So renunciation is seeing clearly how we hold back, how we pull away, how we shut down, how we close off, and then learning how to open. We don’t, out of fear of the unknown, have to put up these blocks, these dams, that basically say no to life and to feeling life. Letting go at the end of the out-breath, letting the thoughts go, is like moving one of those boulders away so that the water can keep flowing, so that our energy and our life force can keep evolving and going forward. That’s what happens with us, too we get blocked like that. The water can’t go any further, even though it has tremendous force and forward energy. The river flows rapidly down the mountain, and then all of a sudden it gets blocked with big boulders and a lot of trees. Every time we are willing to let the story line go, and every time we are willing to let go at the end of the out breath, that’s fundamental renunciation: learning how to let go of holding on and holding back. Then our minds wander off into all kinds of stories and fabrications and manufactured realities, and we say to ourselves, “It’s thinking.” We say that with a lot of gentleness and a lot of precision. When we sit in meditation, we feel our breath as it goes out, and we have some sense of willingness just to be open to the present moment. Once you begin to get the feeling of how big the world is and how vast our potential for experiencing life is, then you really begin to understand renunciation. Renunciation is realizing that our nostalgia for wanting to stay in a protected, limited, petty world is insane. Related: The Fundamental Ambiguity of Being Human The caption read: “The seasons come and go, summer follows spring and fall follows summer and winter follows fall, and human beings are born and mature, have their middle age, begin to grow older and die, and everything has its cycles. I was recently in a doctor’s office that had a poster on the wall of an old native American woman walking along the road, holding the hand of a little child. Every moment of time has enormous energy in it, and we could connect with that. The ground of renunciation is realizing that we already have exactly what we need, that what we have already is good. It’s as if everyone who has ever been born has the same birthright, which is enormous potential of warm heart and clear mind. In Buddhist teachings, as well as in the teachings of many other contemplative or mystical traditions, the basic view is that people are fundamentally good and healthy. It’s probably good to think of the ground of renunciation as being our good old selves, our basic decency and sense of humor. You could say that renunciation is the same thing as opening to the teachings of the present moment. What one is renouncing is closing down and shutting off from life. I was taught that it has to do with letting go of holding back. Renunciation does not have to be regarded as negative. It makes them feel terrible they feel as if someone gave them the name “Torture Chamber,” or perhaps “Torture Chamber of Enlightenment.” People usually don’t like the name “Discipline” either, but so much depends on how you look at these things. I’ve noticed that when people get the name “ Renunciation,” they hate it. When people take refuge in the formal ceremony of becoming a Buddhist, they receive a name that indicates how they should work.
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