“Renunciation” is actually very simple: it is the aspiration and mental orientation that seeks freedom from Saṃsāra, the cycle of existence in the three realms. The concept itself is not complicated—almost everyone has heard these three characters (in Chinese). Yet even so, they can be understood and explained on different levels.
For example, emptiness(Śūnyatā) is also a form of renunciation. you may wonder, “How can emptiness be renunciation? Renunciation is clearly a mental attitude, while emptiness is not.”This is because once emptiness is realized, renunciation is unavoidable. When all phenomena areseen to be empty, that is the supreme form of renunciation.
In terms of dependent origination, we have “constructed” saṃsāra within our own minds. It is precisely due to ignorance and attachment that saṃsāra comes into being, manifesting all the phenomena of the three realms. These phenomena, in turn, bring about suffering, and thus a powerful wish arises: to break free from them. This intense aspiration is renunciation from the perspective of dependent origination
When this process is completed—say, when one realizes the selflessness of persons (pudgala-nairātmya) and even attachment to a “self” has been cut off—the saṃsāra of the three realms loses the verybasis for its existence. .This is liberation at the level of an arhat. If one goes further and realizes that “the three realms are inherently empty,” that “saṃsāra is nirvāṇa and nirvāṇa is saṃsāra,” then where there still so-called “renunciation” or “non-renunciation to speak of”? This is precisely the most ultimate and complete form of renunciation.
Of course, if you say, “That shouldn’t be called renunciation; it should be called emptiness,” that is also acceptable. What truly matters is whether we genuinely understand the meaning behind it, rather than clinging to the literal definition of the terms. In fact, the same term can carry different explanations and emphases at different levels.
For the purposes of our current discussion, “renunciation” refers specifically to a mental attitude that seeks liberation and yearns to be free from the cycle of saṃsāra in the three realms. This is the definition of renunciation we are using here.
—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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