A Refuge in Renunciation
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
July 5, 2003
The Dhamma strips things down to their essentials, with the realization that if you try to take on to many things all at once you end up not doing anything very well. This is what the principle of renunciation is all about: realizing that some problems are more important than others, and some solutions are more important than others as well. Some forms of happiness give more long-lasting results than others do. So we have to look at ourselves and realize that we have only so much energy. If our energy gets scattered around or spread too thin, we end up not succeeding at anything at all. Given the fact that we have limitations in our time and energy, we want to make the best use of them. Focus them on the issues that really do make a difference in our lives, and be willing to give up other issues that are not so important. It would be nice if we could cover all of our bases, to have our cake and eat it too, but it just doesn”t work that way. We don”t have the time; we don”t have the energy. We can think of renunciation as a process of simplification. That”s a word with a nicer ring to it nowadays: you want to simplify your life, to cut away the unnecessary clutter. But either way, whether you call it simplification or renunciation, there are hard choices you have to make. And so it”s best to look at it as a tradeoff. You can spend your time on activities that give immediate results that don”t last very long, or spend your time on activities that give more long-lasting results but take more effort, more time, more patience, require more precision. But ultimately you realize that the best trade is the one where you give up lesser forms of happiness for more long lasting ones, ones that speak to the really deep issues in life.
What are those issues
Well, there”s the fact that we”re active creatures. We”re constantly acting, constantly putting forth an effort of some kind or another. So the question is: What”s the best use of that effort
As long as we”re putting forth an effort in some direction, we want to get results that last even though the effort itself might not last. With all the energy that goes into the effort—and sometimes the suffering and stress that go into the effort—we want good results to show for what we”ve done, so we can look back at our lives and say, yes that was a life well spent. At the very end of life, it”s all going to seem so short—just that little bit of time we have here as human beings. We want to make sure that we don”t fritter it away.
Look at your life in the same way you”d look through an attic, deciding what you”re going to keep, what you”re going to throw out. You”re moving from a house with a large attic but you”ve got only a small trailer to make the move. Some things have got to get thrown out so that you have space in the trailer for the things that really mean a lot to you. In other words, there are things you”ve got to give up in order to have the time for the things that really make a difference, that really do give substantial results. That”s the underlying insight that informs the teachings on renunciation.
When you think about it, you realize that the time best spent is the time spent developing good qualities in the mind, because those are things that can help you in any situation. You have to devote a certain amount of time to keeping the body strong, but with the body you reach a point of diminishing returns. Ultimately there will come a point where no matter how much you”ve looked after the body, it”s just going to leave you. And sometimes it doesn”t leave you nicely. Sometimes there”s a messy parting. And in cases like that, you”ll be glad for the time you spent working on the mind, because you realize that that”s much …
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