Could You Give Up Everything?

[Jessie Fong]

Daniel Warner wrote that : This week a friend of mine will walk away from his rapidly growing clothing line. He will switch off his iPhone, turn off his Mac, and drop out from Facebook, Twitter and every other social media.

He will give up the ambition that has made his fashion business start to be recognised worldwide, and he will give up the social life that sees him flit in and out of hundreds of peoples lives every day.

This week my friend will be ordained as a Buddhist monk.
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To find out more, read   http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/daniel-warner/from-fashion-to-buddhism-_b_3004524.html?utm_hp_ref=buddhism



As to the question : Could You Give Up Everything?

I have not reached the stage where I would be able to give up everything, leave everything behind me and just go.

Would you, could you?

[Positive Change]

'Giving up" is in the mind really... What we give up is and never was the issue... These things are not the sum of our lives and therein lies the problem. We think they are. We think it brings us happiness or it brings us sadness. But in actual fact there really is nothing to give up as we never do own it anyway, in the sense at the time of death we leave with absolutely nothing!

What we take with us are the actions we have done in the past which will form our karmic destiny... as simple as this may seem, we still tend to delude ourselves into thinking everything around us matters and that we are the sum of things around us.

This for me personally is, 'giving up'! It is the perception within the mind that we purge... not necessarily the physical. Sure it is 'easier' to give up the materialistic or physical aspects as it trains our mind to keep it separate. Almost like a smoker going cold turkey. Get rid of the "temptations" so to speak!

Just my two cents worth!

[dsiluvu]

Yes I agree with Positive Change!

WHAT IS THERE TO GIVE UP WHEN THERE IS NOTHING TO GIVE UP IN THE FIRST PLACE. NOTHING NOT EVEN OUR BODIES WE ROUTINELY WASH EVERY SINGLE DAY IS OURS. IN THE END WE LEAVE IT AND IT ROTS AWAY. TURNS TO DUST AND RECYCLES BACK TO THE EARTH.

So we can only say "GIVE UP" when we have something we are clinging to, we are attached to and we are not willing to LETS GO. Hence this is how we suffer.

I guess I realise this when I came face to face with death... I am not completely unattached yet, but I will say whatever my Guru request of me, I will gladly do it all the way. Why? Because if you think about it... you have very little time left, from the day we are born, we are already dying. So we know, the time is ticking and the clock is going and well... all those fun things and all those things and people and relationships we're so attached to will also go away. It is the nature of samsara. So why be disappointed when something bad happens... it is expected. So best is if we cannot "give up" completely, then follow the Buddha's advice, choose the middle path! Have you so called "attachments" and also be Dharmic and be spiritual and do your practice well

[diamond girl]

Very big words which many would be afraid to put together in one sentence - "give up", "everything" and with "you" - many will see this as totally negative and heavy and just too overwhelming.

I like what Positive Change said... Giving up really is in the mind.

Seriously, have we ever asked ourselves what is our "everything"? Which of these "everything" brought us true happiness and freedom from headaches and heartaches. Let me see... I used to think that "love" was everything. And then I spent a whole lot of time chasing and giving up for this "everything" called love. And the end result is moments of bliss for many more moments of pains from dependency, expectations, disappointments...etc... Wow "everything" is not what it is, then ask me "Why not give it all up?"

But for what would be the next question??? Then I would say for wisdom and compassion where true love can grow from. In Buddhism this is what I have learnt. I am wiser and more compassionate with the knowledge I have gained. I cannot preach but for sure I can tell you in being wiser I have found that in love I can be happy. Because the love I have found is that which exudes from within and is not dependent on someone else outside of me.

So, will I give up my "everything" for Buddhism and the values I can have to be real, Yes I would.

[sonamdhargey]

to let go or the give up? Is giving up the right thing to do to move on to becoming ordained? Or is it to finally to accept by understanding that nothing is permanant and thus holding on to and grasping on to everything? I think we let go to be free.

[DS Star]

“Renunciation” as taught by Buddha, is not just about the “decision” or the “wish” to “Let Go” or “Give up everything”; it is a constant “check” and “correct” actions along the path one’s spiritual journey. It requires high level of conviction and mind practice. 

“Renunciation” is the highest spiritual journey of controlling one’s mind.

