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| Nekkhamma: Freedom from lust, craving, desire (Mountain Gate Sitting Group/zentoronto.org) |
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Nekkhamma: Freedom from Lust, Craving...
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| Meditation superpower (Dharma Buddhist, L.A.) |
In Buddhism, the Pali language word nekkhamma ("simplification") is translated as the English word "renunciation."
It means to relinquish, drop, or disown something -- the inner letting go more than the outer.
Similarly, Christians may take up this practice during the 40 days of Lent when they choose to give up something. Muslims do it for the month of Ramadan, fasting all day long. Even Buddhist monastics take three months out of the year for this during the Vas or "Rains Retreat."
Broadly speaking, renunciation is a letting go of whatever binds us to ignorance and suffering (dukkha: disappointment, woe, not getting what we want, getting what we don't want).
The word renunciation is often off-putting for many people. A common perception of those living a "holy" life is that they have no fun and experience no worldly pleasures.
- [EDITORIAL: But this is not true. Look how they eat, enjoy themselves, relax, dive into bliss (meditative piti or joy, rapture, effervescence) at will, refresh themselves, experience freedom from common problems, learn supernatural things, and experience uplift associated with secret doctrines and advanced understanding of life, the universe, and everything...and so on.]
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| The comedy genius of Douglas Adams |
But how would a lay person practice renunciation in daily life?
It is helpful to think of renunciation as freedom from the grip of sensual desires and obsessive cravings.
In our modern world, we are often pulled in so many directions and sunk by by endless distractions. We get nothing useful done.
There are endless notifications to check, websites to look up, articles to bookmark and read later, entertainment, YouTube videos, Spotify suggestions, consumer goods, new travel destinations to study up on and plan visits to -- so many that we often become caught up in these activities without even getting them done. All aspiration, no accomplishment.
Inherently, there is nothing wrong with any of these things. Do more, learn more, think more, expand more, and meditate more to bring it all under control!
However okay it is to do these things, it is the way we relate to them – being caught up or attached to them – that matters more. It can become a problem.
Essentially, the practice and discipline of renunciation allows us to be in control of habitual patterns (habits, hobbies, obsessions, addictions) and desires that may not be helpful to our lives.
For instance, if we notice ourselves regularly checking our phones, this habit may be interfering with our relations to others if they find it rude. Or it may be interfering with our equanimity, and people notice and are offended.
One way of practicing renunciation is to set aside a period of time – a day or perhaps a weekend – where we commit to giving up a certain thing -- a little Vas, a little Lent, a little Ramadan.
It could be the intrusive habit of social media, it could be eating too much chocolate, it could be watching our "stories" on horndog.hub or anything for which we feel a deep craving.
Notice the mind during this exercise. Is it thinking about the thing relinquished? Is it disturbed? At peace?
This talk given by Gil Fronsdal from the Insight Meditation Centre is an illuminating discussion on the relationship between renunciation and loss: Gil Fronsdal: Renunciation and Loss (audiodharma.org)
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