An image depicting a Buddha renouncing his desires and delusions known as Māra with the sword of wisdom
Here in NYC we have the rare opportunity to meditate with, study with and learn from traveling monastics from all over the world. Usually, one would have to go to a monastery for this experience, so we are very fortunate that we get to spend time with people who have taken the Buddhist vows with the most solemn commitment. It made seem a bit extreme to some but when you get to spend time with them and study the sutras or, Buddhist scriptures with them, it is easy to see why they are enthusiastic in their endeavor.
Last night was my first of many such evenings. And, when you are in the presence of such a person the potential of what we are gathering together for becomes very real. The humility and the grace with which the information is shared…well you begin to see that it is more than being shared…you begin to sense that there is a transmission taking place and you begin to understand what that means - not because you are reading it in a book but because you are experiencing it.
The purity of the mind that is transmitting the teachings is doing so from the level of consciousness that he or she has had the privilege to take the time and effort to discover within themselves through the practices which is the process of taking the vows or precepts and investigating the mind through meditation. Renunciation generally means giving things up so naturally it may not signal to our egos that this is something desirable to pursue. In other words the ego loves to be attached! It's how it survives.
re·nun·ci·a·tion
rəˌnənsēˈāSH(ə)n/
noun
- the formal rejection of something, typically a belief, claim, or course of action.
"entry into the priesthood requires renunciation of marriage"
synonyms: abstention from, refraining from, going without, giving up, eschewal of;
formal for swearing off
"his renunciation of luxury"
repudiation, rejection, abandonment;
rare abjuration
"their renunciation of terrorism"
~Google Dictionary
Things That Make You Go Hmm...
I'm not gonna lie, the first time I heard someone speak about renunciation I was pretty turned off. It was an American Buddhist teacher, here in NYC, not a monk. It was a several part class and in the first class he was wearing this shawl and I swear he was acting like he was channeling the soul of a dead monk and whipping himself over the shoulders with the ends of the shawl the whole display was pretty weird. I didn't know what to think. The teacher that invited him, I can tell you his name, his name is Ethan Nichtern and he's a very respected teacher here, he was also looking at this dude like - what? He was doing this act and rocking back and forth talking about how important it is to follow the teachings of renunciation to purify yourself. I was so repelled by the whole thing the thought of renunciation was NOT appealing to me at all, at least not in the way this dude was spewing forth. The following class the guy came back and was not wearing his shawl, was not acting like a weirdo and spoke normally, I'm assuming someone guided him gently in the direction of behaving like a normal person.
If you see the Buddha in the road kill him ~Buddhist saying
That was a few years ago and I was so turned off I did not go to another Buddhist class for nearly four years. The way he was describing his decision to take the Buddhist vows and follow the precepts was like you had just chopped off one of his hands and he had to work hard to stay on the straight and narrow. But what are these precepts that are so hard to accept? From the Buddhist publication Tricycle:
THE FIVE PRECEPTS
I undertake to observe the rule:
- to abstain from taking life
- to abstain from taking what is not given
- to abstain from sensuous misconduct
- to abstain from false speech
- to abstain from intoxicants as tending to cloud the mind
That's it. But when you look at the way many people live their lives, just look at what is going on around us and what we hear and see our friends doing or may have even done ourselves we can begin to see why this does not come naturally to us and Buddhism shows us * why * because of the negative seeds in the human mind known as the defilements I have written about on this blog several times. Fortunately, we also have the positive seeds in our minds and the guide of The Noble Eightfold Path and all the other positive aspects of the teachings to take in and live by.
Getting back to monks and teachers. Any teacher of anything especially of something having to do with your mind you should understand you do not have to accept what is being taught. You owe it to yourself to do your due diligence and if something does not feel right you have the right and the duty to yourself to investigate why. Last night what was explained to us about renunciation was nothing short of loveliness and honestly in the spirit of reason and right thinking. In the Buddhist tradition of Right View this is what is being discussed. In the process of experimenting with the teachings, trying them on and investigating the mind through meditation we develop Right View and the wisdom of The Precepts become crystal clear.
The Problem and the Solution
The main problem is, as it was presented last night, the mind and it's attachment to desires. This simply means that our minds get attached to wanting things to be a certain way and is attached to things not changing. They say change comes hard for most and this could not be closer to the truth. This creates entanglements in the mind and confusion. Because reality is constantly changing. But if we are attached to our desires which is to say attached to things being a certain way then we create limitations, distorted views and ultimately suffering. That is all - it is a very simple truth. We do not understand that our desires create limitations! And renunciation creates freedom. That is the beauty of this. So, the precepts are a starting point to what ultimately will be a way of life of avoiding attachment because we will cultivate Right View and the skillfulness to see attachment coming down the road and we will simply sidestep it or avoid it all together because we will have learned that the yearning our desires give us is an illusion. They do not and cannot give us the happiness we seek because they are impermanent.
Conclusion
There is obviously more to say on this matter to make it the radiance and beauty of this opportunity so compelling and appealing that we approach it like a drink of pure water in a vast desert wasteland to bring us to the truth that will ultimately quench our thirst permanently. That is the highest wisdom that we all have the potential to attain through the process of renunciation and meditation.
Much gratitude to Bhante Suddhāso, the monastic who taught last night's class and co-founder of Buddhist Insights. His Bio:
Bhante Suddhāso is a Buddhist monk living in New York City. The co-founder of Buddhist Insights, a new platform using technology to build community and facilitate access to reliable monastic teachings, his work aims to convey Buddhist concepts and their practical applicability to everyday life.
Bhante Suddhāso practices meditation according to the original instructions given by the Buddha in the Pāli Canon - the oldest collection of Buddhist scriptures, which contains an enormous amount of very detailed and precise guidelines on how we can live our lives in a way that reduces our dissatisfaction and discontent. Since the Buddha's teachings can occasionally be difficult to comprehend, he also aids others in developing an understanding of the Pāli Canon by periodically offering talks on meditation practice and on the Suttas, while providing paragraph-by-paragraph explanations of the Buddha's discourses in the form of annotated Suttas.
Bhante Suddhāso has studied under the guidance of some of the most important names in Western Buddhism, such as Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Vīradhammo, and Bhante Gunaratana. He was initially trained in Soto Zen Buddhism at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Subsequently, he was ordained at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California, where he was trained in the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravāda Buddhism. Since then he has lived at a variety of monasteries from different Buddhist traditions in both rural and urban environments. A dedicated teacher, Suddhāso has taught to people of all different ages and walks of life, as well as college students of universities like Harvard, New York University, Fordham University, University of Mary Washington, Sarah Lawrence College, and Suffolk County Community College. Bhante Suddhāso brings to the table his first-hand, in-depth experience of both Theravāda and Soto Zen, as well as scholarly knowledge of all other Buddhist traditions.!
You can watch a lot of their live teachings on Facebook live events. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/buddhistinsights/
Can't wait for next class and to share with y'all what we are learning together in the present moments! Love to all and I love to share, serve and discuss with you.
What do you think?
Images pixabay
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