation to liberation (mokṣa). It will no longer be just a concept. It will have real flavor—real taste.
A person with strong renunciation keeps his or her mind fully focused on the Dharma. Whenever something related to the Dharma arises, they pay close attention; other matters can be set aside. All their efforts are directed toward practice and liberation. Liberation overrides everything else, it is the most important thing!
But we are not like that. For us, liberation is merely a nicer decoration within saṃsāra. Under such circumstances, how could you possibly expect to achieve great progress in practice? Even to succeed in worldly matters, you must be fully committed and deeply invested. If you want to become an athlete, you must undergo rigorous training and give up many things. Athletes even go into “retreat”—they call it “intensive training.”
Therefore, practice is accumulated gradually over time. It is absolutely not the case that after reading two books, you suddenly possess renunciation. If you only read a couple of books, what you gain may merely become material for showing off in conversation. When renunciation is truly present, you will not be eager to talk about it. Instead, you will transform everything you have learned into resources for changing your own mind.
—Excerpted and adapted from Conceptual Renunciation and Genuine Renunciation
This article is a preliminary translation draft and has not yet been reviewed or proofread by the speaker.
