—When Life Turns Sour, and Practice Cannot Progress
If we do not possess genuine renunciation (Naiskramya), first of all, our daily lives will be filled with troubles. Both body and mind will experience much suffering, because we take too seriously many things that should, in fact, have been let go.
Secondly, lacking genuine renunciation will cause your practice to be ineffective. Why is that? Because without real renunciation, you cannot truly commit yourself or remain focused in your practice. Your motivation will also be misguided. Very often, when we engage in practice, we are not genuinely seeking liberation (mokṣa); instead, we are chasing after some mysterious spiritual experiences or something subtle and esoteric. On a more obvious level, we may simply be seeking praise from others or a certain kind of psychological satisfaction. We are not sincerely aspiring to leave saṃsāra behind. Therefore, our motivation is fundamentally incorrect.
Furthermore, without genuine renunciation, your practice cannot be truly wholehearted or deeply focused. Your mind keeps lingering on worldly attachments and as a result, you cannot devote yourself fully to practice. For example, while meditating, all kinds of trivial matters can disturb you. A single phone call can immediately pull you out of the meditation hall. Deep down, practice is not the most important thing to you. Other matters are the “sixty thousand dollars,” while practice is only “three hundred ” Something you can take or leave at any time.
This does not mean that simply because we are studying the Dharma, we must rigidly confine ourselves to it. Rather, we must establish a firm and powerful conviction deep within our hearts: liberation is the most important thing—it is the single most important matter in my entire life.
Of course, liberation ultimately involves both your own liberation and the liberation of others. The liberation of “others” brings in bodhicitta---but for now, we are only considering our own liberation. At the very least, we must establish this kind of strong, determined mindset. Only then will our practice be effective. Otherwise, even your so-called bodhicitta will be fake and emptiness (śūnyatā)? You won’t even get close. Don’t believe it? Let’s make a bet. Try it and see!
If there is no renunciation ( naiṣkramya ), our body and mind will become completely entangled in worldly dharmas (laukika-dharma). Unknowingly, even our spiritual practice can turn into something we cling to a weapon that reinforces our own saṃsāra, a form of arrogance: “Look, I understand the Dharma—impressive, right?” What we fail to realize is that even if our attachment is to the dharma itself, using it as a tool to fuel pride or jealousy will still bring us suffering and keep us wandering in saṃsāra.
Of course, the ultimate aim of Dharma practice is non-attachment. But at the very beginning, we actually need a certain kind of attachment—a correct attachment. Practice must be directed against our own self-grasping: against grasping at self (ātma-grāha), grasping at what belongs to self, and self-cherishing attachment. The Dharma is meant to dismantle these tendencies. If, instead, we use it to arm self-cherishing, and strengthen self-grasping, then even the Dharma will lead us deeper into saṃsāra—sometimes in an even more devastating way. So, this is something everyone must be very careful about.
—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.
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