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May all find the teacher within to guide oneself towards unconditional love and peace

Sunday, January 28, 2018

How to renounce worldly life?

It depends on what does 'worldly life' means to different people. Different people give different meanings towards life existence and have different ways of life. If a particular 'worldly life' having a particular meaning with a particular way of life, under the influence of a particular thinking and belief and values, that would lead the mind away from peace and harmony, or would lead the mind towards restlessness and unnecessary affliction, then one can considerate to renounce the existing way of life, to adopt a different way of life, or changing the habitual mind behavior pattern, that would lead the mind towards more peace and harmony, and have less restlessness and unnecessary affliction.

For some, one's way of life is fine, but there are too many unnecessary disturbance, or distraction, or difficulties that are energy, time and space consuming coming from the surrounding environment of people, activities and happenings, that generate great obstacle on the path of purifying and quieting the restless mind, then one can also considerate stepping back from coming in contact with all these worldly beings, affairs and objects of names and forms, allowing the mind to have the energy, time and space to focus on the practice.

Renouncing worldly life doesn't mean that one is living outside the worldly minded society, to be alone in the wild. As even being alone in the wild, living in a simple and basic condition, it doesn't guarantee that the mind will be or is peaceful, or be free from disturbance, restlessness and suffering due to ignorance, egoism and impurities.

It doesn't mean that one needs to be in a space or a place that is free from 'worldly' or 'non-spiritual' people, and lives among a 'non-worldly' but 'spiritual' community, to be engaging in 'non-worldly' but 'spiritual' activities, like monks and nuns.

It also doesn't mean that one abandons one's existing worldly duties and responsibilities, not working to make a living to support one's life and those under one's care, but to live on the charity of others. Unless one's worldly duties and responsibilities have come to an end, such as being free from looking after old parents or young children.

It's about living in the world among the society as we are, no matter where and how we are and how is the environment, performing all our duties and responsibilities towards oneself and others under one's care out of compassion, making an honest living that supports oneself and those under one's care, but without attachment or identification towards any worldly social and cultural thinking and belief, values and practice or behavior, being free from egoism of passionate clinging onto worldly objects of names and forms, personal and community attachment and identification, desires of craving and aversion, judgment and expectation that based on particular worldly thinking, belief and values, while minimizing, reducing and restricting worldly social networking, mingling, interactions, activities and the accumulation of social connections and relationships, to be observing maximum seclusion and solitude while living and moving in the society among the worldly minded, without being affected, or disturbed, or determined by all the pleasant and unpleasant events or happenings in the world, without being influenced by the worldly social and cultural thinking and belief, values and practice, or behavior.

It's renouncing or abandoning egoism and impurities.

It's renouncing the passionate desires of craving and aversion, the attachment and identification with worldly social and cultural thinking, belief, values and the habitual behavior pattern of judgment and expectation based on those thinking, belief and values. At the same time, respecting others to be what they are, to have their own different thinking, belief and values, and to behave, act and react as they are.

It's going beyond all the impermanent qualities of names and forms of good and bad, right and wrong, positive and negative, pleasure and displeasure, pleasantness and unpleasantness, gain and loss, success and failure, praise and condemn, superiority and inferiority, achievement and non-achievement, auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, and so on.

It's non-attachment and non-identification towards all actions and the fruit of actions. Performing all actions, duties and responsibilities out of wisdom and compassion, and allowing the fruit of actions to be what it is, being undetermined or uninfluenced by the actions and the fruit of actions.

If one can only find peace outside the worldly minded society, void of duties and responsibilities, being isolated from the worldly minded society that is functioning under ignorance, egoism and impurities, but then, while being in the world, living or moving among the worldly minded society and perceiving all the impermanent names and forms through the senses, one couldn't remain equanimous, being disturbed, or determined, or affected by the unpleasant, undesirable and disagreeable events, happenings or disturbance deriving from one's attachment towards the mind perception of names and forms, then one hasn't realize the truth yet, or one hasn't realize yoga.

Live in the world but not let the world live in you.

It's the mental renunciation from worldly thinking and belief, values and practice, and habitual egoistic action and reaction under the influence of egoism. One can live and move in the world, but not let the world influence or determine the state of the mind. 
 
It's the state of the mind, where the mind stops generating craving or aversion towards all the perception of names and forms, being undisturbed and remain equanimous, while performing necessary actions, duties and responsibilities towards oneself and/or others under one's care. The well-trained mind is disinterested in worldly relationships, connections, objects and affairs, while living and moving in the world. It is free from passionate clinging and desire towards worldly relationships, connections, objects and affairs. It doesn't chase after the object of names and forms of the senses to attain the sense of satisfaction or meaningfulness. There's no ungratified desire that is waiting to be fulfilled, as it is desireless.

Those who are peaceful, who remain equanimous under any difficult, unpleasant, undesirable and disagreeable worldly conditions or circumstances, are true yogis.

Have peace, by taming the outgoing restless mind and annihilating ignorance, egoism and impurities, and not by controlling or changing the mind perception of an impermanent world of names and forms to be the way that the ego expects, desires, or likes it to be.

If the mind is super sensitive and easily be disturbed or distracted by the mind perception of names and forms of worldly objects and affairs, as there's no strong foundation of non-attachment towards the mind perception of names and forms, then it would be better for this mind to move away from the society for a prolonged period of time, to minimize as much as possible the coming in contact with worldly affairs and objects of names and forms, to allow the mind to be free from unnecessary disturbance and distraction to conserve energy, and turning the mind inward for self-introspection or self-inquiry. Until the mind develops a strong foundation of dispassion and non-attachment (which will be 'tested' while living in the world), then this mind can live and move among the worldly minded society and coming in contact with ceaseless inputs of impermanent names and forms, but the mind is undisturbed or uninfluenced by all these names and forms.

Be free.

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Know thyself. Everything is impermanent and selfless. There is no 'I'. There is no 'I am selfless'/'I am not selfless'. There is no 'I am hurt'/'I need to be healed from hurt'. Non-blind believing, non-blind following, non-blind practicing and non-blind propagating, but be open-minded to inquire the truth of everything. Be free. Be peaceful. Be happy.

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