..續本文上一頁rience we see freedom. In the midst of anger, we see how we could be at peace. In the midst of desire, we see how we could become less caught up in this desire. People have these experiences often.

　　So, as in all experiences, we have glimpses—glimpses of freedom, glimpses of how we could be free of the fog or the darkness, and move into the clear light. When that happens, we usually do not pay attention to it because our strength is very weak; there”s not enough power to go with that glimpse. In the midst of anger, we may see how we could cease to argue any longer and just be at peace. There is no point in arguing ourselves to death. We could just leave it. But because of this lack of strength, we continue to argue, as if we are going to resolve our issues by continuing. Then that leads into further distractions.

　　When we catch this glimpse, having increased the awareness which leads to knowledge, and the knowledge that leads to understanding, these glimpses become stronger. These glimpses begin to come more often to our minds, and our strength increases a little bit. Then we have to initiate ourselves with that strength. We have to lend more power to that strength. We have to go with that strength rather than with our tendencies, because if we continue to go along with our tendencies, we will end up where we have always been, and become ever more discouraged. We need to go with, initiate, and empower these glimpses.

　　When we finally reach that point, then drop it! This is where the real path of renunciation comes in. When, due to our knowledge, we have this glimpse that we could be free, then we are able to drop the disturbing emotions inside that usually consume us. When we can drop them, that is renunciation. That is true renunciation. When we are just able to drop it, there is a feeling of being overjoyed and a feeling of being empowered by our own discipline. In this way, all renunciation comes to one single point: to drop it. Drop the whole neurosis. Drop the whole samsara that is in your mind and just walk away. Walk away, or let it walk away from you. And in this way, experience a sense of “thus going beyond”.

　　“Wisdom” here refers to increasing our awareness over time. We increase our knowledge over time and have glimpses; when we realize we can drop it, that is wisdom. Wisdom is the strength, and the strength is wisdom. When we realize we can drop it without so much fuss, that is wisdom. When we take the right path versus the wrong path, that is wisdom.

　　All of this has to come from our own experience of life—of samsara and of the suffering we experience in samsara. We need to develop a sense of renunciation without dogmatically putting down samsara, or our negativity, or our problems, but remaining incredibly open and adopting an incredibly wide view—seeing very clearly. If we work in this way, the effort will not fail us. We are not talking about renouncing everything in one shot. We are talking about a lifelong path of renunciation. Whether we renounce by ourselves, using our own strength and wisdom, or we rely on the working of impermanence to push us toward renouncing, in the end we will have to renounce. With this realization sinking deeply into our minds, we recognize that we will be much happier if we let go by ourselves rather than waiting for impermanence to push us into a corner and force us to renounce. As we become wiser, we discover that the path of renunciation is the only path. There is no other path.

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