Alexander Berzin explained it well in his article, “Renunciation: The Determination to Be Free”

"Renunciation (nges-'byung) is the determination to be free from not only some form of suffering, but also from its causes. It entails the willingness to give up that suffering and its causes. Thus, it requires great courage. It is not just aiming to get something nice without paying a price.
Renunciation also implies belief in the fact that it is possible to be free from that suffering and its causes. It is not just wishful thinking. It is belief in a fact to be true (dad-pa) in all three ways.

• Clearheadedly believing it (dang-ba'i dad-pa), clears themind of disturbing emotions and attitudes about the object. Thus, correct renunciation clears the mind of indecisiveness, self-pity, and resentment about having to give up something desirable.
  
• Believing a fact to be true based on reason (yid-ches-pa). We need to understand how liberation from suffering and its causes is possible.
  
• Believing a fact with an aspiration toward it (mngon-dad-kyi dad-pa). As with the two stages of bodhichitta (the aspiring and the involved stages), we need not merely to wish or to be willing to give up some level of suffering and its causes, based on belief that we are able to do so. We need actually to give them both up, as much as we presently are able, and to involve ourselves in the practices that will enable us eventually to gain freedom from them forever.

Moreover, correct renunciation is not the same as short-lived all-excited renunciation (sna-thung spu-sud-kyi nges-'byung): the enthusiastic and fanatic renunciation of everything, based on blind faith that an external source will save us. It entails a realistic attitude about the hard work involved. We may gaininspiration from others, but we have to work hard ourselves.
Further, we need a realistic attitude about how progress occurs. Becoming free from samsara is never a linear process, with things getting better each day. Until we are free forever, samsara will continue to go up and down. When viewed from the perspective of a long period of time, we can see progress, but on a day-to-day basis, our moods will continue to go up and down."[/i]

[DS Star]

Ultimately, if we are able to 'Let Go' and to 'Give up everything' to embark on the journey of getting 'Enlightenment for the sake of removing suffering of all sentient beings', then we are already on the Bodhisattva path.

Another point is, if one have a lot to give up, like the then Prince Siddharta, then the effort is even more meaningful. Prince Siddharta proven it with his 'Great Renunciation'.

Giving up everything is not only referring to the physical material things, it is also about the inner attachment such as the 'ego', the attachment to one's own comfort, the attachment to one's own beauty and even one's own opinion.

[Big Uncle]

Its funny how all of us laypeople start speculating about the real meaning behind renunciation and becoming ordained as a monk. The truth of the matter is we don't really know because we have not gone down that path. We emphasized what we know of renunciation based on what we had read and what we hear from the great teachers who are a living example of monkhood.

You know what? I am going to do the same. Haha! Well, people always associate monkhood as giving up lay life, marriage, sex, fun, jobs, and all other attachments. That's really not it. I believe the Mahayana monk take up the vows in order to better serve others. The motivation is for others that they engage in the vows or that they have seen the folly of mundane life of acquisition upon acquisition, attachments upon attachments that ultimately does not brings us lasting satisfaction or happiness. This realization is what should fuel our intentions to become a monk. It is sad that if the person aspiring to be a monk does not have this or a similar motivation, that person would not remain ordained for long.

[pgdharma]

It is not easy to let go of our attachments so easily in this modern world.  However, we have to contemplate how important non attachment is and to understand that nothing is permanent, everything changes and will disappear.

I totally agreed with Positive Change that “Giving up really is in the mind”.  When we contemplate on death, dangers and uncertainty and that we can die anytime, there is no point in grasping.
For me, I wish to die peacefully and to see my life as being better than it was; that I die a more rested and more contented person than I was before and I will apply what I learned to build that type of future for myself. As a Buddhist I try to be kind and happy, to be restful and contented as far as possible and also to look back at the many positive things I have done and to truly know that I have improved and become a better person with fewer desires, with less hatred but filled with more compassion, more peace, more love and more contentment than I had before.

[hope rainbow]

'Giving up" is in the mind really... What we give up is and never was the issue... These things are not the sum of our lives and therein lies the problem. We think they are. We think it brings us happiness or it brings us sadness. But in actual fact there really is nothing to give up as we never do own it anyway, in the sense at the time of death we leave with absolutely nothing!

What we take with us are the actions we have done in the past which will form our karmic destiny... as simple as this may seem, we still tend to delude ourselves into thinking everything around us matters and that we are the sum of things around us.

This for me personally is, 'giving up'! It is the perception within the mind that we purge... not necessarily the physical. Sure it is 'easier' to give up the materialistic or physical aspects as it trains our mind to keep it separate. Almost like a smoker going cold turkey. Get rid of the "temptations" so to speak!

Just my two cents worth!

Thank you PA for these words, giving up is in the mind, indeed it is.
To give up on attachments is to gain freedom from them, and then actually we can have it ALL!
Thus, if we are SO attached, then to surrender our attachments is to gain that very peace of mind that we so think attachments will give us.
Uuuhhhh... sounds complicated...

What we really want when we dwell in our attachments, that is a sense of happiness and comfort, we get exponantially more and better when we let go of them.
This not hard at all to understand, but it is very hard to practice...
Untill we actually surrender for real.

[vajrastorm]

When we die, our aggregates- form, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and gross consciousness , and the four elements in us - earth, water, fire and air - will start to dissolve one by one. There will be no more feelings in us of 'like', 'dislike' nor sensations of hard or soft surface, nor discrimination between friends, enemies and strangers.

Death will come to us at any time. When it comes , we lose all...we lose that 'I' we have clung to all our life. Where does this leave us at death? Nothing. Ah, but we will take with us our subtle mind with all its store of karmic seeds, which are mostly negative ones, because of the actions we perform as a result of our clinging to "I", "me" and "mine".

Hence, doing frequent/daily meditations on death will help us loosen our clinging to the "I", so that we will be ready to give up everything that resembles an attachment that stems from this clinging to "I". We will be ready to give up this cause of all our suffering.
 

[diablo1974]

Different Buddhist traditions has different methods to keep attachment or to discard attachments as much as possible. Both are ways to enlightenment as long as the motivation is dharmic as it plant seeds towards the enlightenment.  In this reading, he is discarding all social media and his career to focus on dharma for life, but looking forward, how is he going to engage with people around the world if he is cutting all contacts from the social media platform. Wouldn't his dharma learning reaches out to more people if he still continues as per normal on FB/twitter etc?

[Midakpa]

First, I don't think a monk or nun need to give up social media. On the contrary, he can use these various means of communication to spread Dharma, as well as keep in touch with students and fellow sangha. He need not give this up if he uses it for virtuous reasons.

Can we give up everything? Well, if "everything" refers to all that is worldly, then, yes. The proof is that since the Buddha's time, so many people have renounced worldly existence to enter monastic life. What a monk is giving up is attachment to worldly pleasures that keep us in samsara or cyclic existence.  Renunciation is the first aspect of the three principal aspects of the Path.

[Big Uncle]

First, I don't think a monk or nun need to give up social media. On the contrary, he can use these various means of communication to spread Dharma, as well as keep in touch with students and fellow sangha. He need not give this up if he uses it for virtuous reasons.

Can we give up everything? Well, if "everything" refers to all that is worldly, then, yes. The proof is that since the Buddha's time, so many people have renounced worldly existence to enter monastic life. What a monk is giving up is attachment to worldly pleasures that keep us in samsara or cyclic existence.  Renunciation is the first aspect of the three principal aspects of the Path.

Haha! Funny that you mentioned social media because social media can be an attachment but it can used for spreading the Dharma too. On my facebook, I have a lot of NKT members of the Sangha who are on it to keep in contact with family and friends and of course to share wonderful pictures and little short teachings by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. I have also seen some Tibetan tulkus who are doing that as well like Zawa Rinpoche and so forth. It's a really neat and monastic ordination does not necessarily mean one have to cut off from the world although that is a wonderful option when on engages in a close retreat. But then, retreats are not really exclusive to just monks and nuns.

[yontenjamyang]

Could I give up everything? No. Sincerely and honestly, I wish I can but I am mentally and physically tied to certain responsibilities. We can say I do not have the merits. Or the condition has not ripened for me. That is why, the main objectives for our lineage is to accumulate merits and wisdom. When we have accumulated certain merits then perhaps the condition ripens for us to take the monk's vow which by itself enables exponential amount of merits to be generated; by the power of the vows. It is said that; everything being equal; to be a monk 1 day generate as much merits as 1 year (or is it 10 years?) for a lay person.
On the other hand in our lineage we are thought to not be attached to the 8 worldly concerns in anything we do. That is a form of renunciation.

All in all, that is why we need the Guru, because he can tailor our practice for us and at the same time protect us.